Ethnic communities are brothers and sisters
Reports delivered at the event affirmed that safeguarding national sovereignty and border security requires, first and foremost, a strong “people’s heart posture.” To earn the people’s trust and encourage them to remain in their communities and help protect the border, their livelihoods, education and well-being must be ensured.
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General Phan Van Giang hands over the First-class Labor Order to the Vietnam Border Guard Command. |
Guided by the principle that “the border post is home, the border is homeland, and ethnic communities are brothers and sisters,” border guard officers and soldiers have remained close to local people, overcoming hardships to care for them. Their efforts include caring for more than 300 orphaned children at border posts, manning COVID-19 checkpoints in forests and mountains, protecting people and property during storms and floods, and sacrificing their blood and even their lives in the fight against crime to preserve peace along the nation’s borders.
These efforts have given rise to programs such as “Paving the way to school for children - Border posts’ foster children,” “Border spring warms people's hearts,” “Homes for the poor in border areas and on islands” and others.
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General Phan Van Giang and delegates at the event |
According to Cao Thi Xuan, Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly’s Council for Ethnic Affairs, these initiatives have helped bring the Party’s guidelines and the State’s policies and laws to ethnic communities, strengthen grassroots political systems, support sustainable poverty reduction, education, healthcare and human resource development, and reinforce equality, solidarity, and public trust.
Thorough surveys are essential when developing models
The border guard force’s models, programs, and movements have contributed to social welfare, education, healthcare, economic and cultural development, the strengthening of grassroots political systems, people-to-people diplomacy, and the protection of national sovereignty and border security.
In mountainous and remote areas, border guard units have focused on supporting education and literacy, fostering livelihood development, ensuring access to clean water, housing and healthcare. In coastal and island areas, efforts have focused on legal education, compliance with regulations, combating illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, supporting fishermen and strengthening disaster prevention and response. At border gates, the focus has been on legal education, security and order, crime prevention and illegal entry and exit.
Speaking at the conference, General Phan Van Giang praised the achievements of border guard officers and soldiers and thanked the Party, the State, central agencies, local authorities and people across the country for their continued support for the whole military in general, and the border guard force in particular to successfully fulfill assigned missions.
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General Phan Van Giang talks with delegates at the conference. |
He stressed that border areas are the living space and represent sacred and inviolable sovereignty. Managing and protecting national sovereignty and border security is an important and permanent task of the entire political system, the people, and the armed forces, with the border guard serving as the core and specialized force, a “steel fortress” on the difficult frontier.
General Phan Van Giang urged border guard officers and soldiers to regard the border post as their home, the border as their homeland and ethnic communities as their brothers and sisters; to live and work alongside local people, strengthen military-civilian solidarity and build a strong “people’s heart posture.”
He also called for a shift from “immediate, charity-based assistance” toward “creating self-reliant livelihoods linked to value chains and markets.” The development of each model, he said, must be based on thorough surveys and closely aligned with tasks, local conditions, people’s needs and the unit’s capabilities, with clear criteria for evaluating results and impacts.
The defense leader also called on central agencies, ministries, sectors, mass organizations and authorities in border provinces and cities to strengthen coordination with the Ministry of National Defense and the Border Guard and mobilize the combined strength of the whole political system to build strong border areas.
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General Phan Van Giang and delegates tour an exhibition held on the sidelines of the conference. |
On this occasion, authorized by the State President, General Phan Van Giang presented the First-Class Labor Order to the Border Guard and the Third-Class Labor Order to Maj. Gen. Vu Quoc An, Deputy Political Commissar of the Border Guard, for outstanding achievements in organizing the “Border spring warms people's hearts” program, contributing to the cause of building socialism and safeguarding the Fatherland.
Translated by Tran Hoai