Thoroughly grasping Resolution 44-NQ/TW dated 24 November 2023 by the Party Central Committee on the Strategy for Fatherland Protection in the New Situation, Military Region 5’s Party Committee and Command have been focusing their leadership and direction on making the Military Region’s armed forces strong as the basis for raising the Military Region’s synergy and combat power, enabling the Military Region to readily undertake and successfully fulfil all assigned tasks.

Military Region 5 is located in the South Central region and Central Highlands, sharing a land border with Laos and Cambodia, serving as the country’s “gateway” to the East Sea, especially having Truong Sa and Hoang Sa archipelagos as the Fatherland’s outposts. The Military Region possesses a large area (over 81,000 km²) together with 10 provinces and 1 municipality (6 coastal provinces, 1 coastal municipality, and 4 Central Highlands provinces); it has a population of more than 12 million from various ethnic groups, religions, and cultures, mainly inhabiting cities, towns, plains, and coastal areas. For that reason, the Military Region holds a position of strategic importance to the country’s politics, economy, society, defence, security, and diplomacy.

Military Region Commander gives gifts to citizens of hamlet No. 1, Tra Leng commune, Nam Tra My district, Quang Nam province (photo: qdnd.vn)

Over the years, within the Military Region, political and social stability has been basically maintained; defence and security have been strengthened; economic growth has continued to be promoted; the people’s material and mental life has increasingly improved. Party building and rectification and the fight against corruption and negative practices have obtained positive results; the people’s faith in the Party, State, and socialist regime has been cemented. However, hostile and reactionary forces have continued to step up their sabotage strategy, taking advantage of issues on “ethnicity” and “religion” to undermine our national great unity bloc and revolutionary government, particularly in Central Highlands provinces, as evidenced by terrorist attacks in Cu Kuin (Dak Lak province) in 2023. Besides, they have exploited ties of cross-border kinship among ethnic groups to carry out sabotage operations.

Under the Party’s lines on building an “adept, compact, strong” Vietnam People’s Army (VPA) towards modernity, since 2018, the Ministry of National Defence (MND) has assigned Military Region 5 to design and implement a “pilot” Project on organisational adjustment of the Military Region’s affiliated units. To that end, the Military Region’s Party Committee and Command have grasped and seriously executed resolutions, directives, and conclusions by the Politburo, the Central Military Commission (CMC), and the MND, while synchronously taking measures to work towards “adept, compact, strong” organisational structures. In the process, the Military Region has advocated cautious, democratic approaches, following higher echelons’ guidance, accurately adopting procedures and steps to avoid negative impacts on its task performance. In order that all steps could be closely, effectively taken, the Military Region has focused on education work to achieve a consensus from party committees and commands to each cadre and soldier. Ideological work and policies during force adjustments have been well conducted. Up to now, all targets of force adjustments have been reached; 25% of offices and units as well as 21% of workforce within offices have been reduced respectively; logistics and technical offices have been merged with each other from grass-roots level to the Military Region’s affiliated units; local military schools and Vocational College No.5 have been dissolved under regulations.

Tank and Armoured Brigade 574 of the Military Region on the training ground (photo: qdnd.vn)

In the upcoming time, under the Resolution of the 13^th Party Central Committee’s 8^th Plenum on the Strategy for Fatherland Protection in the New Situation, the Military Region will closely cooperate with local party committees and authorities in strengthening the Party’s absolute, direct leadership in all aspects and the State’s focalised, uniform management, promoting the people’s massive role in Fatherland construction and protection, building a firm “posture of people’s hearts and minds”, maintaining peace and stability for socio-economic development, more effectively investing in making all-people national defence, people’s security, the armed forces, and the postures of all-people national defence, people’s security, and all-people border defence increasingly strong within the Military Region’s area. In this regard, emphasis will be placed on several main tasks and measures as follows.

First, maintaining and strengthening the Party’s absolute, direct leadership in all aspects, making the Military Region’s armed forces politically strong. The Party’s absolute, direct leadership over the VPA in all aspects is a matter of principle, providing a general lesson for our entire Party and Military. In the new situation, we will have basically built an “adept, compact, strong” VPA by 2025 as a prerequisite for building a revolutionary, regular, elite, modern VPA from 2030. In this process, the primary criterion is to build a “politically strong” VPA, with the Military Region’s armed forces as a component. In compliance with the viewpoints, goals, and mottos set by the Resolution of the 13^th Party Central Committee’s 8^th Plenum, the Military Region will concentrate on building strong party organisations in terms of politics, ideology, morality, organisation, and personnel at all levels within its armed forces. Due attention will be paid to strengthening the revolutionary nature and the Party’s ideological foundation within the Military Region’s armed forces, rendering cadres and soldiers cognisant of revolutionary goals and ideal, cementing their absolute loyalty to the Party, Fatherland, and people, enabling them to readily fight and sacrifice for national independence and socialism. The VPA’s revolutionary nature, people-oriented trait, national identity, and noble virtues must always be preserved and promoted, while the fight against hostile forces’ conspiracy to “depoliticise” the Military Region’s armed forces must be stepped up. Cadres and party members must set good examples for soldiers and the masses to follow; they must show no sign of degradation, “self-evolution”, or “self-transformation”; they must also regularly improve themselves according to 5 basic particularities of the virtues of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers” in the new period and resolutely fight against 10 manifestations of individualism mentioned in the CMC’s Resolution 847-NQ/QUTW dated 28 December 2021.

Second, making the Military Region’s armed forces “adept, compact, strong”, building a strong contingent of cadres, raising the quality of training. To do so, all-level party committees and commands will continue to grasp and stringently implement Resolution 05-NQ/TW dated 17 January 2022 by the Politburo, the CMC’s Resolution 230-NQ/QUTW dated 2 April 2022 as well as measures for defence and security strengthening set by the Resolution of the 13^th Party Central Committee’s 8^th Plenum to continue to exercise their leadership over the building of the Military Region’s armed forces in the period of 2021 - 2030 and beyond. Emphasis will be placed on building an “adept, compact, strong” standing force with a proper, synchronised, scientific, balanced structure relevant to the Party’s lines on all-people national defence and people’s war, ensuring the smooth operation of this force, improving its command efficiency and quick response to avoid falling into passivity. The Military Region will build a powerful reserve force with sufficient quantity, high quality, great military and professional competence, and readiness to reinforce the standing force when requested. The Military Region will build a “strong, extensive” militia and self-defence force capable of maintaining readiness for providing combat support and fighting to protect the Party, authorities, the people’s lives and assets at grass-roots level. Great value will be attached to “building a contingent of exemplary, highly responsible cadres with great working efficiency” as a breakthrough in the 2020 - 2025 tenure.

In addition to personnel development, the Military Region will continue to grasp and concretise Resolution 1659-NQ/QUTW dated 20 December 2022 by the CMC and Resolution 20-NQ/ĐU dated 28 March 2023 by the Military Region Party Committee on raising the quality of training in the period of 2023 - 2030 and beyond. It will conduct training work under the pre-set mottos, viewpoints, principles, and connections. Importance will be attached to organising synchronous, specialised, night-time, manoeuvre, tasks-based, and projects-based training courses, enabling troops to master new weapons and technical equipment, and holding exercises and contests at all levels in a practical, effective, and absolutely safe manner.

Third, enhancing regularity building and discipline management. To that end, the Military Region will grasp and seriously execute higher echelons’ directives and guiding documents on regularity building and discipline management, particularly Directive 79/CT-BQP dated 22 July 2022 by Minister of National Defence on building “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong units, Directive 11/CT-TM dated 12 April 2023 by Chief of the General Staff on raising the quality of regularity building and discipline management across the VPA, Resolution 17-NQ/ĐU dated 7 November 2022 by the Military Region Party Committee, and Plan 187/KH-QK dated 9 February 2023 by the Military Region Commander on building “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong offices and units within the Military Region’s armed forces. Cadres and soldiers of the Military Region will always be required to obey the State’s laws, Troop Management Regulations, and other rules of the VPA. Due attention will be paid to well maintaining regularity building, ensuring stability within the Military Region’s armed forces, closely managing units’ strength, weapons, and technical equipment. The Military Region advocates that the deployment of its troops for economic production shall be in accordance with relevant regulations. Besides, it will enhance administrative reform and digital transformation within its armed forces, ensuring utility, efficiency, secrecy, safety, and thrift in the process.

Fourth, promoting the armed forces’ core role in building all-people national defence. Under orientations for building all-people national defence set by the Resolution of the 13^th Party Central Committee’s 8^th Plenum, offices and units of the Military Region will closely cooperate with local party committees and authorities to drastically, synchronously, effectively perform military - defence tasks, particularly in the ethnic minority-inhabited, religious, border, sea, island areas. All-level military agencies will enhance state management of national defence, improving their capacity to give advice on military - defence work. Resources will be mobilised and tapped to develop potential and postures within the Military Region’s defence and provincial-level defensive zones. The Military Region will effectively implement projects under economic - defence zones and projects on combining economic development with national defence, improve the efficiency of its economic defence units, and continue to handle drawbacks in the management and use of defence land. It will take part in closely appraising socio-economic development projects to ensure that socio-economic development will always be an incentive for strengthening defence and security potential; due attention will be paid to developing dual-purpose socio-economic planning and sectors. Great value will be attached to constructing and managing combat works, border patrol road, all-level headquarters, depots, repair facilities, and logistics - technical bases, well conducting the planning and management of terrains of military strategic value, closely cooperating with local authorities and organisations as well as friendly offices and units in building a firm “posture of people’s hearts and minds”. The Military Region will comprehensively, effectively carry out the work of defence diplomacy, combining defence diplomacy with State diplomacy and people-to-people diplomacy, effectively responding to traditional and non-traditional security challenges, natural disasters, and epidemics, designing and well executing civil defence plans within the Military Region’s area.

Fifth, ensuring logistics - technical support for all operations of the Military Region’s armed forces. To do so, the Military Region will continue to grasp and implement the CMC’s Resolutions 1656-NQ/QUTW and 1658-NQ/QUTW as well as the Military Region Party Committee’s Plans 95-KH/ĐU and 97-KH/ĐU on leadership over logistics - technical work towards 2030 and beyond within the Military Region’s armed forces. It will improve the task performance of Logistics - Technical Offices of its affiliates after merger, reorganise its Logistics Department and Technical Department into Logistics - Technical Department, strictly maintain logistics - technical material reserves for combat readiness, sufficiently supplement new materials and equipment, and provide timely logistics - technical support for its tasks. Provincial-level military commands will give advice on mobilising local budget for tasks and maintaining operations of Defensive Zone Supply Councils at provincial and district levels. The Military Region will cooperate with localities in planning and constructing necessary works within logistics - technical bases at provincial and district levels. It will continue to effectively implement the Project on encouraging young intellectuals to volunteer to work at economic - defence zones. It will step up the Emulation Movement titled “Military Logistics Sector follows Uncle Ho’s teachings” and Campaign 50 in a practically effective, safety fashion, while minimising traffic accidents. It will improve the efficiency of investment management, making a huge positive change in capital construction. It will step by step develop focalised, synchronous, sustainable animal and crop husbandry in line with barracks planning, remain proactive in epidemic prevention and control, adopt new models of animal husbandry, and ensure a high rate of healthy troops for tasks.

Defending the Socialist Fatherland is one of the two strategic tasks of the Vietnamese revolution. In response to more demanding requirements of national renovation, Military Region 5’s armed forces will continue to effectively execute the Resolution of the 13^th Party Central Committee’s 8^th Plenum as a practical contribution to safeguarding national independence, sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity, protecting the Party, State, people, and socialist regime, defending the revolutionary fruits, national renovation, industrialisation, and modernisation, maintaining peace and stability for national construction and development.

Lt. Gen. THAI DAI NGOC

Member of the Party Central Committee

Member of the CMC

Commander of the Military Region