In the flow of Vietnam's revolutionary history, the viewpoint of combining national strength with the strength of the times has always been a consistent and continuous strategic orientation of the Communist Party of Vietnam . From the aspiration for independence and freedom to the goal of sustainable development and international integration, our Party has constantly affirmed the central role of national internal strength in a dialectical correlation with the progressive trends of the times. Today, facing the rapid, complex and unpredictable movements of the regional and world situation, continuing to promote the spirit of self-reliance, proactively seizing opportunities, taking advantage of the achievements of the scientific and technological revolution, and enhancing the national position in global integration poses an urgent requirement for our Party in its comprehensive leadership role.
The Party's viewpoint on combining national strength with the strength of the times in leading the Vietnamese revolution
The viewpoint of the Communist Party of Vietnam on combining national strength with the strength of the times is the crystallization of scientific revolutionary theory and historical practical experience, originating from Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh thought. This is a consistent strategic orientation, playing the role of a compass for the cause of national liberation, building and defending the Fatherland.
Since its inception in 1930, our Party has clearly identified the Vietnamese revolution as part of the world revolution. The first political platform drafted by leader Nguyen Ai Quoc clearly stated the goal of national liberation linked to the cause of the world proletarian revolution. This viewpoint continued to be concretized by the Party throughout the process of leading the revolution. In the August Revolution of 1945, the combination of patriotism, the nation's indomitable tradition with the democratic and progressive trend in the world created a comprehensive resource for glorious victory, giving birth to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
President Ho Chi Minh - the founder and trainer of the Party inherited and developed the Marxist-Leninist viewpoint on combining national strength and the strength of the times in the historical context of Vietnam. He believed that the strength of the times is an important factor but can only be effective through the internal strength of the nation. President Ho Chi Minh emphasized: "If you want others to help you, you must first help yourself " (1) . Therefore, in all circumstances, the Party always puts national strength first, considering it the decisive factor, and the strength of the times as the supporting and promoting factor.
In the two resistance wars against French colonialism and American imperialism to save the country, the idea of combining national strength and the strength of the times was applied creatively and effectively by our Party. Under the Party's wise leadership, patriotism, the will for independence and freedom of the people were strongly promoted, at the same time gaining great support from international friends, especially the international communist and workers' movements, socialist countries, national liberation movements and progressive forces around the world. That combination created a strong position and force, contributing greatly to bringing the Vietnamese revolution to victories of world-class stature in the 20th century.
During the renovation period, the Party continued to affirm and develop the above viewpoint in new conditions. The 6th Party Congress (1986) marked a strategic shift, opening a period of comprehensive renovation. One of the great lessons learned by the Party : "We must know how to combine national strength and the strength of the times in new conditions" (2) . Since then, Party congress documents have affirmed and specified this requirement. The 13th Party Congress continued to emphasize: " Effectively promote the country's comprehensive strength in combination with the strength of the times" (3) .
In the context of increasingly deep international integration, the Party advocates implementing an independent, self-reliant, peaceful, cooperative and developmental foreign policy; proactively and actively integrating comprehensively and deeply into the world on the basis of ensuring the highest national interests, maintaining the socialist orientation. This is a new development in the Party's foreign policy thinking, reflecting a profound awareness that international integration is not only an objective requirement of the times, but also a way to realize the aspiration for a prosperous and happy country.
Participating in and proactively promoting multilateral cooperation frameworks, signing many new-generation free trade agreements, such as CPTPP, EVFTA, RCEP, etc., not only contributes to enhancing the country's position in the international arena, but also affirms the Party's mettle and intelligence in effectively combining internal and external forces. However, our Party is also clearly aware of existing risks and challenges, namely: the risk of economic dependence; fading of national cultural identity; increasing social polarization and negative impacts from foreign values. Therefore, our Party especially emphasizes the need to maintain independence, autonomy, steadfastness in socialist goals, and strengthening " endogenous resistance " through consolidating the great national unity bloc, enhancing cultural "soft power", educating political ideology and revolutionary ethics.
In short, the viewpoint of combining national strength with the strength of the times is a dialectical unity between theory and practice, between internal and external strength, between self-reliance and seizing international opportunities. This is not only a historical lesson summarized from successes and limitations in the revolutionary process, but also a fundamental guiding principle, ensuring strategic orientation, maintaining the Party's comprehensive leadership role in the cause of national development. The correct and flexible application of this ideology will create a new position and strength for Vietnam to continue to affirm its position, enhance national competitiveness, successfully achieve the goal of a rich people, a strong country, democracy, fairness, civilization and firmly step on the path of socialism.
Issues raised
First, correctly perceive the international context and accurately position the times.
In the context of the world situation changing deeply and rapidly, correctly perceiving the nature and trends of the times is a principled requirement for the Party in planning and organizing the implementation of revolutionary guidelines. Currently, the world is entering a new stage of development with many unpredictable and changing factors, such as: the long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; military, economic, and technological conflicts between major powers, typically the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine; the process of differentiation and reshaping of global alliances; the strong shift of supply chains; increasing traditional and non-traditional security risks; and the stormy development of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
In that context, correctly identifying the nature of the era - in the light of Marxism-Leninism as the transitional period from capitalism to socialism - continues to be a core requirement in the Party's theoretical thinking and revolutionary action. This is a long-term, complex period, containing many contradictions and uneven development between countries and regions. While current socialism has not yet fully demonstrated its advantages, it is gradually affirming the path of sustainable and humane development for the future of humanity. Capitalism is holding a relative advantage in economics, technology, and communications, but is also revealing a series of systemic contradictions, such as: polarization of rich and poor, global ecological crisis, inability to bring happiness to people, increasingly serious political and social instability...
From that reality, the Communist Party of Vietnam clearly identified that this is a time that contains both existing challenges and new opportunities for Vietnam to make a breakthrough if it knows how to take advantage of the opportunity. Major trends such as digital transformation, artificial intelligence, digital economy, circular economy, sustainable development, energy transition and green economy are becoming strategic driving forces for development. Grasping, mastering and shaping these trends is not simply a matter of economic development, but also a matter of protecting national independence, national sovereignty and maintaining socialist orientation in the context of globalization.
Therefore, the Party needs to constantly improve its strategic thinking capacity, forecasting ability, and proactively build development scenarios suitable for each stage and world scenario. Correctly perceiving the times is not a passive acceptance of external trends, but a process of actively positioning oneself in the international order, thereby creating a separate path for the nation - the path of national independence associated with socialism. It is the steadfastness in principles, flexibility in strategies, and profound analysis of the international context that will create a solid foundation for our Party to continue leading the cause of innovation, integration, and sustainable development of the country in the new era.
Second, accurately locate the position and internal strength of the nation.
Along with correctly grasping the nature of the times, accurately locating the development position and correctly measuring the country's endogenous capacity are prerequisites for realizing the strategic goals of the Vietnamese revolution. After nearly 40 years of implementing the renovation policy, under the leadership of the Party, our country has achieved many important achievements, recognized by the international community. GDP growth is stable, economic structure has shifted in a positive direction, average income per capita reached 5,000 USD, people's lives have improved significantly. Vietnam is one of the pioneering countries to successfully implement the Millennium Development Goals, gradually approaching the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations.
However, besides those achievements, we are still facing many fundamental and persistent challenges, which are: The risk of falling into the middle-income trap; the development gap compared to advanced countries in the region and the world is still large; low labor productivity; the quality of human resources does not meet the requirements; the capacity for self-reliance in science and technology is still limited. That poses an urgent need to deeply re-evaluate the country's endogenous strength, thereby proposing a strategy to mobilize, allocate, use resources and create driving forces for development in a systematic, substantial and sustainable manner.
In combining national strength and the strength of the times, the national internal strength plays a fundamental and decisive role. That internal strength is not only natural resources and a large population, but more importantly, the quality of growth, institutions, national governance efficiency, the Party's political mettle, patriotism, national solidarity and Vietnamese cultural strength. To develop quickly and sustainably, our Party needs to maximize its internal strength, while improving its ability to absorb external forces, on the basis of proactive integration, maintaining independence, autonomy and socialist orientation.
Therefore, strengthening the Party's comprehensive leadership is a key and decisive factor. Especially in the context of increasingly deep integration and fierce global competition, continuing to build a national defense posture associated with a people's security posture, consolidating an independent and autonomous economy associated with a socialist-oriented market economy is a vital requirement. Along with that, the Party needs to constantly promote Party building and rectification; resolutely fight against corruption, waste, negativity, degradation of political ideology, ethics, and lifestyle; prevent "self-evolution" and "self-transformation" within the Party. This is not only an immediate requirement, but also a fundamental and long-term condition to ensure the Party's leadership role, maintain the people's trust, consolidate the nation's endogenous strength to be ready to overcome all challenges, seize opportunities, and realize the aspiration to develop a prosperous and happy country.
Third, be proactive and flexible in international integration.
In the context of a world with many rapid and unpredictable changes, international integration and exploitation of the power of the times are an objective necessity, becoming an endogenous requirement of the country's development process. Our Party clearly defines that international integration is not only a means to expand economic cooperation, but also an overall strategy to enhance national position, consolidate comprehensive strength and ensure independent, autonomous and sustainable development. Integration is not separate from, but organically linked to the cause of defending the Fatherland, maintaining political stability, national security and developing the country in the direction of socialism (4) .
Faced with the wave of restructuring the global value chain, the trend of increasing protectionism, strategic competition between major countries, and the strong shift in the distribution of global power, international integration today has gone far beyond the scope of traditional economics and trade. It is a process associated with participating in shaping the international rules of the game, enhancing the country's adaptability and self-reliance in the face of global shocks, from epidemics, armed conflicts, to climate change and financial risks. Therefore, the Party's proactiveness and flexibility in planning its integration strategy, with an independent, autonomous mindset, and steadfastness in the goal of national independence associated with socialism, is a vivid manifestation of the mettle and intelligence of revolutionary leadership in the new era.
From the practice of deep integration and the requirements of national development in the new period, the 13th National Party Congress affirmed that the urgent and long-term task is to continue to promote innovation in the growth model, restructuring the economy towards modernity, sustainability, autonomy and creativity. In that spirit, it is necessary to focus on strategic reforms with a focus on important resolutions - considered as pillar resolutions in promoting national development, such as Resolution No. 57-NQ/TW on breakthroughs in science and technology development, innovation and national digital transformation; Resolution No. 59-NQ/TW on international integration in the new situation; Resolution No. 68-NQ/TW on private economic development; Resolution No. 66-NQ/TW on innovation in law-making and enforcement to meet the requirements of national development in the new era... Along with the effective implementation of these strategic resolutions, the Party needs to continue to strongly direct the removal of institutional bottlenecks, promote administrative reform, improve the investment and business environment, enhance the effectiveness of national governance and synchronously develop a modern, smart infrastructure system with high connectivity with the region and the world. These are indispensable pillars to create a solid foundation, ensuring that Vietnam's international integration process takes place proactively, effectively and with its own identity, firmly on the path to socialism.
One of the fundamental requirements for successful integration is the development of high-quality human resources. In the digital age and global integration, Vietnamese people not only need professional knowledge but also independent thinking, strong political will, creativity, adaptability and integration with the world. The Party needs to continue to deeply direct the fundamental and comprehensive innovation of education and training; harmoniously combining science - technology and culture - people; between modern knowledge and national identity.
Along with material factors, ideological work, propaganda and political-cultural education play a particularly important role. The Party needs to constantly improve the effectiveness of policy communication, build trust and social consensus, and promote the role of the people as the main subject in the cause of integration and development. Each citizen, each cadre and party member needs to clearly understand their rights and obligations in integration, actively contribute to the protection of national interests, preserve national cultural identity and spread Vietnamese values to the world.
International integration is a long-term, multi-dimensional process, with many opportunities but also many challenges. The success of integration cannot come from a reactive or passive mindset, but must originate from a proactive, courageous and creative strategy. Only when the Party maintains its core leadership role, clearly orients the strategy, and organizes synchronous implementation across all fields - from economics, politics to culture, society, etc. - will the power of integration truly become the driving force to promote the country's rapid and sustainable development on the path to socialism.
Some solutions to strengthen the combination of national strength with the strength of the times in the new situation
To enhance the combination of national strength with the strength of the times in the new era, it is necessary to pay attention to the following solutions:
Firstly , continue to perfect the Party's theoretical system on combining national strength with the strength of the times in the new era. This is an important foundation for orienting strategic thinking and formulating policies for national development in the period of increasingly deep and volatile globalization. The theoretical system needs to be updated from the practice of innovation and integration, while deepening the core arguments on the role of national internal strength in proactively absorbing and selecting progressive values of the times.
Second, promote political and ideological education to raise awareness among cadres, party members and people about the strategic importance of combining national strength with the strength of the times. This helps strengthen confidence in the path of socialist development, contributing to forming the motivation for action in each individual and organization to effectively implement political, economic, cultural, defense - security and foreign affairs tasks.
Third, discover, train and promote a team of cadres with strong political will, strategic vision and the ability to be sensitive to the trends of the times. In the context of fierce global competition, leaders must be a pioneering force, daring to think, daring to do, daring to take responsibility, and at the same time having the ability to connect tradition and modernity, theory and practice, national values and global development trends.
Fourth, improve the political system's capacity for policy response and strategic forecasting, especially in the face of complex developments in the regional and world situation. It is necessary to build strategic research centers and promote linkage mechanisms between the State, businesses and intellectuals to promptly propose flexible policy solutions, ensuring national interests in the context of a rapidly changing and unpredictable world. At the same time, build a streamlined, effective and efficient administrative apparatus to improve the ability to organize policy implementation, quickly adapt and exploit opportunities from international integration.
The above solutions are not only urgent, but also a long-term strategic requirement to strengthen the Party's leadership in closely and harmoniously combining national strength with the strength of the times, ensuring sustainable, independent, self-reliant development and increasingly affirming Vietnam's position in the international arena.
Combining national strength with the strength of the times is the guiding principle throughout the entire process of the Vietnamese revolution under the leadership of the Party. In the face of the intertwined opportunities and challenges of the new era, continuing to strengthen the Party's leadership role in this field is a requirement of great significance for the future of the nation. This is a strategic issue to ensure a long-term foundation for the country's development goals until 2045. Building a prosperous and happy Vietnam with an increasingly high position in the international arena requires a dialectical, smooth and effective connection between the internal strength of the nation and the external strength of the times under the steadfast, wise and comprehensive leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam./.
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(1) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works , National Political Publishing House Truth, Hanoi, 2011, vol. 6, p. 219
(2) Documents of the Party Congresses in the period of innovation and integration (Congresses VI, VII, VIII, IX, X), National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2008, p. 23
(3) Documents of the 13th National Congress of Delegates , National Political Publishing House Truth, Hanoi, 2021, vol. I, p. 112
(4) Documents of the 13th National Congress of Delegates , op. cit ., pp. 111 - 112
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