Hai Phong is a seaport city, serving as the main gateway to the sea for the North and the whole country, holding a position of special importance in economic, defence, and security terms. Fully aware of the city’s position and advantages, the Municipal Military Party Organisation has formulated various lines and measures for military and defence tasks, contributing to maintaining political stability and creating a favourable condition for the city’s socio-economic development.

First of all, the Municipal Military Party Committee (MMPC) has always given advice to the Municipal Party Committee, the Municipal People’s Council, and the Municipal People’s Committee on opportunely introducing and realising resolutions and directives regarding military and defence tasks by the Party, the Central Military Commission (CMC), the Ministry of National Defence (MND), and Military Region 3. Consideration has been given to the 10^th Politburo’s Resolution 28-NQ/TW, dated 22 September 2008, on “continuing to build provinces and centrally-run cities into solid defensive zones in the new situation”, the 13^th Party Central Committee’s Resolution 44-NQ/TW, dated 24 November 2023, on the Strategy for Fatherland Protection in the New Situation, the Government’s Decree 21/2019/NĐ-CP, dated 22 February 2019, on “defensive zones”, the 13^th Politburo’s Conclusion 96-KL/TW, dated 30 September 2024, on continuing to execute the 12^th Politburo’s Resolution 45-NQ/TW, dated 24 January 2019, on building and developing Hai Phong city towards 2030, with a vision towards 2045. Grounded on those documents, resolutions, programs, and plans have been designed and closely implemented in accordance with the particularities of each locality and unit. To effectively operate mechanisms for local military and defence work, the MMPC has directed all-level military agencies to give better advice to local party committees and authorities on issuing the system of leading and directing documents, creating a legal corridor for the synchronous implementation process, avoiding any overlaps. At the same time, preliminary and final reviews have been closely, seriously carried out to draw lessons.

The armed forces of Cat Hai district practise coastal defence project (photo: quankhu3.vn)

In response to economic, political, social, defence, and security developments across the city, the MMPC has led and directed units to enhance defence and security education for target individuals. This is a task of paramount importance to raising awareness and a sense of responsibility among cadres, soldiers, and people from all walks of life towards the cause of building all-people national defence and protecting the Fatherland. Under the Party’s lines, resolutions and directives by the CMC and the MND on defence and security work, particularly the 10^th Politburo’s Directive 12-CT/TW, dated 3 May 2007, on strengthening the Party’s leadership over defence and security education in the new situation, the Government’s Decree 139/2020/NĐ-CP, dated 27 November 2020, amending and supplementing several articles of the Government’s Decree 13/2014/NĐ-CP, dated 25 February 2014, on the enforcement of the Law on Defence and Security Education, units have frequently consolidated all-level Defence and Security Education Councils and promoted the role of those Councils in renewing and diversifying programs and forms of education for target individuals, with great value attached to religious dignitaries, family heads, vessel owners, typical persons within communities, trade union members and workers within industrial parks and export processing zones across the city. In the process, units have closely collaborated with departments, sectors, and local unions in propagation and education work aimed at rendering cadres, soldiers, and citizens fully aware of the Party’s political and military lines, defence and security tasks, defensive zone building, and local socio-economic development associated with defence and security consolidation, unmasking hostile forces’ plots and artifices against local stability and development. Thanks to those efforts, a positive change in awareness of military lines and defence and security tasks among cadres, party members, key leaders, and people from all walks of life has been made as the basis for building robust all-people national defence.

The MMPC has regularly exercised its leadership and direction over the building of strong municipal armed forces capable of military and defence tasks. First of all, leadership has been focused on making the municipal armed forces politically strong as the basis for improving their synergy and combat power and upholding their political reliability and absolute loyalty to the Party, State, and people. Offices and units have stepped up education work to raise awareness and a sense of responsibility among cadres and soldiers towards the tasks of localities, the Military, and their own as well as Fatherland building and protection tasks in the new situation. They have strictly implemented the Project on “renewing political education at grass-roots units”, with reforms in law education and dissemination for target individuals. They have well performed the work of internal political protection, building safe units and areas simultaneously, encouraging the people to adhere to the Party’s lines and the State’s laws and policies. They have enhanced the study and following of Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics, and lifestyle, the Campaign on “promoting tradition, devoting talent, deserving to be Uncle Ho’s Soldiers in the new era”, the Determined to Win Emulation Movement, and the city’s Patriotic Emulation Movement, while well performing policy work for military families. They have strictly maintained training and combat readiness, grasping situational developments, opportunely adjusting combat documents and plans, practising combat projects to keep improving troops’ combat readiness capacity, all-level key cadres’ command and capability to deal with situations, and detachment-level units’ manoeuvrability. In training work, they have stringently executed the CMC’s Resolution 1659-NQ/QUTW, dated 20 December 2022, on raising the quality of training in the period of 2023 - 2030 and beyond, closely following the motto of “basics, practicality, solidity”, organising training courses relevant to their task characteristics and structure. As for the reserve force and the militia and self-defence force, training work has been closely carried out under the pre-set training programs and time, with a focus on tactics, skills, and defensive combat, natural disaster response, search and rescue exercises, as well as political security and social order and safety protection. Offices and units have well organised training contests from grass-roots to Municipal Command levels, actively taking part in contests at MND and Military Region levels, achieving high rankings among provinces and cities. Under regulations on force adjustment by the MND and the Military Region, the MMPC has focused on reviewing and adjusting offices and units’ organisational structure to meet the task requirements in peacetime and maintain readiness for expansion in the event. All-level party committees have actively taken breakthrough measures to build “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong units. Great value has been attached to raising the quality of building comprehensively strong offices and units, dealing with weaknesses and units with poor task performance, and making a positive change in regularity building and discipline management. As a result, the municipal armed forces’ synergy and combat power have been unceasingly improved to provide a solid fulcrum for local party committees, authorities, and people.

In addition to those above-mentioned measures, the MMPC has always concentrated on leading and directing all-level military agencies to build in-depth, solid defensive zones. All-level military agencies have proactively given advice to local party committees and authorities on closely combining economic development with defence consolidation, the building of all-people national defence, and the building of all-people national defence posture associated with people’s security posture and all-people border defence posture in each area and across the city, especially in key, coastal areas. They have closely coordinated with sectors and localities to appraise and supervise socio-economic development projects, ensuring that those projects would always be closely combined with military posture within defensive zones, possess highly dual-purpose capabilities, and meet the requirements of defence and security in the event. At the same time, the Municipal Military Command has directed districts and Thuy Nguyen city to give advice to local party committees and authorities on holding defensive zone exercises relevant to each locality's particularities and tasks. Via those exercises, the mechanism, in which the Party leads, authorities operate, and offices, sectors, and unions provide advice, has been carried out properly; the people’s awareness of the two strategic tasks of Fatherland construction and protection has been raised; the armed forces’ combat readiness capacity has been improved, thereby contributing to building increasingly strong defensive zones.

The MMPC has focused its leadership and direction on the building of a strong, extensive militia and self-defence force, with proper quantity, high quality, and a ratio of members to the population standing at 1.35%; it has effectively exercised its leadership over the building of Standing Militia Squadron taking part in protecting seas and islands. It has led the Municipal Military Command to closely cooperate with localities in re-examining, registering, managing, and arranging reservists and technical means into reserve units. As a result, the city has always effectively mobilised reservists in training and mobilisation readiness inspections. Besides, the selection and conscription of citizens into the Military has been closely led and conducted; all targets of this work assigned by higher echelons have been fulfilled.

Bringing into play the recorded results, in the upcoming time, the MMPC and Municipal Military Command of Hai Phong will strive to successfully perform military and defence work to create a favourable environment for fostering socio-economic development, consolidating defence and security, and building an increasingly civilised, modern Hai Phong.

Sr. Col. VU VAN MEN

Deputy Political Commissar of the Municipal Military Command