A senior military officer has underlined the need to build a revolutionary, regular, professional, and well-trained Vietnam People’s Army and gradually modernise it to meet the demand for firmly defending the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in the new circumstance.

“This is a vital issue, a basic viewpoint and a consistent leading guidance of our Party,” Vice Director of the General Politics Department of the Vietnam People’s Army Ngo Xuan Lich said in his presentation delivered to the ongoing 11 th National Party Congress in Hanoi on Jan. 13.

Over the past years, the Party and State have always paid attention and given out leading guidance, solutions and instruction to reinforce the army in political, ideological and organisational spheres, Lich noted.

Accordingly, the army has become a reliable and loyal combat troop and political force of the Party and the people, having high combat capacity.

The army has proactively provided prompt and effective consultancy to the Party and State in military and defence areas and competently performed functions and tasks assigned for the combat army.

It has been the key force in safeguarding the national independence, sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity as well as in protecting the Party, the State, the people and the socialist regime, and building a strong all-people defence and a solid all-people defence in combination with a people’s security disposition.

Lich also stressed that the army has taken an active role in promoting socio-economic development and building political bases at localities, especially disadvantaged and important locations such as remote, border areas and islands.

It has acted as a key force in search and rescue activities during times of natural disasters and environmental catastrophe, as well as in post-disaster relief operations while carrying out external defence activities to contribute to maintaining a peaceful and stable environment for national construction and development, the officer said.

According to Lich, peace, cooperation and development remain big trends nowadays, however, complex and unexpected developments taking place in the region and the world include elements that could lead to instability.

“Our current revolutionary tasks demand a peaceful and stable environment be maintained for the country to develop, risks of war prevented and stamped out, all hostile forces’ sabotage activities be thwarted to firmly defend the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and at the same time to be ready to achieve a win in an ever more complicated circumstance,” Lich said.

Therefore, the officer emphasised the need to gain a thorough understanding of the Party’s viewpoints pertaining to the tasks of building and modernizing a revolutionary, regular, professional and well-trained people’s army.

He also noted the need to renew and develop suitable contents as well as formulars relating to the building of the army on the grounds of a new stream of thinking on defence and protection of the country in the new condition, saying these should conform with the army’s real capacity and meet immediate and long term requirements and tasks.

Lich has presented issues that needed to be focused on for successfully building a revolutionary, regular, professional, and well-trained Vietnam People’s Army and modernising it to satisfy requirements and tasks to defend the country firmly at present and in the future.

He consistently underlined the principle of taking the building of a politically firm army as a basis for raising the army’s overall quality and strength with the maintenance and unceasing reinforcement of the Party’s resolute and direct leadership over the army in all fields.

Efforts must concentrate on making the army strong in personnel and organisation to ensure its stability, rationalisation, and good training to be capable of fulfilling all tasks assigned.

To become well-trained, the army must focus firstly on its political, technical and tactical spheres so that it can meet all requirements of the mode of struggle to protect the country in the new period and be capable of defeating all enemies in any situation, including a war where hi-tech weapons are used. It must work to prevent and fight off the “peaceful evolution” and the “self-evolving” and “self-transforming” inner process triggered by the “peaceful evolution”, Lich said.

The officer said the army must proactively and actively implement a policy of gradual and effective modernisation.

Apart from promoting and raising the effective use and exploitation of existing weapons and equipment, the army needs to be equipped with new, cutting-edge weapons and equipment to enable it to defend the fatherland in the new circumstance.

The army also needs to continue speeding up its external defence activities to create a new position and strength for the all-people defence, Lich noted./.