The Border Guard Commander, Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien; Border Guard Political Commissar, Major General Do Danh Vuong and Border Guard Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff, Major General Nguyen Van Nam co-chaired the meeting.
In his speech, General Nam emphasized that the national border plays a strategic role in politics, socio-economy, defense, security, and foreign relations. Thus, protection of national border is important and inseparable in the national construction and protection cause.
Over the past years, the Vietnamese Party and State have issued and made many important guidelines and policies on building strong border areas. However, low growth has been seen in all fields in the border areas. Besides, there remains instability in political security, complicated developments and crimes’ activities along the borderline. Additionally, partially legal system on border building, management and protection, limited connection between socio-economic development and defense-security reinforcement have negatively impacted and challenged the firm protection of national border sovereignty and security.
Therefore, it is necessary to build a new “national border protection strategy” in order to define basic and long-term goals, direction viewpoints, missions and comprehensive solutions to firmly safeguarding the national border sovereignty, territory, security in order to accomplish two strategic missions of national building and protection in the international integration.
Comments voiced at and nearly 30 speeches sent to the seminar pointed out difficulties, challenges in safeguarding national sovereignty over borders, seas and islands.
The draft “National Border Protection Strategy” has inherited from the previous draft “National Border Strategy” and has been developed under the guideline of the Politburo, the Central Military Commission, and the Ministry of National Defense. It has covered many fields and engaged many ministries, departments from the central to local levels.
The participants also suggested building the strategy with specific goals such as, preventing and handling hostile forces’ sabotage plots, early finding and destroying all invasion and armed activities, completing the legal mechanism, policies and system, fully building whole people’s border and related postures, building a strong political system at the grassroots level, improving locals’ spiritual and material living standards, bringing into play minorities’ cultural identities, gradually eliminating unstable factors, building armed forces defending national border, expanding international cooperation in border areas and promoting border exchange programs, border management and protection cooperation as well as preventing crimes and non-traditional security challenges.
In his conclusion speech, Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien acknowledged and thanked delegates for their constructive opinions and speeches. On basis of the outcomes of the meeting, the organizing panel and the strategy’s compilation group will study and adjust the draft to report it to the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defense for adjustment and supplement before submitting to the Politburo for approval this September.
Translated by Mai Huong