Improving the synergy and combat power to enable the armed forces to readily undertake any missions represents the highest goal and consistent line set by Military Region 1’s Party Committee and Command. To that end, the Military Region’s Party Committee and Command have focused their leadership and direction on drastically taking various measures.
Under leadership and direction of the Party Central Committee (PCC) and President Ho Chi Minh, with the people’s support, the armed forces of Viet Bac surmounted numerous hardships, collaborating with the local population and troops and citizens across the country to successfully carry out a lot of large-scale campaigns, safeguarding the PCC and the Government, worthy of the title of “Safe Zone” - “Resistance Capital”.
During the 1953 - 1954 Winter Spring Offensive, troops and citizens of Viet Bac had taken part in many important battles, providing enormous human and material resources for achieving the victory of Dien Bien Phu that “resounded across the five continents and shook the globe”. Those contributions made by troops and citizens of Viet Bac during the resistance war against French colonialism were worthy of Uncle Ho’s praises: “the Revolution was successful thanks to Viet Bac, the resistance war will be victorious thanks to Viet Bac”.
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| Military Region 1’s Command presents the Determined to Win Military Flag to a Regional Defence Command under Bac Ninh Provincial Military Command |
During the resistance war against US imperialism for national salvation, the Military Region’s armed forces together with troops and citizens of the North thwarted the US scheme of “air escalation against the North”, actively providing manpower and material support for the South to defeat US invaders, thereby completely liberating the South and unifying the country. In the cause of Fatherland construction and protection, the Military Region’s armed forces, together with troops and citizens nationwide safeguarded the Northern border and have been well performing the two strategic tasks.
In recent years, the Military Region’s armed forces have concentrated on consolidating their organisational structure in an “adept, compact, strong” manner, making Military Region defence, local defensive zones, and all-people national defence increasingly strong, actively taking part in socio-economic development, effectively dealing with non-traditional security challenges, thus contributing to firmly protecting the Fatherland.
Over the past 80 years of construction, combat, victory, and maturity, under leadership and direction by the Party and State, directly and frequently by the Central Military Commission (CMC) and Ministry of National Defence (MND), thanks to the support and collaboration of local party committees and authorities as well as the affection and shelter of the people of Viet Bac, the Military Region’s armed forces have unceasingly developed and won landside victories, thus obtaining many noble rewards from the Party, State, and Military.
Currently and in the time to come, across the country and within the Military Region, political security, social stability, and economic growth continue to be maintained; defence, security, and diplomacy continue to be strengthened. However, in some areas of the Military Region, there are destabilising factors; hostile forces continue stepping up their “peaceful evolution” strategy, promoting “self-evolution” and “self-transformation”, taking advantage of the issues on ethnicity, democracy, and human rights to sabotage our Party, State, and Military and undermine our national great unity. The adoption of a two-tier local government model imposes more demanding requirements on military and defence work.
That situation necessitates the entire Military in general, the Military Region’s armed forces in particular continuing to remain vigilant and proactively, drastically taking synchronised measures to raise their synergy and combat power, with a focus on the following.
First, making the Military Region’s Party Organisation strong in terms of politics, ideology, morality, organisation, and personnel. This has been a deciding factor in raising the synergy and combat power of the Military Region’s armed forces over the past 80 years. Bringing into play that valuable lesson, the Military Region Party Committee and all-level party committees and organisations should continue grasping and seriously executing resolutions, directives, regulations, and guidance by the PCC and CMC on Party building and the raised quality of party members in the new period, frequently renewing and improving ideological work for cadres and party members, and resolutely preventing signs of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” from within.
Additionally, importance should be attached to educating cadres and party members on revolutionary ethics, “diligence, thrift, integrity, public-spiritedness”, stepping up the study and following of Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics, and lifestyle, implementing the CMC’s Resolution 847-NQ/QUTW, dated 28 December 2021, on promoting the virtues of “Uncle Ho’s Soldiers” and resolutely combating individualism in the new situation. Emphasis should be placed on consolidating party committees and party organisations at all levels, both qualitatively and quantitatively, with comprehensive leadership capacity, strictly maintaining regulations on Party meeting, and multiplying party cells with “four good things and three nos” across the Military Region. The building of pure, strong party organisations should be aligned with the development of a contingent of party committee members and key cadres under the “seven dares” spirit. It is necessary to closely, effectively carry out the work of personnel planning, training, and use.
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| Encouraging troops of the Military Region during training for the grand parade to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the August Revolution and Vietnam's National Day |
Second, continuing to consolidate the Military Region’s armed forces in an “adept, compact, strong” fashion. The Military Region’s Party Committee and Command should direct offices and units to keep grasping and strictly executing resolutions and directives by the PCC, Politburo, CMC, and MND on organising the Vietnam People’s Army, especially Resolution 866-NQ/QUTW, dated 14 June 2025, by the CMC on leadership over the continued organisation of local military agencies in an “adept, compact, strong” manner to meet their task requirements in the new situation. Due attention should be paid to rendering cadres and soldiers fully aware of the lines on merging, re-organising, and establishing offices and units, motivating troops to well perform their central political missions, and sustaining the quality of training, regularity building, discipline management, and combat readiness.
Furthermore, it is necessary to direct offices and units across the Military Region to quickly make adjustments in their combat resolution, military posture within defensive zones, and force disposition to be relevant to realities. More cadres should be deployed to provide training and assistance for commune-level military commands; it is essential to continue improving the operating mechanisms of regional defence commands and Border Guard Commands, and raising the quality of defence - military work within localities. All-level military agencies should continue to give advice to local party committees and authorities and work with relevant forces to address non-traditional security challenges, maintain political security and social order right at grass-roots level, opportunely detect and handle drawbacks in the organisation of the local armed forces according to the new local government model.
Third, renewing and improving the work of training and education as the basis for raising the armed forces’ combat readiness capacity. The Military Region’s Party Committee and Command should direct offices, units, and schools to grasp and execute higher echelons’ resolutions and directives on education and training to achieve unity in terms of awareness and action among cadres and soldiers. Emphasis should be placed on improving training preparation, well organising refresher courses, and encouraging self-study, self-training, and innovation among cadres, particularly those in charge of training work.
In the training process, it is important to adhere to training-related viewpoints, motto, principles, and connections. Great value should be attached to holding synchronised, specialised, modernised training courses relevant to units’ organisational structure and the combat methods of the Military Region’s armed forces. As for the standing force, emphasis should be placed on improving this force’s technical, tactical, and professional proficiency, mastering combat skills with weapons in service and with reinforced technical equipment. Regarding the militia and self-defence force, significance should be attached to holding joint training courses and exercises with other forces within defensive zones and training this force to deal with A2 situations, ensure security, prevent and respond to natural disasters and epidemics, and carry out search and rescue operations. With reference to the border guard force, consideration should be given to improving this force’s capabilities in tactics, professional expertise, legal affairs, foreign languages, border defence diplomacy, and mass mobilisation.
Forms of office - command exercises on maps and in the field should continue to be renewed. In the medium term, it is necessary to well organise regional defence command exercises as the basis for drawing lessons and perfecting theories. Due attention should be paid to conducting investigation, inspection, re-inspection, and review relating to training work. The Military Region’s Military School should raise the quality of education and training for groups of learners and step up the teaching of foreign and ethnic minority languages for cadres and soldiers.
Fourth, improving the quality and effectiveness of defence diplomacy. Well implementing this measure will contribute to creating synergy for protecting national sovereignty, border security, and the Fatherland “early and from afar”. Thus, the Military Region should direct party committees and commands at all levels to collaborate with competent agencies in disseminating and executing lines and policies by the Party, State, CMC, and MND on international integration and defence diplomacy in the new situation. Offices and units, especially border guard commands should design programs/plans for defence diplomacy in a close, scientific manner, appropriate to the particularities of their tasks and areas to ensure that the Military Region’s defence diplomacy operations will be practical and highly effective. Emphasis should be placed on working with competent forces of the neighbouring country to maintain mechanisms for meetings, dialogues, and information exchange, opportunely share information about cross-border crime, closely manage the border, conduct joint patrols, and promote people-to-people diplomacy. Offices and units across the Military Region should actively take part in Border Defence Friendly Exchange and young officer exchange programs between Vietnam and China organised by the MND in order to create synergy for managing, protecting, and building a border of peace, friendship, cooperation, and mutual development.
Besides, it is vital to improve professional expertise and foreign language capability of cadres and employees in charge of defence diplomacy, step up digital transformation, and effectively apply information technology and technical advances in task execution.
Fifth, frequently, closely collaborating with localities and other forces to well perform military and defence work, protect areas, and avoid passivity in any circumstances. The Military Region’s Party Committee and Command should direct provincial-level military commands to give advice to local party committees and authorities on requiring departments, sectors, and unions to grasp and effectively implement the Resolution of the 13th PCC’s 8th Plenum on the Strategy for Fatherland Protection in the new situation, other resolutions and directives on building defensive zones and all-people national defence, and the standpoint on closely combining defence with economic development within areas, thereby achieving unity in terms of awareness and action among cadres, soldiers, and local party committees, authorities, and people in the process.
It is essential to review and consolidate all-level defence and security education and military service councils after all-level Party Congresses and elections of deputies to all-level people’s councils, improve the quality of defence and security education for target groups, carefully select cadres at grass-roots level for further military training, and well conduct call-up work and military entrance exam work.
Offices and units across the Military Region should give advice to local party committees and authorities on adjusting socio-economic development plans associated with defence and security consolidation after merger and adoption of two-tier local government model, mobilising and utilising resources for building potentialities and postures within provincial-level defensive zones and Military Region defence, and raising defence mobilisation capacity. It is important to continue building, completing, and upgrading commune-level military commands’ headquarters, accelerating the building of standing border militia key positions and border patrol roads under the established road map.
In addition, offices and units of the Military Region should frequently closely collaborate with the MND’s units stationed in the areas, the Public Security Force, and the Border Guard Force Command to grasp the situation along the border, particularly in complex, sensitive, key areas, avoid passivity, promptly handle incidents right at grass-roots level, and raise the quality and effectiveness of defensive zone and civil defence exercises.
Bringing into play their achievements recorded throughout revolutionary periods, Military Region 1’s armed forces will remain unity and proactive in overcoming all difficulties, raising their synergy and combat power, and unceasingly winning brilliant feats of arms to bolster the tradition of “loyalty, vanguard, unity, victory” and contribute to firmly protecting the Fatherland in the new situation.
Maj. Gen. TRUONG MANH DUNG
Commander of Military Region 1