Thoroughly grasping our Party and State’s strategic lines on building all-people national defence in the cause of defence consolidation and Fatherland protection, Military Region 2’s Party Committee and Command have been focusing their leadership and direction on this important task via drastic, synchronised, effective measures.

Military Region 2 holds a position of strategic importance in many aspects, particularly in terms of defence, security, and diplomacy within the general defensive posture of the North and the whole country. This is the Fatherland’s frontier area, with great potential for development; however, it still faces a lot of difficulties; its economic development is slow; the rate of poor households is high; there are differences in the people’s intellectual standards. Hostile forces put the region at the forefront of their sabotage strategy, taking advantage of the issues on “ethnicity” and “religion” to undermine national great unity, political security, and social order and safety.

Military Region 2’s Command encourages young citizens to join the Military

Under resolutions and directives by the Party Central Committee, the Central Military Commission (CMC), and the Ministry of National Defence (MND) on military and defence tasks, particularly the Resolution of the 13^th Party Central Committee’s 8^th Plenum on the Strategy for Fatherland Protection in the New Situation, over the years, the Military Region’s Party Committee and Command have closely worked with local party committees and authorities to direct offices and units to comprehensively take synchronised measures for building robust all-people national defence, thereby obtaining significant results. Notably, awareness and a sense of responsibility among sectors, forces, and citizens towards Fatherland construction and protection have been raised; the people’s material and mental life has been gradually improved; “people’s hearts and minds posture” has been increasingly strong; all-people national defence potential and posture across the Military Region and within local defensive zones have been regularly consolidated. All-level military agencies have promoted their core role in giving advice to local party committees and authorities on well performing military and defence work; synergy and combat power of the Military Region’s armed forces have been unceasingly raised to provide considerable support for local party committees, authorities, and people in socio-economic, cultural development, defence and security consolidation, natural disaster response, and search and rescue.

Currently and in the upcoming time, security and political situation within the Military Region will be basically stable; socio-economic development will continue to be fostered; the armed forces will be made compact, strong, and capable of playing a core role in military and defence work. However, hostile forces will continue to step up their sabotage strategy via more cunning artifices; rural security issues, social evils, and drug trafficking will be still complex. Meanwhile, more demanding requirements will be imposed on the task of Fatherland construction and protection; the revolution to streamline the political system’s apparatus and adjustments in administrative boundaries will pose new challenges to military and defence work. Hence, the Military Region will drastically, synchronously take various measures to build robust all-people national defence, firmly protect its areas, facilitate socio-economic development, and improve the people’s life, with a focus on the following.

First, continuing to grasp and realise resolutions and directives by the Party, State, CMC, and MND on building all-people national defence. This measure acts as a deciding factor in the quality and effectiveness of the building of all-people national defence across the country and within Military Region 2. Thus, the Military Region’s Party Committee and Command will direct units and all-level military agencies to give advice to local party committees and authorities on grasping and strictly implementing resolutions, directives, and guidance by the Party, State, CMC, MND, and competent offices on military and defence tasks, particularly the Resolution of the 13^th Party Central Committee’s 8^th Plenum on the Strategy for Fatherland Protection in the New Situation. Offices and units will promote their experiences and recorded results and adhere to the military and defence tasks of 2025 to identify content and measures of leadership and direction. Due attention will be paid to maintaining and boosting direct, all-round leadership of local party committees over military and defence work, raising the efficiency and effectiveness of state management of defence work, renewing and improving defence and security education for target individuals and all people.

Furthermore, the Military Region will direct its offices and units to actively carry out mass mobilisation work and take part in building a pure, efficient, effective grass-roots political system, especially in key, remote, isolated, mountainous, border areas. It will enhance “Paying debt of gratitude” activities and help the people with production development, hunger eradication, poverty reduction, and natural disaster mitigation. It will actively fight to thwart hostile forces’ plots and artifices and prevent them from taking advantage of issues on ethnicity and religion to distort our Party and State’s lines and undermine national great unity, thereby building a firm “posture of people’s hearts and minds”.

Maj. Gen. Tran Van Bac, Commander of the Military Region inspects a shooting test

Second, building and promoting political - spiritual factor as the basis for making all-people national defence increasingly strong. The Military Region will closely collaborate with local party committees and authorities to step up propagation and education work aimed at raising awareness and a sense of responsibility among people from all walks of life towards the Party’s leadership and the cause of Fatherland construction and protection. In the process, great value will be attached to fostering revolutionary ethics education among cadres at all levels, educating troops and citizens, particularly youths and students, on patriotism, national pride, and the Northwest armed forces’ revolutionary tradition. Consideration will be given to cementing national great unity, well implementing policies on ethnicity and religion, promoting the people’s right to mastery under the motto: “people know, people discuss, people do, people inspect, people supervise, people benefit”, with the aim of strengthening the people’s faith in Fatherland construction and protection.

The Military Region will direct its forces to carefully prepare and successfully hold all-level party congresses for 2025 - 2030 tenure towards the 14^th National Party Congress, design action programs and plans for resolutions of all-level party congresses, and build typically strong, pure party organisations as well as “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong offices and units. Emphasis will be placed on building a corps of cadres at all levels with political steadfastness, pure ethics, healthy lifestyle, great vision and professional competence, “seven dares” spirit, and capability in approaching and mastering new weaponry and technologies as the core force in raising the Military Region’s synergy and combat power.

Third, focusing on making the Military Region’s defensive posture and all-level defensive zones increasingly strong. This is a central part of the building of robust all-people national defence, providing a solid foundation for a close inter-connection between localities, zones, targets, and front and rear lines. Therefore, the Military Region will direct all-level military agencies to give advice to local party committees and authorities on promulgating and effectively executing directives, plans, and projects for building defensive zones. Great weight will be added to adjusting master plans for defence disposition and local socio-economic development in each period under the Government’s Plan for Northern Midlands and Mountainous Region between 2021 and 2030, with a vision towards 2050, in accordance with administrative boundary adjustments. The Military Region will frequently raise the quality of all-level steering boards for defensive zones; it will direct and instruct sectors and localities to design defence mobilisation plans, make preparations for defence in both peacetime and wartime, closely manage and protect defence works, military zones, natural caves, and areas of tactical value across the Military Region itself.

In the short term, based on the re-organisation of communes and merger of provinces, the Military Region will research, adjust, and complete Military Region-level defensive posture planning, provincial defensive zone military postures, and defensive postures within areas. At the same time, it will direct all-level military agencies to mobilise all resources and construct military works within defensive zones, with priority given to crucial works, such as all-level headquarters, evacuation areas, secret rendezvous areas, combat bases, rear bases, campaign-level key positions, tunnels, and firepower battlefields, particularly in key directions and areas so as to form an extensive, inter-connected defensive posture in each direction and area.

Fourth, closely combining socio-economic development with defence and security consolidation. The Military Region will direct units and all-level military agencies to closely collaborate with departments and branches to give advice to local party committees and authorities on boosting socio-economic development in line with defence and security potential and posture, ensuring that “each socio-economic development step will be a step forward in defence and security consolidation”. Importance will be attached to advising localities on promoting their potential, geographical advantages, natural resources, hydroelectricity, and ecotourism for socio-economic development, realising programs for hunger eradication and poverty reduction, particularly in remote, isolated, border, ethnic minority areas, aligning economic growth with cultural development, the people’s improved life, and the building of a firm “posture of people’s hearts and minds” as the basis for mobilising resources for military and defence tasks. Emphasis will be placed on constructing dual-purpose traffic, health care, and telecommunications infrastructures to closely combine economic development with defence and security. The Military Region will work with competent offices to closely appraise socio-economic development plans and projects, particularly in strategic areas of defence and security, and propose proper adjustments. It will cooperate with localities to review and adjust the planning of residential clusters and lines after the re-organisation of communes, establish resettlement zones to evacuate citizens from the areas prone to flash floods and landslides, and improve the efficiency of economic - defence units, with the aim of fostering socio-economic development, hunger eradication, and poverty reduction, laying a foundation for developing military and defence potential and postures.

Fifth, concentrating on making the Military Region’s armed forces adept, compact, strong, and capable of playing a core role in Fatherland protection. To that end, the Military Region’s Party Committee and Command will direct offices and units to stabilise their organisational structure, make the three-category armed forces adept, compact, strong towards modernity, adhere to regulations on force merger and adjustment, establish new provincial military commands and regional defence commands within provinces. The Military Region will direct the standing force to comply with regulations on new organisational structure, ensure a balance between components, and give priority to staffing combat readiness units. It will focus on building a “strong and extensive” militia and self-defence force with proper strength and organisational size, developing a powerful reserve force with great quality and combat readiness capacity, well conducting the work of selecting and conscripting citizens into the Military, and aligning call-up work with human resource development for the reserve force, particularly within border communes.

The Military Region will frequently review, supplement, and complete combat readiness documents and plans for natural disaster prevention and control and search and rescue, practise situations-based projects, and closely collaborate with the Public Security Force and the Border Guard Force in executing the Government’s Decree 03/2019/NĐ-CP, dated 5 September 2019 to resolutely avoid passivity.

Additionally, the Military Region will continue to grasp and seriously implement the Party, State, and Military’s lines and policies on defence diplomacy to contribute to building a border of peace, friendship, cooperation, and development, making all-people national defence increasingly strong, and firmly protecting the Fatherland “early and from afar”.

Maj. Gen. TRAN VAN BAC

Commander of the Military Region