Defensive zone exercises (hereinafter DZE) are a matter of great importance that Ninh Binh provincial Party Committee, People’s Council and People’s Committee have always paid due attention to through various synchronous drastic measures, thereby promoting synergy amongst the entire defensive zone forces, posture and potential, contributing to tightly preserved political stability and strengthened defence and security, and creating favourable conditions for the provincial socio-economic development.

Situated in the Red River Delta and about 100km away to the South of Hanoi Capital City, Ninh Binh province possesses a strategic position of special significance to the Military Region 3 and national defensive postures. Fully aware of that, over the past years, thoroughly grasping defence-security viewpoints and guidelines, especially the Party, State, and Military Region 3’s resolutions and directives on the building and operation of defensive zones, the Provincial Party Committee, People’s Council and People’s Committee have concentrated leadership and direction on instructing their affiliates and people to properly perform the mission of building defensive zones in general and conducting DZE in particular. Since 2008, Ninh Binh province has successfully conducted 3 province-level exercises; 18 district-and-municipal-level ones; and participated in holding 7 natural disaster and search and rescue exercises; all of the province’s communes, wards, and townships have done defensive combat exercises, and the Provincial departments and branches have held defence-security exercises, meeting safety regulations and intended targets. Notably, in addition to increasingly matching combat realities and localities’ peculiarities, there has been a substantial improvement in year-on-year exercise outcomes, as evidenced by increased quality.

Comrade Dinh Van Dien chairs the conference on adopting measures to shift localities to the state of national defence emergency in the DZE 2018

Thanks to defensive zone exercises, awareness and a sense of responsibility amongst a majority of the province’s cadres, party members, and people have been enhanced; leadership, directive, commanding and managerial capabilities by all-level party committees and administrations have gradually matched the established requirements; a system of all-level defensive combat documents have been opportunely supplemented and perfected; defence-security posture in defensive zones has been increasingly fortified; local armed forces’ combativeness has been strengthened, thereby contributing to tightly maintaining political stability and social order and safety, creating favourable conditions for Ninh Binh’s cause of renewal as well as integration and development.

Yet, in addition to attained results, there has been an inadequate and incomprehensive awareness of the mission of building and operating defensive zones amongst a portion of cadres, party members, and people; the formulation of exercise documents has been unfeasiable and unrealistic and out of tune with the higher echelons’ intent, etc. In the time to come, in order to heighten the quality of the exercises and consolidate the building of the provincial firmer defensive zones, the Province’s Party Committee, administration, armed forces and people from all social strata will continue to uphold the tradition of a sacred land with extraordinary people and promote their resolve to execute a wide variety of synchronous practical and scientific measures.

First, the Province attached great value to making elaborate preparations pertaining to DZE contents, methods, intents, and logistical work, which acted as a determinant to the performance of the DZE. To this end, the Province directed its affiliates’ party committees and chiefs, especially the armed forces to thoroughly grasp resolutions and directives by the Party, State, Central Military Commission, Ministry of National Defence, etc. on building and operating the DZE with an emphasis on the mission of local defensive combat exercises. Accordingly, the provincial agencies, sectors, branches, armed forces, etc. proactively advised the Provincial Party Committee, People’s Council and People’s Committee to promulgate plans and documents concerning the DZE so that preparations regarding the DZE can be comprehensively and practically made in line with the higher echelons’ intent and local economic conditions as well as armed forces’ capabilities.

To heighten the quality of preparatory work, the Province concentrated on assigning relevant forces a specific task; set up a Steering Board, an Organizing Board, and advisory sub-Boards, etc. to monitor the execution of DZE tasks. In an effort to prevent insufficient proactiveness and creativity amongst a pool of all-level cadres, especially newly appointed ones in the provincial departments, sectors, and localities involved in the DZE, and firmly grasp theoretical capability and thinking on defensive zones as well as the procedure for planning and executing the DZE, the Province directed its Military and Public Security agencies to run refresher courses and promote their pivotal role in collaborating with and guiding the provincial relevant forces. Those enabled a contingent of all-level cadres to uphold their role and sense of responsibility for fully preparing a system of DZE documents in tune with the higher echelons’ regulations and new stratagems of combat objects. A model team of field training cadres was carefully trained on handling such situations as violence, terrorism, hostage rescue, emergency evacuation, etc. Against all the odds, the Province still attached great weight to properly preparing DZE meetings in accord with dictated regulations and actively finalized Command Headquarters and field training grounds whilst proactively collaborating with relevant offices and units in mobilizing relevant forces and equipment for DZE and conducting the dry run for the sake of greater effectiveness, etc.

Alongside the preparatory work for the DZE, the Province put great store by the effectiveness of operating DZE mechanisms, which is a central part of building and operating defensive zones in general and defensive combat exercises in particular. Therefore, the Province concentrated on taking every measure to operate the DZE mechanism in a “smooth, synchronous, flexible, and effective” manner. The DZE meetings were held through the mechanism of the Party’s leadership, namely the Standing Board of the Provincial Party Committee issued the leadership Resolution on putting the province into defense emergency status; the Provincial Public Security’s Party Committee approved the plan for ensuring political security and social order and safety; the Provincial Military Command’s Party Committee passed the revised defensive combat Determination document, etc. The role of chief, deputy chiefs and members of the Standing Board of the Provincial Party Committee had been promoted through the principles of democratic centralism and collective leadership and individual responsibility.

Mobile Police Force quells a riot and safely protects the target in the DZE 2018

The unplanned meetings of the Provincial People’s Committee and Council, the Steering Board of People’s Air Defence and Logistical Council chaired by Head and Deputy Heads of the Provincial People’s Committee and People’s Council were held through the mechanism of government management. In order to successfully implement the Resolution of the Standing Board of the Provincial Party Committee, a system of orders and directives was set up to ensure a close coordination in executing DZE tasks amongst the provincial affiliates. The essential role of local offices, sectors, branches, and mass organizations in advising on and executing the DZE was visibly promoted at the DZE meetings through suggestions and discussions on A2 plans and defensive combat determination as well as through solutions to deal with defence-security incidents and the relevant units’ execution of DZE missions. Some typical examples included during the Provincial 2018 Defensive Exercise, the Department of Industry and Trade made a proper purchase of wartime goods and handed them out to the Provincial Military Command and Military Division 50; the work of agitation and propaganda among enemy troops done by the Department of Information and Communications and political agencies of the Military and Public Security forces demonstrated realistic effectiveness in dealing with arising contingencies.

In addition to operating the mechanisms, the Province took various measures to foster synergy of the whole political system, armed forces and the people from all walks of life for the DZE. As a large-scale and time-capital-and-labour-intensive type of exercise, the province-level defensive combat exercise is a mission of paramount importance to local party committees and administrations. Therefore, on the one hand, the Provincial People’s Committee proactively formulated the plans and instructed its affiliates to mobilize relevant forces and vehicles for the DZE; on the other, the Province also issued documents, directives and decisions pertaining to the specific delegation of responsibilities to party committees and commandants and the quantity of personnel and vehicles involved in the DZE from the provincial affiliates in which the Military and Public Security agencies played a central and coordinative role in laying out DZE contents, methods, timetable and targets. Great importance was attached to rehearsing important contents concerning human and equipment and vehicle safety principles during the DZE preparation and implementation process alike. The realities of the 2018 DZE revealed that the Province mobilized nearly two thousand cadres and soldiers of the provincial military, public security, militia and reserve forces. After the DZE had ended, the Province attached great value to drawing the lessons from the DZE as a basis for the provincial affiliates to pay their continued attention to building and operating defensive zones in general and defensive exercises in particular.

Full awareness, determined leadership and directions, elaborate preparations, heightened individual responsibility, effective and flexible mechanisms, among others are a prerequisite for Ninh Binh province’s successful implementation of the 2018 DZE. Those precious experiences drawn from the DZE will enable Ninh Binh province to continue to build its firm defensive zones, creating an enabling condition for the Province’s continued development with a view to realizing the goal of the strong Party, happy people, prosperous province and powerful armed forces.

Dinh Van Dien, Head of the Provincial People’s Committee