Communist Review - The quality of "Uncle Ho's Soldiers" is an outstanding value of military culture, which is fostered by the nation's patriotism, the education and training provided by the Communist Party of Vietnam and President Ho Chi Minh, the trust and support of the people, and the contributions and sacrifices of generations of officers and soldiers. This value has been preserved, inherited, and developed through the practical experiences of the revolutionary struggle and in the cause of national construction and defense. Promoting the quality of "Uncle Ho's Soldiers" in national construction and defense is both an objective requirement and the sentiment and responsibility of all officers and soldiers of the Vietnam People’s Army.

Over the past nearly 80 years, under the absolute and direct leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam and the centralized and unified management of the State, and with the close and effective coordination of central and local sectors and branches, and the love and support of the people, the Vietnam People's Army (VPA) has always maintained its revolutionary nature, and has continually developed, combated, matured, and achieved glorious victories. In any condition or circumstances, be they hardships, sacrifices, or the cunning and devious schemes of the enemies, the Vietnam People's Army has maintained its absolute loyalty to and trust in the Party's leadership. It has maximized the traditions of patriotism and revolutionary heroism, ensured strict discipline, and always acted proactively, creatively, intelligently, and bravely with determination to fight and win, while maintaining a close bond with the people. Generations of officers and soldiers have achieved remarkable feats, glorifying the history of national construction and defense and building a proud military tradition. They deserve President Ho Chi Minh's praise: “Our military is loyal to the Party, filial to the people, and ready to fight and sacrifice for national independence and freedom and socialism. It fulfills every assigned mission, overcomes every hardship and defeats every enemy.”⁽¹⁾ They deserve the noble title “Uncle Ho's Soldiers” awarded by the people and deserve to be called the heroic army of the heroic Vietnamese nation.

Promoting the quality of "Uncle Ho's soldiers" in national construction and defense, the VPA continues to fulfill its role as a "combat army, a working army, and a production army." It serves as the core force alongside the people to maintain national independence, sovereignty, unification, and territorial integrity, and protect the Party, the State, the people, revolutionary achievements, and the socialist regime while ensuring a peaceful and stable environment for national development. The VPA consistently upholds revolutionary vigilance and actively combats and defeats all sabotage schemes and actions of hostile forces. It has creatively and effectively implemented socio-economic development programs, and developed economic-defense zones and other strategically significant projects. The VPA has actively responded to movements of gratitude, poverty reduction, new-style rural area building, and building safe areas, the political system and culture at the grassroots level, especially in key, remote, and ethnic minority areas, as well as border and island areas. These efforts have contributed enormously to consolidating and strengthening the great national unity bloc, the "people's hearts and minds posture," and the all-people national defense posture and potential. The VPA is always the core and pioneering force in disaster prevention, search and rescue, dealing with war consequences, and effectively implementing army rear guard policies. It has effectively conducted international integration and defense diplomacy, and actively participated in United Nations peacekeeping forces, contributing to elevating Vietnam's position and prestige on the international stage.

Rapid, complex, and unpredictable developments are expected to continue in the region and world in the coming years. Peace, cooperation, and development will continue to be major trends but will face numerous obstacles and challenges. A multipolar, multi-center world will be more clearly defined, with strategic competition among great powers becoming more intense, potentially leading to confrontations. Major countries  continue to adjust their strategies, form alliances, and gather forces, engaging in both cooperation and compromise while simultaneously competing against and restraining each other. They are also intervening in and influencing the internal affairs of other countries, creating significant challenges for developing nations, especially medium and small countries. Security hotspots are on the rise in numbers and risk spreading. New forms of war, operational domains, strategic spaces, and methods of warfare are emerging. Global issues such as peace, human security, natural disasters, epidemics, social security, and non-traditional security threats, particularly cybersecurity, climate change, and environmental pollution, continue to evolve in a complicated manner. Territorial disputes, especially over maritime and island sovereignty, are becoming more intense and complex, posing risks of conflict, and adversely impacting navigation and aviation security and safety.

Domestically, despite commendable progress, limitations and weaknesses remain in the cause of renewal and national construction and defense, along with the emergence of new challenging issues. The four dangers identified by the Party still exist, with even more complicated and intense developments in some aspects. There remain potentially destabilizing factors in the East Sea, the Southwest Sea, and several strategic or key areas. Disputes over sea and island sovereignty, information warfare, and cyber warfare are increasing, and the handling of international relations, especially with major countries, is fraught with many difficulties and challenges. Hostile, reactionary, and politically opportunistic forces in the country and abroad are colluding to sabotage Vietnam more openly and directly with increasingly sophisticated and devious schemes and tactics. The tasks of building the VPA, strengthening national defense, and protecting the Fatherland are becoming more challenging and complex while the proportion of officers with combat experience is decreasing.

In this context, the cause of national construction and defense undertaken by the entire Party, people, and army has become more demanding, with  opportunities, advantages, challenges, and difficulties all intertwined. The VPA has always been aware of its core role in carrying out the "crucial and regular" task of national defense and security, and fully understands the political responsibility and the significant tasks entrusted by the Party, the State, and the people. Adhering to the Resolution of the 8th plenum of the 13th Party Central Committee on "The national defense strategy in the new context," the entire army needs to further promote the quality of "Uncle Ho's Soldiers," focusing on the following solutions to accomplish the tasks of national construction and defense.

First, continue to effectively perform the function of researching and advising the Party and the State on military and national defense, and firmly safeguard the socialist homeland of Vietnam, creating a peaceful and stable environment for national construction and development.

This is the VPA’s primary and most important task, which stems from and is firmly based on the Party's stance and guiding principles on protecting the homeland "early and from afar" and "when it is not yet in danger."

To fulfill this mission, the VPA must proactively assess and accurately forecast global, regional, and domestic situations to promptly advise the Party and  State on effective solutions in order to avoid being passive and caught unaware in any circumstances, and to prevent disagreements and disputes from escalating into armed conflicts or wars.

Focus should be placed on researching, proposing, and effectively implementing comprehensive, fundamental, and long-term policies and solutions to prevent the risk of war and conflict "early and from afar" and to "protect the country when it is not yet in danger." It is crucial to consistently implement the policy of “no military alliances, no siding with one country against another, no hosting foreign military bases or using Vietnamese territory to oppose other countries, and no using force or threatening to use force in international relations.”⁽²⁾ It is important to resolutely and persistently resolve all disputes and disagreements through peaceful means, based on international law and practices.

The VPA should actively and proactively develop operational plans and strategies and improve combat readiness and capabilities to "firmly safeguard national independence, sovereignty, unification, and territorial integrity, protect the Party, the State, the people, the socialist regime, culture, and national interests."⁽³⁾  Greater efforts are needed to improve the capability to conduct cyber warfare and information warfare and to coordinate the implementation of comprehensive solutions to ensure information security and safety. Particular attention should be paid to completing mechanisms and regulations, especially those concerning coordination between the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Public Security, central and local agencies, sectors, and organizations in order to address national defense situations. The VPA should be prepared to effectively respond to traditional and non-traditional security challenges,     natural disasters, epidemics, and rescue and relief operations. It is imperative to ensure absolute security and safety for critical structures, activities of Party and State leaders, and political, cultural, and foreign affairs events of the country.

Furthermore, it is essential to intensify research on and summarize practical experiences to further develop the theoretical system on national defense, the art of people's war, and Vietnam’s military arts in the new context of national construction and defense.

Second, effectively promote the core role of the VPA in building all-people national defense, an all-people defense posture in conjunction with building a people's security posture, meeting the requirements and tasks for national construction and defense in the new context.

National construction and defense is the cause of the entire Party, people, and army, with the VPA and the People's Public Security force playing the core role. To meet the requirements of national construction and defense in the new context, it is crucial to establish strong all-people national defense across the country. It is a national defense system which contains the potential and synergy created by resources from the nation and people, and embodies a peaceful and self-defensive nature, with no intention  to threaten any other country. It is also an all-people, comprehensive, independent, self-reliant, self-resilient and increasingly advanced national defense system, built by the entire population under the absolute, direct, and comprehensive leadership of the Party and the centralized, unified management of the State from the central to local and grassroots levels.

To build strong and comprehensive all-people national defense, the VPA  continues to work closely with central and local agencies, sectors, and organizations to implement coordinated solutions that are appropriate for the relevant conditions, characteristics, and advantages of each locality and region, especially strategic areas like the Central Highlands, Northwest, Southwest, border, sea and island areas. The focus is on establishing an all-people defense posture coupled with the people's security posture, particularly with the building of a solid "people's hearts and minds posture" right from the grassroots level. Attention is paid to building strong defense zones at all levels to create a firm, interconnected defense layout in each locality and the entire country, enabling localities to effectively deal with national defense and security situations in both peacetime and wartime. Resources are focused on building defense infrastructure, equipment, and facilities, as well as combat and defensive works, and a unified civil defense system with priority given to border, sea, and island areas, along with strategic and critical areas.

It is necessary to renew and enhance the quality and effectiveness of education and training on national defense and security and to ensure that it is relevant to different target groups in order to improve the awareness and responsibility of cadres, Party members, and the public towards both national defense and the task of building all-people national defense. It is crucial to promote education, consensus, and awareness regarding partners and objects of struggle and to fully understand national defense guidelines, viewpoints, requirements, and tasks in the new situation. Efforts should be made to continue to make full use of the role and effectiveness of economic-defense units and military enterprises to combine economic, cultural, social, and foreign affairs development with the strengthening of national defense, especially in strategic areas, in particularly disadvantaged regions, in border and island areas, and in key economic zones.

Third, build a politically strong VPA to lay the foundation for enhancing the overall quality and combat power of the entire army.

The building of a politically strong VPA serves as the foundation for enhancing the overall quality and combat strength of the entire army. It is necessary to continue implementing the project on renewing political education in military units in the new period, focusing on improving the quality of education on Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh's thought, the nature of the revolution, traditions and missions of the VPA and its units, partners and objects of struggle, and hostile forces’ nefarious plots. It is crucial to promptly correct any misconceptions and ideological deviations, and proactively fight against signs of "self-evolution" and "self-transformation." Priority should be given to building a contingent of officers and soldiers who are politically steadfast; absolutely loyal to the Fatherland, the Party, the State, and the people; and highly determined and ready to accept and successfully complete all assigned tasks.

The movement "Promoting traditions and contributing talent to deserve the title Uncle Ho's Soldiers" in the new era should be intensified and combined with the campaign to study and follow the ideology, morality, and style of Ho Chi Minh, as well as with emulation movements and other campaigns at national and army scales through creative, appropriate, and effective models and methods. This will deepen the VPA’s tradition of being loyal to the Party, filial to the people, ready to fight and sacrifice for national independence and freedom and socialism, and being able to fulfill every assigned mission, overcome every hardship and defeat every enemy. It is necessary to effectively implement policies for the army and army rear guard, and to renew the content and methods of implementation, and improve the quality and effectiveness of Party work and political affairs in all assigned tasks so as to ensure they adhere to Party guidelines and policies, the practical activities of soldiers, and military and national defense requirements and tasks. Attention should be paid to developing strong organizations for youth and women, as well as trade unions and soldiers' councils, contributing to building untarnished and strong Party organizations, and comprehensively strong agencies and units to successfully complete all assigned tasks.

Fourth, promote the building of the revolutionary, regular, elite, and gradually modernized VPA, which possesses combined quality and strong combat power, as the core force for the entire people in the cause of national defense.

This is the vital factor to ensure that the VPA is strong enough to fulfill its role as the core force in the protection of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. With a profound understanding of the Party's viewpoints and guidelines on national defense and military affairs, particularly the guidelines for building the people's armed forces, as well as the requirements and tasks for national construction and defense in the new context, the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defense have focused on comprehensive solutions to build an "elite, compact, and strong" VPA. Important initial results have been achieved, ensuring a relatively consistent balance between services, arms, agencies, and units, as well as between the active force and the reserve.

Fifth, build and develop a proactive, self-reliant, self-resilient, dual-use, and modern defense industry meeting the requirements of modernizing the VPA.

The entire army should thoroughly understand and strictly implement the viewpoints, goals, tasks, and solutions outlined in the Politburo’s Resolution 08-NQ/TW, dated January 26, 2022, on "Accelerating the development of the defense industry until 2030 and beyond." Based on the country's economic potential and conditions and the requirements and tasks of national defense, efforts should be made to successfully achieve the defense industry development goals set in line with the roadmap until 2030 and the following years. In  areas where the defense industry has strengths and has mastered relevant technologies, priority should be given to enhancing the capacity of researching, designing, and manufacturing modern weapons and technical equipment, focusing on strategic weapons and deterrent weapons, as well as to strengthening defense capabilities and cyber warfare operations.

Sixth, continue to implement coordinated solutions to promote defense diplomacy in line with the motto of being "active, proactive, firm, flexible, effective," contributing to  safeguarding of the homeland "early and from afar," and enhancing the reputation and position of the VPA and the country on the international stage.

It is crucial to proactively and firmly protect the homeland and ensure to the utmost the national interests on the basis of the fundamental principles of the United Nations Charter and international law, equality, cooperation, and mutual benefit. It is important to promptly detect, prevent, and repel the risk of conflict and war to protect the homeland "early and from afar." Attention should be paid to making full use of external resources to strengthen defense capabilities and protect the homeland; diversifying partners in military technical cooperation and military trade; and actively and effectively participating in United Nations peacekeeping operations, humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, search and rescue, and post-war recovery efforts. Importance should be attached to enhancing international cooperation in responding to traditional and non-traditional security challenges.

Seventh, improve the leadership capacity and combat strength and build a clean, strong, and exemplary Party organization of the VPA to lead the entire military to successfully complete all the tasks assigned by the Party, State, and people.

With the guiding viewpoint that "Party building is key" in mind, the Resolution of the 11th Congress of the VPA’s Party Committee underscored the need to enhance the leadership capacity and combat strength and build a clean, strong, and exemplary Party organization of the VPA. In the coming time, the entire army will continue to improve the understanding of  resolutions and directives of the Party Central Committee, the Politburo, the Secretariat, the resolutions of the 13th National Party Congress and the 11th Congress of the VPA’s Party Committee. Efforts will be made to consistently and effectively implement solutions to execute the Resolutions of the 4th Plenum of the 11th, 12th, and 13th Party Central Committees on Party building and rectification, and the Politburo’s Conclusion 01-KL/TW, dated May 18, 2021, on "Continuing to implement Directive 05-CT/TW of the Politburo on promoting the study and following of Ho Chi Minh's thought, morality, and style," and Directive 87-CT/QUTW, dated July 8, 2016, of the Standing Committee of the Central Military Commission, on "Promoting the study and following of Ho Chi Minh's thought, morality, and style in the VPA’s Party organization and the entire army." Importance will be attached to maintaining and strengthening the absolute, direct, and comprehensive leadership of the Party over the VPA and to building a truly clean, strong, and exemplary Party organization of the VPA, which is increasingly strong in politics, ideology, morality, organization, and personnel. Other tasks include enhancing the comprehensive leadership capacity and combat strength of Party committees and organizations; promoting the pioneering and exemplary role of cadres and Party members in creating widespread influence throughout the military and society; building a contingent of cadres and Party members who are virtuous, competent, highly reputable, exemplary, and "dare to think, dare to speak, dare to act, dare to take responsibility, dare to innovate, dare to face difficulties and challenges, and dare to act for the common good," meeting the requirements and tasks of national construction and defense in the new context.

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(1) Ho Chi Minh’s Complete Works, National Political  Publishing House, Hanoi, 2011, Vol. 14, p. 435
(2) Ministry of National Defense of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam: 2019 Vietnam National Defense, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2019, p. 25
(3) Documents of the 13th National Party Congress, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2021, Vol. 1, p. 156

This article was published in the Communist Review No. 1028 (December 2023)