Vietnamese coast guard take steps towards modernisation

The objective was set out at a conference held on January 5 in Hanoi by the Ministry of Defence in an effort to review a project to develop the Vietnam Coast Guard during the 2015 to 2020 period, whilst also devising tasks and orientations ahead for the 2021 to 2025 period, and subsequent years.

In his speech, Deputy Minister of National Defence Lt. Gen. Nguyen Tan Cuong emphasized that throughout a 22-year spell of construction and growth, the Vietnamese Coast Guard has developed in a modern and elite direction, showcasing strong determination to successfully fulfill all assigned tasks.

"The Vietnam Coast Guard building project adopted by the Prime Minister in 2014 is of great significance for the building of a new force with improved organisation, staffing, equipment, and infrastructure. In addition to the good performance of sea-related missions, the marine police force has been proactive in researching, grasping, and forecasting the situation in a correct manner to offer the Central Military Commission advice on policies and guidelines in a bid to flexibly and promptly handle situations,” Deputy Minister Cuong stated.

Maj. Gen. Le Xuan Thanh, commander of Vietnam Coast Guard Region 3, said that recent years has seen some countries intensify a range of activities in order to protect their sovereignty over sea and islands, while non-traditional security methods are becoming increasingly complicated. The mission of the local Coast Guard is therefore to protect sovereignty, patrol, and control adjacent seas, whilst preventing smuggling and fraud at sea. These efforts require additional equipment and weapons to ensure that the force is capable of completing the tasks in a competent manner, he added.

Furthermore, crime and law violations occurring at sea remain complicated, showing an increasing trend, in addition to fishing vessels which violate fishing waters. These issues pose many challenges for law enforcement forces operating at sea. Recently, the Party, the State, and the Central Military Commission have paid greater attention to the Coast Guard by increasing investment to enable them to perform its role as the core force in law enforcement and national sea security, according to Lt. Gen. Nguyen Van Son, commander of the High Command of the Vietnam Coast Guard.

Moreover, the force also aims to renovate training methods, improve fluency of foreign languages, boost qualifications, increase capabilities in mission execution, and add mastery of modern weapons and equipment.