Dong Thap is a border province which is located in the Southwest of Vietnam and holds an important position in the general defensive posture of the Military Region 9 and the country. In the past years, the province has obtained achievements in socio-economic development, defence-security consolidation and diplomacy. Its indexes concerning investment and business environment and competitiveness have been ranked in the top of the country. Its economic growth rate in the first half of 2018 was 8.02%; people’s material and mental life has increasingly improved; social welfare has been enhanced; the all-people national defence, all-people national defence posture and people’s security posture have been unceasingly strengthened. Those achievements have been attributed to the efforts by the Party Committee, authority and people in the area. Moreover, it is the province’s armed forces that have promoted their core role in local defence-military work, contributing to maintaining political security and social order, and facilitating the province’s socio-economic development and international integration.

A conference of the Provincial Military Party Committee

Grasping the Party’s guidelines, the State’s policy and law, and higher echelons’ resolutions and directives on defence-military work, the Provincial Military Command (PMC) and its Party Committee have actively counselled the Provincial Party Committee and People’s Committee to lead, direct and carry out defence-military work. First, the PMC has advised the province on issuing legal normative documents to lead and direct this work to promote the strength of the whole political system and people. Due attention has been paid to raising all-level party committees and key cadres’ awareness and improving their capability and method for leading and directing the military-defence missions; to completing mechanism and regulations on the building and operation of the defensive zone; to assigning function, task and responsibility of each level and sector towards the building of the all-people national defence and the potential and posture of the defensive zone. Besides, consideration has been given to studying and elaborating legal documents on national defence, militia and self-defence forces, defence and security education, and military service. The PMC has regularly grasped the situation, closely cooperated with forces, particularly the Border Guard and Public Security in studying, assessing and anticipating the situation to give advice to the province on dealing with the issues on defence and security, and protecting the area and border sovereignty. Up to now, the province has built and implemented the project on building the defensive zone in the 2015-2020 period, vision to 2030; the project on building the militia and self-defence forces and the reserve forces; the project on defence support in the first years of a war, which have been highly appreciated by the Ministry of National Defence and the Military Region.

As the standing agency of the Steering Board on building defensive zones at all levels, the PMC and local military offices have been active in reviewing, appraising and counselling the strategies, plans and projects for socio-economic development by the province and localities, especially foreign-invested projects and those in key areas of defence and security. Accordingly, the state management of defence and security has been well implemented while socio-economic development has been closely combined with defence, security and diplomacy under the Party’s line. Tens of industrial zones and clusters have been planned and developed synchronously and harmoniously. Grounded on counselling by military offices, the province has completed the planning and initially built the border gate economic zone of Dong Thap with the total area of 31,936ha and two international border gates. As this is a national-scale border gate economic zone and an economic hub of countries of the Mekong sub-region, it is vitally important to counsel and appraise this project in defence and security terms.

For the sake of socio-economic development, the province has adopted breakthrough policies to attract investment and cut administrative procedures. However, it has still put store by defence and security when planning, closely managing economic development projects, new urban areas and residential lines in the military posture. In the inland area, military offices have counselled local party committees and authorities to plan and build the combat posture of communes and clusters of communes in line with flood-proof residential lines. In the border area, residential clusters, border gate economic zones, border posts and stations, and border patrol roads have been closely planned to create an inter-connected military posture. To overcome difficulties in budget, the PMC has cooperated with functional offices in counselling the province to prioritize essential works first and gradually complete the others later, to focus on building commune-level military commands, border posts, logistics-technical bases and dual-use works to both facilitate socio-economic development and serve the defence, security and border protection missions.

Furthermore, the province has stepped up the work of defence and security propagation and education. Military offices at all levels have advised party committees and authorities on strengthening the organizational structure of the Councils for defence and security education and supplementing and completing the regulations on the operation of these Councils. At the same time, military offices have cooperated with relevant committees and sectors in reviewing, classifying the objects and making plans and providing defence and security education at their level, while guiding and enhancing inspection of the implementation of this work. During the course of implementation, the province has actively renewed contents, forms and methods of education and propagation in accordance with each object, local socio-economic, defence and security situation, and closely combined defence and security education and propagation with legal propagation and education. To deal with the shortage of defence and security education teachers, the province has directed district-level military offices to actively train teachers who wear two hats in the area, and strengthen the inspection work in all aspects, particularly in preparing training materials under the regulations by the Ministry of Education and Training. In the academic year of 2017-2018, the province has provided training courses on this subject for nearly 38,000 students.

Special attention has been paid to the work of defence and security propagation and dissemination by the province. The PMC has cooperated with functional agencies in building proper, high-quality programs to propagate on the province’s media. At the same time, it has organized other activities, such as marching associated with mass mobilization, the building of new-style rural area, implementation of the policy regarding military families, and enlistment festivals to conduct propagation among the people. In recent times, people in the area have showed their interest in the Law on Cyber Security and the draft Law on Special Administrative-Economic Units. The province’s armed forces have worked with functional forces to persistently, clearly explain the nature of these issues to the people. They have also unmasked hostile plots, contributing to orientating the public opinion, upholding the people’s vigilance against evil information, maintaining political security and social order at grass-roots level.

Conducting the exercise in the river

To encourage their core role in local military-security work, the province has paid due regard to building strong armed forces comprehensively. The PMC has directed its offices and units to focus on consolidating the organizational structure of forces in accord with their function and task on a “compact, strong” basis with priority given to units tasked with combat readiness and those stationed in border areas and key areas of defence and security. Focuses have been put on making the active forces “revolutionary, regular, seasoned, gradually modern”; on renewing contents, programs and methods of training, and adding new points in accordance with characteristics of a border, riverine, flat province; on improving the quality of defensive zone, security maintenance, natural disaster prevention and control, and search and rescue exercises. At the same time, importance has been attached to building strong military offices at all levels comprehensively, renewing leadership method and working style, and accelerating administrative reform. Besides, the province has strictly implemented the Law on the Militia and Self-Defence Forces and made the forces “strong and extensive” with proper structure and components in accord with the area’s particularities and the Project to build the militia and self-defence forces in the 2016-2020 period and beyond. Up to now, the province has established 391 militia and self-defence bases. Members of the forces have accounted for 1.4% of its population. Party members have accounted for 22.2% of the forces. Its reserve forces have been made “close to the area and lean”. 99.9% of its reserve units have been fully staffed. Annually, it provides human resources for reserve units to be mobilized when situations occurs. Moreover, the province’s armed forces have cooperated with competent offices in promoting defence diplomacy and assisting several Cambodian localities in health, education, rural development, and infrastructure, etc. Those activities have contributed to propagating our Party and State’s guidelines and policies on the solidarity and friendship between Vietnam and Cambodia, border and border gate agreements and regulations between the two countries as well as maintaining political security and social order in the border area and building a border of peace, friendship and cooperation for development.

With the tireless efforts, the armed forces of Dong Thap province have really deserved to play the core role in the province’s defence and military work, contributing to the province’s Party Committee, authority and people’s successful fulfillment of the two strategic tasks in the new situation.

Sr. Col. Tran Van Cuong, Standing Member of the Provincial Party Committee

Commander of the PMC