A newly-released study on violence against women in Vietnam has showed some positive changes, laying down a basic foundation for more support policies and programmes aimed towards protecting and empowering Vietnamese women.
The second National Study on Violence Against Women in Vietnam 2019 was released on July 14, offering a comprehensive and updated picture of this scourge, as well as what has changed since the first study, carried out in 2010. It also makes Vietnam the only country in the world so far which has conducted a second dedicated study specifically using the cross-culturally validated methodology as developed by the World Health Organisation.
The study was managed by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA), in collaboration with the General Statistics Office, with technical and financial support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
According to Nguyen Thi Ha, MOLISA Deputy Minister and Standing Vice Chairperson of the National Committee for the Advancement of Women in Vietnam, nearly ten years since the first survey, the percentage of women suffering from violence has decreased slightly.
Positive change is clearly to be seen among young women who did not have to endure the same levels as their predecessors and who have showed their strength in fighting against violence. Women who have higher education are less likely to experience violence. This shows that education is very important in helping women to be stronger, more confident and independent in life, Ha said.
Naomi Kitahara, UNFPA Representative in Vietnam, also agreed that the 2019 study showed some positive signs, for instance, aside from sexual violence, all forms of violence were lower in 2019 than in 2010, and this was even more pronounced amongst the younger generations.
Also, the 2019 report witnessed changes in gender norms amongst young people in a progressive direction. “These mean that we must make the right investments in young people to accelerate changes and eliminate completely violence against women,” the UN official suggested.
Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thi Ha speaks at the ceremony.
However, according to Deputy Minister Ha, many women are still vulnerable to violence as violence against women often remains hidden because gender stereotypes are still common in society, the official pointed out, adding that silence, stigma from the community and a culture of blame are barriers that prevent survivors from speaking out and seeking help.
At the launch, representatives from the Governments of Vietnam and Australia as well as the UNFPA called for more urgent action to end violence against women.
“No matter where violence happens, in what forms, or who it affects, it must be stopped,” concluded UNFPA Representative Naomi Kitahara. “Together, we should work to create a world where both women and men, girls and boys, can enjoy a life free from violence. We commend Vietnam for its commitment to achieving this vision.”
“Each piece of data in this report represents the experience of a Vietnamese woman or girl, whether in their home, at work or in a public place. This report means that we hear them, we believe them, and we need to act,” said Robyn Mudie, Australian Ambassador to Vietnam.
The recent explosion of private finance has nursed the hope, dream or illusion that it can be mobilized for the public good, e.g., to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, associated with Agenda 2030. However, such hopes ignore how changes in financial investing have deeply transformed corporations, national economies and prospects for the world economy and social progress.
Private finance boom
Private capital has exploded with financial deregulation from the late 20th century. Global finance increased 53% from 2000 to 2010, reaching some US$600 trillion (ten times annual world output), and was projected to reach US$900 trillion by the end of this year.
In its 2018 annual report, Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) – an investor initiative in partnership with UN offices – estimated that investors with over US$80 trillion in combined assets had committed to integrate ‘environmental, social and governance' (ESG) criteria into their investment decisions.
According to the IMF, between US$3 trillion and US$31 trillion in assets are managed by ESG funds, depending on the definition used. It also notes problems in evaluating ESG criteria, such as reducing emissions or raising labour standards, and hence fears ‘greenwashing' financial investments with false claims of ESG compliance.
Mutual index funds have been available since the late 1970s, while the first exchange traded funds (ETFs) were launched in the early 1990s. The growth of passive or index funds has greatly accelerated in the decade since the global financial crisis (GFC).
Attracted by the much lower fees charged, passive funds had US$11.4 trillion globally by November 2019, five times more than in 2007. Jan Fichtner, Eelke Heemskerk and Johannes Petry discuss some implications of this money mass-migration to index funds for corporate governance, market competition and investment flows.
Wall Street's new titans
Consequently, corporate ownership is increasingly concentrated and largely held by the ‘big three' passive asset managers: BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street, already the largest owners of US corporations. In 2019, actively managed US funds were overtaken by passive funds. Some estimate that index funds will have over half the US capital market by 2024.
Describing passive investors as the true "titans of Wall Street", Jill Fisch, Assaf Hamdani and Steven Solomon fear that passive investing's rise raises new concerns about conflicts of interest due to ownership concentration and common ownership of rival firms, thus undermining competition.
In traditional investment funds, managers decide how and where to invest, e.g., which shares to buy. Instead of depending on fund managers, passive funds track selected constructed indices. This is increasingly done algorithmically, instead of reflecting or responding to price and other movements.
Index providers set standards
When investors invest via index funds, their decisions are effectively shaped by the indices the passive funds track. The three most influential index providers are the MSCI (Morgan Stanley Capital International), the FTSE (Financial Times Stock Exchange) Russell and the S&P (Standard and Poor) Dow Jones.
The main emerging markets indices have tremendous influence, particularly the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, which includes large and medium-sized companies in 26 countries, including China, India and Mexico. Thus, MSCI effectively sets criteria for countries aspiring to qualify as emerging markets, requiring financial authorities to ensure free access to and exit from national stock markets for foreign investors.
Deciding what to include in indices is not just an objective or technical matter, but inherently political and subjectively discretionary, typically benefiting some over others. Setting criteria for inclusion thus endows index providers with the authority and power to greatly influence regulation and policies.
Indices influence capital flows
In the past, index providers only supplied information to financial markets. But with passive funds, index providers have considerably more authority in markets. With trillions of dollars invested worldwide, capital has been reallocated by index providers' decisions, as innocuous as they may seem.
These often influence international capital flows much more than economic fundamentals. Massive portfolio investments typically flow into the financial markets of countries chosen for inclusion.
When China was added to key emerging market indices in 2018, reportedly after heavy lobbying, it was expected to attract portfolio capital inflows of up to US$400 billion.
Adding Saudi Arabia to the benchmark MSCI emerging markets index in 2018 was expected to bring up to US$40 billion into its stock market. This did not materialize, perhaps due to the Jamal Khashoggi murder scandal, treated by financial markets as a ‘reputational risk'.
Thus, the big three's indices greatly influence global investment flows. Meanwhile, investors may unwittingly acquire controversial or problematic investments, either by investing in index funds, or by choosing options heavily invested in such funds.
Divesting for progress?
Clearly, the three biggest passive fund managers and three major index providers greatly influence portfolio investment choices, while the world remains largely oblivious of their biases, influence and impacts, wishfully hoping for the best possible outcomes.
BlackRock, the world's largest investor, with US$7 trillion in funds under its management, gained approving attention by announcing divestment of its actively managed funds from firms making more than a quarter of their revenue from coal.
But, as most BlackRock funds passively track indices, these continue to invest in coal until such stocks are removed from the indices. Moreover, its CEO has made clear that it will continue to invest in controversial assets, including coal.
Following BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street have also announced they will increase their ESG funds. But ESG criteria are defined, interpreted and acted upon by the index providers, who use different, often problematic and non-transparent methods and data.
UN ‘blue-washing'?
ESG-rating firms disagree about which companies qualify, producing different sets of ostensibly ESG compliant stocks. Meanwhile, the IMF has not found any consistent differences in rates of return between the investment portfolios of ESG funds compared to conventional ones.
In August 2019, Vanguard dropped 29 stocks, noting they had been ‘erroneously' classified as ESG by FTSE Russell. The rejected stocks included a gun manufacturer, a private prison operator, a restaurant and a pharmaceutical company.
Neither Vanguard nor FTSE Russell explained how and why the ‘error' had happened, or the criteria involved. Most ESG indices include ‘industry leaders' in almost all, including the most controversial sectors, only excluding the very worst offenders, which are quite subjectively, if not arbitrarily determined.
The Economist has noted, "Tobacco and alcohol companies feature near the top of many ESG rankings. And many funds marketed on their green credentials invest in Big Oil…the scoring systems sometimes measure the wrong things and rely on patchy, out-of-date figures. Only half the 1,700-odd companies in the MSCI world index reveal their carbon emissions".
Unless there are more meaningful and effective means to ensure that private finance equitably and appropriately serves public needs, indiscriminate UN endorsement of ostensible efforts to mobilise private finance for sustainable development runs the serious risk of legitimising a massive fraudulent exercise in financial ‘blue-washing', referring to the colour of the UN flag.
Facebook in particular has faced harsh criticism in recent weeks for its decision to
leave up posts from the president that many advocates said clearly incited
violence.
In the May post, Trump referred to protesters as
“THUGS” and wrote, “Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the
looting starts, the shooting starts.”
Facebook keeps telling critics that it is doing everything
it can to rid its service of hate, abuse and misinformation. And the company’s
detractors keep not buying it.
On Tuesday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Chief Operating
Officer Sheryl Sandberg met with a group of civil rights leaders, including the
organizers of a growing advertising boycott over hate speech on Facebook. One
of those leaders, NAACP President Derrick Johnson, said Facebook’s executives
offered little but cheap talk that skirted major commitments to new rules or
actions that would curb racism and misinformation on its platform.
“We’ve watched the conversation blossom into
nothingness,” Johnson said. “They lack the cultural sensitivity to understand
that their platform is actually being used to cause harm. Or, they understand
the harm their platform is causing and they’ve chosen to take the profit.”
The NAACP was one of several groups that sent
Facebook a list of 10 demands for policy change. Those included hiring a civil
rights executive; banning private groups that promote white supremacy, vaccine
misinformation or violent conspiracy theories; and ending an exemption that
allows politicians to post voting misinformation.
Such calls have the support of big-name companies
like Coca-Cola and Unilever who have yanked their Facebook ads in recent days.
But nothing concrete will change for Facebook’s 2.6 billion users.
Facebook did agree to install a civil rights vice
president, but didn’t say how long that would take, Jessica J. González — the
co-CEO of Free Press, a group behind the boycott — told The Associated Press.
President Donald Trump frequently skirts Facebook’s
posting rules, yet faces no consequences, dismaying both civil rights leaders
and some of Facebook’s own employees. The president made several misleading
claims about mail-in-voting in May and June posts, including one that pushed a
far-fetched theory that foreign countries plan to print millions of bogus
ballots. Trump also used the platform to threaten violence against racial
injustice protesters in Minneapolis when he wrote “when the looting starts, the
shooting starts” in a May post.
The posts have gone unchecked on Facebook. Twitter,
meanwhile, has fact checked, removed or obscured some of Trump’s controversial
tweets.
“When a politician, no matter who that politician
is, when he makes a post that says ‘shoot the looters,’ it is not only racially
insensitive, it could incite violence across the country,” Johnson said.
Last month, Facebook announced it would begin
labeling rule-breaking posts — even from politicians — going forward. But it is
not clear if Trump’s previous controversial posts would have gotten the label.
On Wednesday, Facebook will release the final
results of its own “civil rights audit” of its U.S. practices.
The audit was led by former American Civil Liberties
Union executive Laura Murphy, who was hired by Facebook in May 2018 to assess
its performance on vital social issues.
More than 900 companies have joined the ad boycott,
which runs through the end of July, although some companies plan to withhold
their ad dollars for longer.
In a Facebook post Tuesday, Sandberg emphasized what
she called the company’s years of effort to “minimize the presence of hate” on
Facebook and the billions of dollars it has spent “to find and remove hate — as
well as protect the integrity of our platform more generally.”
Facebook’s 2019 revenue was more than $70 billion,
nearly all of it from advertising.
Facebook’s inaction will only encourage companies to
continue their boycott of advertising on the site for longer, said Jonathan
Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League.
“The list is growing every day,” Greenblatt said of
companies joining the boycott. “It’s unfortunate to go back to them and say we
haven’t seen the progress we expected.”./.
Việt Nam’s new immigration law includes a new type of visa for foreigners who come to Việt Nam to conduct activities as part of international agreements Việt Nam has signed.
The change is expected to facilitate the implementation of new agreements that Việt Nam has signed such as the EU-Việt Nam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the EU-Việt Nam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA), said Colonel Trần Văn Dự, deputy head of the Immigration Department under Ministry of Public Security.
The department last week held a session to explain immigration laws to diplomatic missions and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Việt Nam.
Việt Nam will issue visas with validity from six to 12 months for foreigners who enter to promote services and establish commercial presence according to international agreements.
The amendment to the law on entry, exit, transit and residence of foreigners in Việt Nam came into force this month.
“Strategic foreign investors who contribute capital of VNĐ100 billion (US$4.4 million) or more in Việt Nam are granted an up-to-five-year visa and temporary residence cards for at most 10 years. This will attract more foreign investment in the country,” Dự said.
The outdated immigration law regulated that all certified foreign investors in Việt Nam could obtain a five-year-visa regardless of their investment capital. The new law issues a visa with a duration of at most 12 months and does not grant temporary residence cards to foreign investors that invest less than VNĐ3 billion ($130,400).
The outdated law also required citizens from 13 countries entering Việt Nam under the visa waiver scheme to wait for at least 30 days to return and the new law has removed this regulation, creating conditions for foreign visitors to return anytime.
Countries from which citizens do not have to apply for visas to enter Việt Nam include Belarus, Denmark, Japan, Norway, Italy, Finland, France, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Germany and the UK.
Chika Tsujimoto, head of political section, Japanese Embassy in Việt Nam said: “The removal of this regulation will create conditions for Japanese businesspeople to come to Việt Nam on short-term trips. Japanese businesspeople have interests in making investment in Việt Nam. Việt Nam is not only an attractive destination for Japanese investors but also acts as a linkage between Japan and other neighbouring countries.”
“I believe that the new immigration law for foreigners will attract not only Japanese investment in Việt Nam but also tourists and students,” she told Việt Nam News.
Marko Lovrekovic, managing co-director of Việt Nam Union of Friendship Organisations-NGO Resource Centre, said the law on entry, exit, transit and residence of foreigners in Việt Nam is important for foreign NGOs as well as the business sector in Việt Nam.
“The Vietnamese Government has tried to constantly make amendments. The new law has extended the length and validity of visas and permits, which makes much easier for the implementation of foreign NGOs’ projects,” he said.
Colonel Trần Văn Dự from the Immigration Department said thanks to the two-year e-visa pilot in 2018 and 2019, the number of foreign visitors to Việt Nam increased. That’s why the immigration agency decided to extend the list of countries eligible for e-visas to 80 countries.
“We will study to continue to extend the list in the time to come,” Dự said.
“Việt Nam will open automated border gates for Vietnamese citizens and foreigners who hold temporary and permanent residence cards in Việt Nam.
“The automated border gates are not new in the world but are definitely new to Việt Nam,” he added.
Foreigners who entered the country under visa waiver programmes, e-visas or tourism visas after March 1 will be automatically given stay permit extensions until July 31 free of charge due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We will propose the continuous extension depending on practical situations if international flight routes have not been resumed,” Dự said.
Immigration for Vietnamese citizens
The new law on exit and entry of Vietnamese citizens approved by the National Assembly last November officially took effect this month with several changes that facilitate the travel of Vietnamese citizens.
Vietnamese citizens from 14 years old can choose to be issued a passport embedded with electronic chips or a passport without electronic chips. The chips contain information of the passport holder and a digital signature of the issuing authority.
Hoàng Thị Lệ Hằng, Việt Nam country director of Union Aid Abroad – APHEDA, an Australian NGO, said the electronic chip-embedded passports will facilitate Vietnamese citizens while travelling overseas. The electronic chips also help tackle fake passports.
Colonel Trần Văn Dự advised Vietnamese citizens travelling abroad for a definite period to visit relatives or on holidays to bring personal identification cards.
Identification cards are one of the necessary documents Vietnamese citizens must submit in case they lose their regular passports overseas and wish to return immediately. They can visit Vietnamese representative offices located overseas to be issued regular passports under shortened procedures, he said./.
Officials at Thu Duc jail have turned it into a place of education and support for its nearly 200 foreign prisoners, helping them become a better version of themselves before returning home.
Along with policies on meals, clothing, and healthcare services, regulations like reducing prison time and amnesties have been introduced for foreign prisoners, as they have been for Vietnamese prisoners.
Policies allowing foreign prisoners to meet relatives and have consular contact are also in place.
John Nguyen, a prisoner of the American nationality, said he has been in jail for 19 years and found the people and environment friendly enough. Any time his family members visit, they feel peace of mind and encourage him to behave himself, he said.
Closing the book he was reading, Nicholas Stars, a 42-year-old Nigerian, said he has served five years and has ten to go. Using his good Vietnamese, he said he enjoys the meals and comfortable environment.
“The officers here are kind,” he said. “I have a consular meeting every four months, and my family visit me once or twice a year. I feel okay.”
Foreign prisoners have received vocational training and academic studies and joined artistic and sporting activities, so can more readily return to society and become useful citizens.
Work is designed to suit the age and physical condition of each prisoner, helping them understand the value of labour while nurturing their confidence.
Chinese national Li Chun Ying said that thanks to advice given by wardens, she now feels much better than when she first arrived.
“Female prisoners are treated well,” she said. “Not only do we receive life’s necessities, we can also study Vietnamese, play sports, sing karaoke, and access healthcare services when we are sick.” Li has won many of the table tennis tournaments held at the jail.
“I am grateful to the officials here, who have made me feel at home.”
Speaking of her time in Thu Duc, Thai prisoner Preayamooch said the living conditions are totally different from what she had imagined. The officers are friendly and helpful, allowing her to settle into life behind bars, while she is subject to the same policies as her Vietnamese peers.
“My family are happy to see the conditions I live in and encourage me to follow the regulations and return home as soon as possible,” she said.
As part of efforts to educate prisoners, officers have focused on teaching them Vietnamese, through which they can also gain a better understanding of Vietnamese culture.
Peng Kang Yu, a Taiwanese who is monitor of the Vietnamese class, said studying the local language helps prisoners become closer together. Knowing how to read Vietnamese also allows them to read books from the jail’s library.
Preayamooch said that after returning to Thailand, she will find a job relating to Vietnam and continue using her Vietnamese skills.
Mohd Hafiz Gomez Bin Abdullah, a Malaysian who was quite unruly when he first arrived at the jail 19 years ago, said the support from jail officers changed him and made him determined to change his ways.
He said through learning Vietnamese he has come to love the culture and people of Vietnam.
“I have enjoyed seven sentence reductions and only have ten more months here,” he said with a smile. “It will pass quickly. Along with my family, I also have a Vietnamese girlfriend waiting for me outside.”
Before returning to Australia, Kevin Willia De Santos wrote: "I have served my sentence in Vietnam for four years and 11 months. While here, I have been fairly treated, even sometimes better-than-expected...I always feel comfortable and safe during the days of serving the sentence."
Colonel Pham Thi Minh Hai, an officer at the Thu Duc jail, said that, like their peers in other jails, officers at Thu Duc have worked hard to help prisoners, including foreigners, recognise their wrongdoings and become better people.
“This is not a place for caging and punishing criminals, but a place to educate and support them so they become more confident and reset their lives,” Hai said.
“They are not ‘prisoners’ as such, they are people fixing their mistakes,” he added, emphasising that their management and education must be in line with the law and in the spirit of humanitarianism and respect, ensuring their human rights.
“By doing this, we can turn jails into schools for those who had chosen the wrong paths,” Hai said./.
Delegates at the kick-off ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the establishment of Vietnam-US diplomatic relations (1995-2020)
The US Department of State hosted a gathering on July 10 to mark the 25th anniversary of Vietnam-US diplomatic ties with the chair of Assistant Secretary of State David Stilwell.
Attending the event were Vietnamese Ambassador to the US Ha Kim Ngoc, Senior Director the White House National Security Council Allison Hooker, the council’s Senior Director for Southeast Asia Julie Turner and Director of the Peace Corps Jody Olsen.
At the event, Ngoc and Hooker exchanged congratulatory letters of Vietnam’s Party General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong and US President Donald Trump.
[Leaders of Vietnam, US exchange congratulations on diplomatic ties]
Stilwell reaffirmed the US policy of attaching importance to its comprehensive partnership with Vietnam and continuing to work with the Southeast Asian nation in maintaining peace, stability, cooperation and rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific region.
The US side believed that specific results achieved in all cooperation fields over the past 25 years would serve as a momentum for the development of the two countries’ trusted partnership.
He also said he was impressed by Vietnam’s dynamic development as well as its response to the COVID-19 pandemic and post-pandemic economic recovery.
Ngoc thanked the US Department of State for organising such a meaningful event marking 25 years Vietnam and the US have built trust and developed their relationship from two enemies to friends and comprehensive partners.
The strong and stable partnership has contributed to boosting Vietnam’s socio-economic development and maintaining peace, stability and cooperation in Southeast Asia and the Indo-Asia-Pacific region at large, he affirmed, adding that the two sides hold much potential to lift their relationship to a new height.
On this occasion, Director of the Peace Corps Jody Olsen signed a document committing to ink an agreement on the implementation of a Peace Corps Programme. The same document was signed by Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Van Phuc in Hanoi on July 10 afternoon.
On the same day, US Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo issued a statement celebrating the 25th anniversary of the two countries' diplomatic ties, in which he affirmed the US is committed to making the next 25 years of bilateral ties a model of international cooperation and partnership./.
Merle Ratner, Coordinator of the US-based Vietnam Agent Orange (AO) Relief and Responsibility Campaign, highlighted certain achievements in the fight for the sake of Vietnamese AO victims during an interview with the Vietnam News Agency.
In the interview on the occasion of 25 years since the normalisation of bilateral relations, Ratner, an activist who have struggled for justice for AO/dioxin victims for many years, said that the most obvious changes in Vietnam-US relations are in the development sector and people-to-people ties.
The countries went from war to economic embargo and then normalisation of relations, and their ties now have become much better, according to her.
She noted many US war veterans have come to Vietnam, taken part in charitable activities, and helped seek justice for AO victims.
During the war, a large number of US people demanded the Washington administration to stop spraying Agent Orange in Vietnam, but it was not until 2004 that the Vietnam AO Relief and Responsibility Campaign was set up in the US.
This campaign, initiated by the Veterans for Peace organisation, has been supported by many war veterans and anti-war activists, she said.
Recalling some landmarks of the campaign in recent years, Ratner highlighted the American Public Health Association’s issuance of a resolution requesting the US administration and chemical companies to compensate AO victims of Vietnam and care for the health of US war veterans and their relatives. Later, the US parliament had to open a hearing on AO and issued a bill on compensation for AO victims.
An important milestone was the two countries’ governments beginning official talks on the AO issue, which was a substantial achievement during the fight for the sake of AO victims and also a great success of Vietnam’s efforts to seek justice for them, she said, adding that the campaign is still receiving much support for organisations and movements in the US at present.
To have more extensive and comprehensive cooperation, she suggested agencies and organisations of both countries work together to build win-win relations, especially in connecting their younger generations./.
As a core force in protecting the Fatherland on cyberspace, the cyberspace combat force’s task is to directly assure security and safety, combat, and fight against high-tech crimes and conspiracies and tricks of “peaceful evolution” of hostile forces on cyberspace, etc., to contribute to protecting the Fatherland, the Party, and the regime. Therefore, building a stable and strong political zeal for the force is of particularly important content.
Facing the strong development of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, cyberspace has become a new territory with an important role in the socio-economic development, defence, security, and foreign affairs of countries. To our Military, cyberspace represents “the fifth theatre of battle” with close link to the air, land, sea, and space. Taking advantage of the cyberspace, hostile forces have been sabotaging our country’s revolution in a different spheres, ranging from gathering intelligence information, crippling military information systems, controlling national, military, and defence essential information infrastructure, to infiltrating, collecting, and attacking to gain control and neutralise military hardware or even using these weapons to attack against us. At the same time, they have been organizing psychological and information warfare activities on cyberspace, such as posting false, negative, gratuitous, fabricated information, etc. to undermine people’s trust in the Party, the State, and the socialist regime, promote “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” internally, and incite, entice, and gather forces to form disruptive organizations and destabilize the country's politics, etc.
The cyberspace force, as newly established, is currently in the construction stage with mostly young and inexperienced technical personnel. Meanwhile, sophisticated and cunning intriguing tactics and tricks of hostile forces, highly-specialized cyber warfare environment, and independent operations require each soldier to have a strong political zeal, self-awareness, insights, and assertiveness. Therefore, building this special combat force with political steadfastness and absolute loyalty to the Party, the Fatherland, and the People is the current and urgent task. To that end, the Party Committee and High Command have focused on leading and directing the synchronous implementation of solutions, especially the following solutions:
Firstly, to strengthen the leadership and direction of the Party committees, commissars, and commanders at all levels in building the political zeal for the cyberspace force. The Party committees, commissars, and commanders of agencies and units should promote their roles and responsibilities in leading and directing the thorough grasp of the importance of building political zeal for soldiers. There should be mechanisms and policies to facilitate the soldiers’ sense of self-awareness and activeness in learning and training to raise their political zeal and standpoint. The inspection and supervision of implementation should be strengthened to promptly detect and have measures for overcoming the weak stages and aspects and fight against the manifestations of laziness in learning and training, one-sided political awareness, decline of will and belief, and poor performance. At the same time, there should be reasonable mechanisms and policies to create conditions and encourage, motivate, and expand the spirit of self-discipline, study, and practice as a basis to build a strong political zeal for cadres and soldiers in protecting the Fatherland on cyberspace.
Thirdly, to promote the activeness and self-awareness in studying and training in practical activities to build political zeal for the cyberspace force. Building the political zeal for the cyberspace force should be associated with practical activities, especially training and combat readiness, to constantly foster professional military knowledge and skills, raise awareness, and train the soldiers' combat skills. At the same time, it should be closely associated with discipline management and training and regularity building to make the force better understand the difficulties, hassles, unexpected situations, ideological and psychological tensions in combat, ... to train and build the force with a strong political zeal, not afraid of hardship and dangers, and perseverance to overcome difficulties and challenges to fulfill the assigned duties and tasks.Secondly, to improve the quality of political and ideological education and build firm political zeal and proper motives for the cyberspace force. The education contents should be comprehensive with focus on making the soldiers deeply aware of Marxism - Leninism, Ho Chi Minh thoughts, guidelines and viewpoints of the Party, policies and laws of the State, situation of revolutionary tasks, tasks of the Military, partners and adversaries of the revolution and the Military in general and the cyberspace force in particular, and conspiracies and tricks of hostile forces in the “Peaceful evolution” strategy. Attention should be paid to educating the soldiers to realize that the tasks of the cyberspace force are very heavy and related to the political, economic and military fields and all social activities. Forms and methods of education should be regularly innovated to combine with practical activities in performing duties and tasks to arouse the soldiers’ creativity. At the same time, it should be closely associated with the implementation of the instructions, resolutions, drives, and Determination-to-Win Emulation movements, especially the 4th Central Resolution (the 12th Tenure) on Party building and rectification, the Politburo’s Directive No.05-CT/TW and the Central Military Commission Standing Committee’s Directive No.87-CT/QUTW on promoting the learning and following Ho Chi Minh thoughts, ethics, and style or the Drive of Promoting tradition, dedicating talents, deserving “Uncle Ho’s Soldiers” in the new period, etc. Thereby, it is to create great persuasion in both theory and practice and build and train the cyberspace force with proper awareness and firm political zeal, not afraid of sacrifice, difficulties, and hardships, and to be exemplary, actively participate in scientific research and study, and train and cultivate themselve to be ready to accept and fulfill their assigned tasks.
Finally, to regularly study and master the sabotage plots and tactics of hostile forces and proactively prevent and fight against the conspiracies and tricks of “peaceful evolution”, “self-evolution”, and “self-transformation” internally. To deal effectively with and create a political and spiritual initiative and build strong political zeal for the cyberspace force, agencies and units, especially those performing specialized tasks such as the High Command 86 should lead and direct to study and firmly grasp the nature and increasingly sophisticated conspiracies and tricks to sabotage Vietnam's revolution in cyberspace of hostile forces. It should also be proactive in improving the quality of management and reconnaissance to firmly grasp the situation and detect the opponent's weaknesses, such as: operation processes, computer network infrastructure, holes in the enemy network, etc., to exploit, analyze, and forecast, and accurately evaluate information to determine and provide appropriate combat plans with high efficiency. At the same time, to promote education for soldiers to be well aware of hostile forces’ conspiracies and tactics of “peaceful evolution” and “politicization” and “civilization” of the Army. To regularly manage and firmly grasp the internal political situation and enhance education to raise vigilance and observation of resolutions, directives, ordinances, and regulations on assurance of national, military, and task. To build a beautiful, healthy, and rich cultural environment with the motto of “pitting the beauty against the bad” and “taking the positive to repel the negative” and proactively detect, identify, and fight against the manifestations of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” internally. Along with that, to continue researching and recommending the superiors to complete the mechanisms and policies and encourage adequately and promptly both material and spiritual life to contribute to building the cyberspace force with firm political zeal in the face of the enemy's sabotage, the adverse impacts of the market economy, and social evils to be always ready to receive and fulfill all assigned tasks.
Viet Nam Human Rights
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