Vietnam Coast Guard determined to keep peace on the sea and islands of the Fatherland

On the occasion of the Spring of Giap Thin 2024, Lieutenant General Bui Quoc Oai, Secretary of the Party Committee - Political Commissar of the Vietnam Coast Guard, had an exchange and shared about these issues.

Reporter (PV): Could you please tell us about some outstanding results in the enforcement of law at sea by the Vietnam Coast Guard in the past year?

Lieutenant General Bui Quoc Oai : Law enforcement at sea is one of the most important tasks of the Coast Guard, aiming to combat all types of crimes and violations, maintain security, order, and safety in the sea, and maintain the sovereignty of the Fatherland's seas and islands. This task has always been focused on and directed by the Party Committee and the Head of the Vietnam Coast Guard Command; organized and implemented methodically and synchronously by Party committees and commanders at all levels in the entire Force, with high political determination; and carried out wholeheartedly by officers and soldiers with an uncompromising fighting spirit.

In 2023, the entire Force mobilized and used more than 1,100 ships and boats to carry out patrolling, inspection, control and law enforcement tasks at sea; propagated and chased away more than 930 foreign fishing vessels from violating Vietnam's waters; prevented hundreds of Vietnamese fishing vessels from violating foreign waters for IUU fishing; detected, arrested, investigated and handled nearly 1,800 violations with more than 2,000 subjects, an increase of 573 cases and 672 subjects compared to 2022, of which 50 cases were prosecuted and 1,536 cases were administratively sanctioned; the total amount of money collected for the budget was more than 85 billion VND.

With outstanding and especially outstanding achievements in law enforcement and the fight against drug crimes, in 2023, the Vietnam Coast Guard was honored to receive the Second Class Order of Military Exploit from the President; 12 collectives and 14 individuals were awarded Certificates of Merit from the Ministry of National Defense ; many other collectives and individuals were awarded Certificates of Merit and Certificates of Merit at all levels.

But perhaps, the greatest results we have achieved are not only reflected in the number of arrests or the number of commendations, but also in the increasingly deeper and more worthy recognition, evaluation and trust of all levels, sectors, local authorities and people nationwide; in the increasingly firmer and more confident affirmation of the role, position and prestige of the Vietnam Coast Guard in the international arena and the increasingly greater and more important contribution to the work of protecting sovereignty , maintaining security, order and safety for the sacred sea and island areas of the Fatherland.

PV: Lieutenant General, given the increasingly complex situation of crimes and law violations at sea, what solutions has the Vietnam Coast Guard taken to effectively prevent these activities?

Lieutenant General Bui Quoc Oai : It can be said that although the authorities have increased patrols and controls; strongly fought against all kinds of crimes and violations at sea, due to the great geopolitical and geo-economic advantages of our country's sea and islands and the characteristics of the sea area, it is easy to take advantage of illegal activities. If the activities are successful, the profits are very high, so the subjects always find increasingly sophisticated and cunning tricks, including reckless and reckless resistance to deceive the authorities.

Faced with that situation, to effectively combat, prevent and combat, the Coast Guard Command has directed units to concentrate forces and means, increase patrols, inspections, controls, and increase regular and continuous presence in all directions and management areas, especially in key areas such as Hai Phong, Quang Ninh, Ba Ria - Vung Tau, and the Southwest sea, to improve the effectiveness of warning, deterrence and prevention of violations.

The units have synchronously and thoroughly deployed professional measures from basic to specialized; closely coordinated with relevant forces and local authorities in monitoring and managing the local situation, promptly detecting methods, tricks and activities of subjects; built and used secret forces widely, attaching importance to promoting the "eyes and ears" of people operating at sea in monitoring the situation, providing information and denouncing crimes. Proactively launched peak periods to fight and suppress crimes and violations, not being passive or surprised; resolutely and comprehensively fighting against all illegal acts, without tolerance and strictly handling cases in accordance with the provisions of law.

Along with that, the entire force focuses on promoting propaganda and education to raise awareness and sense of law compliance for the people, especially fishermen working at sea. It attaches importance to promoting the combined strength, mobilizing the participation of forces, levels, sectors, and organizations in the political system to join hands and unite with the Coast Guard to fight against crimes and law violations at sea, maintaining peace for the sea and islands of the Fatherland.

PV : The Vietnam Coast Guard has had many activities accompanying fishermen to go offshore and stick to the sea, so can you evaluate the effectiveness of these programs over the past year?

Lieutenant General Bui Quoc Oai: The specific functions and tasks of the Vietnam Coast Guard are always closely linked to the People, relying on the People to carry out their tasks, aiming at the ultimate goal of being for the People; building, protecting, and preserving a peaceful, stable, secure, and safe maritime environment so that people can confidently go out to sea, stick to the sea, and enrich their families, homeland, and country.

Realizing this issue, the Party Committee of the Coast Guard Command has led and directed the effective implementation of many mass mobilization programs such as: "Coast Guard accompanies fishermen", "Coast Guard with ethnic and religious compatriots", "I love the sea and islands of my homeland"... In particular, in the process of implementing the program "Coast Guard accompanies fishermen", the Standing Committee of the Coast Guard Party Committee signed a coordination regulation with 28/28 Provincial Party Committees and City Party Committees of coastal provinces and cities. Thereby, it has promoted the combined strength of local authorities and socio-political organizations in the area to join hands with the Coast Guard to implement this program. The program has been assessed by the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defense as a bright spot in the mass mobilization work of the Army in the new period.

The specific results from the Coast Guard's mass mobilization programs have brought about positive effects, directly propagating, disseminating, educating and raising awareness and legal knowledge for fishermen; mobilizing social resources to help localities develop the economy, build safe areas, strong political systems, ensure social security, and create a fulcrum for fishermen to confidently go offshore and stick to the sea.

Through the programs, it also contributes to spreading and shining the image of "Uncle Ho's soldiers - Coast Guard soldiers" in the hearts of the people; contributes to strengthening the relationship of solidarity and closeness with the people, building a solid "people's heart position"; helps people trust and love the Coast Guard and functional forces more, so that the people are truly the "ears and eyes", the "living milestones", effectively supporting the Coast Guard officers and soldiers to firmly protect the sovereignty, security and safety of the seas and islands of the Fatherland.

PV: 2024 is a pivotal year for implementing the strategy for sustainable development of the marine economy, protecting marine resources and environment, and firmly ensuring sovereignty, security, order and safety at sea. This is also an important year in the process of building a modern Coast Guard. Could you tell us what issues the Vietnam Coast Guard will prioritize?

Lieutenant General Bui Quoc Oai : Based on the thorough understanding of the Party's viewpoints and policies on the Strategy for Sustainable Development of Vietnam's Marine Economy to 2030, with a vision to 2045, and the policy of the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defense on building the Vietnam Coast Guard to move straight towards modernity, in 2024, the Vietnam Coast Guard will prioritize the implementation of the following main contents:

Firstly , focus on leadership and direction to improve overall quality and combat readiness; grasp the situation at sea; analyze and forecast the situation correctly, promptly advise and propose the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defense to flexibly and effectively handle situations, avoid being passive and surprised, avoid creating "hot spots" at sea, firmly protect sovereignty over seas and islands, maintain a peaceful and stable maritime environment to contribute to building and developing the country's economy.

Second , proactively advise and propose to the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defense to adjust, arrange, and build a reasonable, streamlined, and strong organization and staffing based on closely following the policy and roadmap for building the Coast Guard for the 2021-2030 period; continue to invest in purchasing and building new, synchronous, and modern vehicles, weapons, and equipment to meet the increasingly high mission requirements of the Vietnam Coast Guard.

Third , focus on training a team of cadres who are good at expertise and profession, have scientific and modern working methods and styles; have good leadership and organizational capacity; have strong political will, high determination; have the spirit of "7 dares" according to the spirit of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong: dare to think, dare to speak, dare to do, dare to take responsibility, dare to innovate, dare to face difficulties and challenges, dare to act for the common good.

Fourth , strengthen coordination between Party committees, authorities and people of coastal provinces and cities to effectively implement the contents of the program of coordinating mass mobilization work "Coast Guard accompanies fishermen"; constantly strengthen the relationship of solidarity between the army and the people, creating a combined strength for the Vietnam Coast Guard to successfully fulfill its assigned functions and tasks.

Fifth , deploy the Coast Guard's foreign affairs work according to the motto "Active, proactive, certain, flexible, effective"; expand and deepen cooperation relations in bilateral and multilateral mechanisms between the Vietnam Coast Guard and maritime law enforcement forces of other countries to join hands in building secure and safe seas, effectively responding to traditional and non-traditional security threats from the sea.

PV: Thank you very much, Lieutenant General!

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