Quân đội thực hiện nhiệm vụ kinh tế gắn với quốc phòng an ninh ở tây nguyên (1985 2013) tt tiếng anh

Since then, experiencing more than half a century of working and production, the military units that carried out economic development associated with national defense consolidation in th

HUE UNIVERSITY

HUE UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION

NGUYEN THUY TRANG

THE ARMY’S ECONOMIC IMPLEMENTATION IN ASSOCIATION WITH NATIONAL DEFENSE AND SECURITY IN THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS

The work was completed in: Department of History, Hue University of Education, Hue University

Instructors:

1 Assoc Prof - PhD Tran Ngoc Long

2 PhD Nguyen Van Hoa

Reviewer 1: Assoc Prof - PhD Dinh Quang Hai

Reviewer 2: Assoc Prof - PhD Nguyen Van Thuong

Reviewer 3: Assoc Prof - PhD Nguyen Van Dang

The thesis will be defended at the grassroot thesis judging council at ………

At hour date month year

The dissertation can be found at Library of Hue University

of Education - Hue University

INTRODUCTION

1 The reason for choosing topic

The Vietnamese for People's Army right from its inception has been identified by the Party and Leader Ho Chi Minh as "Army for fighting, Army for working, Army for production" - these three mainly basic functions have still remained valid so far In particular, the army’s particiaption in production and economic construction is the succession and development of the policy of "building the country along with defending the country" and

"the economy combining with national defense", which was formed early and existed throughout the history of the nation of Vietnam The reality has shown that, regardless of the circumstances, along with doing well the task

of protecting the revolutionary achievements, the army is always proactive and actively participate in working and production, economic construction

in many appropriate forms and measures, thereby, making an important contribution to the cause of national liberation, national construction and defense

In the two resistance wars against French colonialism and American imperialism, the Army, besides the task of fighting for defending the Fatherland, always highlighted the sense of self-reliance for self-improvement and actively increased production to improve life; participated in building a large northern rear, on-site logistics base in strategic regions, contributing to the successful implementation of two revolutionary strategies: the Socialist Revolution in the North, the people’s Democratic National Revolution in the South After the reunification of the country, the Army was a storm-troop, participated in restoring and healing the wounds of the war, and at the same time implemented economic construction programs and projects in combination with national defense nationwide, mainly in difficult areas, mountainous areas, border areas and islands Entering the period of implementing the renovation process, promoting the cause of industrialization - modernization, along with the task of training and preparing willing to combat, the Army was also trusted by Party and the State and assigned the task of participating in economic development

associated with strengthening national defense and security in strategic areas

The Central Highlands with its natural position, locating at the Indochinese junction, is always an extremely important strategic location

of the country This land has many potentials and strengths for economic development, and there are many ethnic minorities This was once a strong base of the national liberation revolution, as well as a place for refuge and operation of many reactionary organizations Appreciating the importance of the Central Highlands, the Party, the State and the Army have made many strategic plans to turn the Central Highlands into a key, firm economic region in terms of national defense and security However, the current socio-economic situation in the Central Highlands still faces many difficulties compared to other areas and regions of the country This

is also a politically sensitive area, where hostile forces often take advantage of poverty, ethnicity and religion to misrepresent the Party's guidelines and policies, the State's policies, and disunite great national unity, incite demonstrations, riots, demand for secession to establish the so-called " Montagnard Dega Association" Illegal religious activities and free migration in the area have been complicated In that context, the implementation of the socio-economic development strategy associated with the consolidation of national defense and security in the Central Highlands region has always been urgently set

As early as 1973, after the Paris Agreement was signed, the liberation zone formed in the North Central Highlands, a number of military units locating

in this area were ordered to hold on to their positions for doing task of economic development, building the on-site rear and assisting the key force

in the southern liberation Since then, experiencing more than half a century

of working and production, the military units that carried out economic development associated with national defense consolidation in the Central Highlands have been bringing prosperous life to thousands of ethnic households and people from all regions who came here to get set up, forming

a strong economic-defense zone system along the boundery belt bordering Laos and Cambodia The presence of military forces undertaking the task of

combining economy with national defense is of great significance to the development of all aspects of the Central Highlands

The military’s process of participation in socio-economic development associated with the consolidation of national defense and security in the Central Highlands has provided valuable experiences and also raised many issues to be solved, from the awareness to the process of implementing the tasks

Because of this meaning, I decided to select the matter of "The Army’s economic implementation in association with national defense and security in the Central Highlands (1985-2013)" as the topic of my

doctoral thesis The topic has both scientific value and practical significance

In terms of scientific significance, finding out this matter clarifies

activities as well as achievements and limitations in the process that the army performs the task of economic development associated with national defense and security in the Central Highlands; affirming that the objective of the Army's participation in economic construction is not merely to do business but to solidify the national defense-security position in strategic areas

In terms of practical significance, through studying the process of

army’s implementation of socio-economic development associated with national defense and security in the Central Highlands, some typical models and lessons learned will be drawn for serving the cause of economic construction and consolidation of the national defense - security position in the Central Highlands and other key and strategic areas nationwide today in general

2 Object and scope of the study

2.1 Object of the study

Military units perform the task of economy construction combined with national defense and security in the Central Highlands region

2.2 Scope of the study

- Regarding spacial aspect: The Central Highlands region, including

Kon Tum, Gia Lai, Dak Lak, Dak Nong and Lam Dong provinces

- Regarding temporal aspect: From 1985 (when the 15 Army Corps was officially established) until 2013 (when the model that military performed economic development in combination with national defense

in the Central Highlands was initially completed) However, in order to ensure the logics of the matter, the thesis can mention the activities of some military units specializing in economic construction in the Central

Highlands since 1973

- Regarding the content: The Army’s participation in production and

economic construction has many types, however, the scope of the content of the thesis focuses on studying military units in charge of socio-economic development associated with national defense and security in the Central Highlands region, such as the 15th Army Corps, 16th Army Corps and a number of units under the management of the military zone and province unit

3.Objectives and tasks of the study

3.1 Objectives of the study

To clarify the process of the Army implementing economic development associated with the consolidation of national defense and security in the Central Highlands (1985 - 2013), thereby contributing to confirming the soundness of the model To provide scientific arguments

to contribute to making the policy of economic development associated with national defense and security in the Central Highlands and in border areas, islands, remote and disadvantaged areas throughout the country in general

3.2 Tasks of the study

To achieve these objectives, the task of the thesis is defined:

- To evaluate overview of research situation related to the topic

- To clarify factors affecting the process of the Army's implementation

of economic tasks associated with national defense and security in the Central Highlands To generalize the guidelines of the Central Committee

of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the State's policies on the army’s participation in economic development combined with the consolidation

of national defense

- To reproduce the process of the army implementing socio-economic development associated with the consolidation of national defense and security in the Central Highlands region through the stages of development from 1985 to 2013

- To identify typical models of economic development associated with national defense and security in the area

- To provide comments, evaluate the achieved results and draw up a number

of lessons learned about the military's implementation of socio-economic development associated with the consolidation of national defense and security in the Central Highlands region (1985 - 2013)

4 Source of materials and methodology

4.1 Source of materials

- Documents of the the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam, directives of the Ministry of Defense, the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Communist Party of

5th Military Region

- Works, speeches and writings of the leaders of the Communist Party

of Vietnam, the State and the Army

- Documents archived at National Archives Center III, Archives of Ministry of Defense, Department of Economic Affairs - Ministry of Defense,

5th Military Region, Political Bureau of 7th Military Region, 15th Army Corps, 16th Army Corps…

- The traditional history books of the units and localities

- The dissertations and theses related to the topic

- Recollections of historical witnesses

- Results of Field research

4.2 Methodology

To implement the thesis, doctoral applicant mainly used a combination of historical and logical methods In addition, in the research process, a number of other methods were applied such as: statistics, synthesis, generalization, comparison, analysis on the basis of studying textual materials, field surveys and contacts with historical witnesses to select and exploit reliable information

5 Contribution of the thesis

The thesis is the first work to systematically and comprehensively study the process of the army’s participation in economic development associated with national defense and security in the Central Highlands (1985 - 2013) Thereby, it contributes to asserting the soundness, creativity and effectiveness of this model in the strategic areas of the Central Highlands

The findings of the thesis contribute to supplementing and providing more profound awareness on the tradition of "the Army for Production"

of the Vietnamese for People's Army; It is also a reference for those who are interested in learning about the army’sparticipation in production and economic construction in peacetime

The thesis summarizes a number of valuable and practical lessons learnt, providing data that can be referenced in the process of making policy of economic development associated with national defense and security in the Central Highlands at present

6 Layout of the thesis

In addition to the introduction, conclusion, references and annexes, the thesis consists of 4 chapters:

Chapter 1 Overview of research situation

Chapter 2 The army implements economic development in combination with consolidation of national defense and security in the Central Highlands (1985 - 1998)

Chapter 3 The army accelerates economic development associated with

national defense and security in the Central Highlands (1998 - 2013)

Chapter 4 Comments and some lessons learned

Chapter 1 OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH SITUATION

1.1 RESEARCH SITUATION RELATED TO THE TOPIC

1.1.1 Group of researches on the Army’s participation in economic

construction in general

Setting the foundation for the study of the combination of economics with national defense as well as the role of the army in participating in

economic construction, is the Marxist - Leninist theory of war and the

military (People's Army Publishing Hous, 1975)

In many neighboring countries, where have conditions and characteristics of the people's war similar to Vietnam, the Army’s participation in economic construction and consolidation of national defense in peacetime is also paid attention to, researched, shown in the

works: The role of the People's Liberation Army in China's economy and

foreign affairs by Bondan O.Szuprowicz (People's Army Publishing

House, 1977); Economic activities of the People's Liberation Army of

China by A.Abadop (People's Army Publishing House, 1998); Developing Lao People's Army enterprises in the process of building market economy and international economic integration by Vongack Phanthavong

(National Economics University, 2010)…

Many researches on the combination of economic affairs and national defense mentioned the role of the Vietnamese for People's Army in

perfomring this strategic task, including: The combination of economy with

national defense in Vietnam (People's Army Publishing House, 1980) by

Tran Xuan Truong and Nguyen Anh Bac; Issues of economic guarantee

for national defense in our country at present (People's Army Publishing

House, 1986) by Nguyen Duong and Nguyen Anh Bac; Combination of

economy and national defense in our country at present (People's Army

Publishing House, 2008) by Tran Trung Tin

In addition, there are quite a lot of articles published in specialized magazines mentioning the Army’s participation in production and

economic construction in Vietnam, typically: “Combination of economy

with national defense for the country construction and defence in a new situation” in Communist Magazine, Vol 12 - 1992; "Production and construction of the military economy are inseparable from the revolution line of people's war of the Communist Party" by Dong Si Nguyen in National Economics magazine, Vol 4 - 2012…

The above mentioned works and articles have solved many theoretical issues about the army’s participation in production and economic construction in Vietnam However, the researches did not mention much about activities of the Army participating in socio-economic development, strengthening national defense and security in strategic areas and borders

1.1.2 Group of research works on economic - defense units of the Army

Economic - Defense enterprises have been clarified by a number of

works, such as: Vu Thanh Che with thesis of the Vietnamese for People's

Army on the cause of building the national economy in the current situation (Political Academy, 1998); thesis of State Management for Economic - Defense Enterprises by Nguyen Xuan Phuc (National

Economics University, 2012)

The Economic - Defense Zone has become a topic taken into

consideration with the following works: The Army’s participation in

building socio-political bases in the Economic - National Defense Areas

(Military Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences - Ministry of Defense,

2007); Development and investment in current economic-defense zones in

Vietnam by Tran Manh Hung (National Economics University, 2008); National Defense Economic Delegation implements the current Party and State's national policies by Nguyen Xuan Dai (Political Academy, 2017)…

There are many articles in specialized magazines providing more information on the construction of Economic - Defense zones such as: Ho

Si Hau (2004), "Economic – National Defense Area, an internal source of the country, a core force to solve difficult socio-economic problems in

strategic areas”, Journal of Military History, Vol 12; Do Manh Hung and

Ta Minh Tuan (2011), "Discussion on the particulars of the

Economic-National Defense Area", Journal of Economic-National Defense Economics, Vol 2;

Pham Toan Thang (2010), "Exchange on the model of combination of

military enterprises with the Economic - Defense delegation" in the Journal

of National Defense Economics, Vol 3…

The works have directly mentioned and clarified the contents of the Economic - Defense enterprise, Economic - Defense zone, Economic - National delegation and fairly specifically presented the actual situation of some activities; positively evaluate and proposed solutions on the aspects to improve the effectiveness of these types at present and in future However, due to the field and subject of the research, the above works have not specified the method of performing the task combining economy with national defense

1.1.3 The group of researches on military units that carried out economic and defense combination in the Central Highlands

Directly related to the research object of the thesis, there are a number

of works: 16 th Army Corps - 10 years of construction and growth (1998 -

2008) (People's Army Publishing House, 2008), Chronicle of 16 th Army Corps (1998 - 2013) (People's Army Publishing House, 2013), History of the Communist Party of 16 th Army Corps (1999 - 2019) (People's Army

Publishing House, 2018); Coffee Company 15 - Fifteen years – A stage

(1996 - 2011) (People's Army Publishing House, 2011); History of Lam Dong people's armed forces (1945 - 2010) (People's Army Publishing

House, 2012); History of Company 72 (1973 - 2013) (People's Army Publishing House, 2013); Company Limited 732 - 40 years of construction,

growth and development (1973 - 2013) (People's Army Publishing House,

2013); History of Company 74 (1975 - 2015) (People's Army Publishing House, 2015); History of 15 th Army Corps (1985 - 2015), (People's Army

Publishing House, 2015); Research on combining economic activities with

national defense in the Central Highlands region (Ministry of Defense,

2015)…

The most general research on the issue of combining economy with

national defense in the Central Highlands so far is the work combining

economic development with national defense in the Central Highlands in the period of 1996-2010 by author Le Nhi Hoa (National Political

Publishing House, 2013)

In addition, there are also many articles in scientific journals mentioning the military units combining economy and national defense

in the Central Highlands: Man Ha Anh (2009), “Construction of economic - defense zone, view from the 16th Army Corps, "National

Defense Journal, Vol 2; Ha Thieu (2010), "In order that

Economic-Defense Zone of 16th Army Corps have a stable and firm development,

National Defense Journal Vol 9; Nguyen Xuan Sang (2011),

"Corporation 15 overcomes difficulties for sustainable development",

Journal of National Economics, Vol 3; Nguyen Xuan Dai (2014),

"Efficiency of propaganda with the population in the Central Highlands

region from the model "linking households", Journal of National Defense

Economics, Vol 4

Due to the scope and limitation of the article, therefore, it has not really acknowledged and thoroughly assessed the effectiveness of the problem in application and widely deploying effective methods of propaganda, suitable for economic units combined with national defense

in the Central Highlands as well as other strategic areas to ensure the overall stability for the whole country

1.2 THE RESOLVED CONTENTS THAT THE THESIS INHERITS FROM THE RESEARCHES

Those works have solved some following basic problems:

Regarding theoretical aspect, the works have studied many

theoretical issues, confirmed the objectivity of the strategy of combining economy with national defense in the cause of national construction and defense and clarified the indispensable role of the Vietnamese for People's Army in the task of economic development associated with the consolidation of national defense and security in border areas, islands and remote areas

Regarding practical aspect, a number of projects have specifically

studied activities such as production and business, building political facilities, strengthening national defense and security; also initially raised some inadequacies of these models The projects have made valuable proposals to continue promoting the advantages and overcome disadvantages in specific aspects of the military forces in economic construction

socio-There were many projects that have analyzed, handled and clarified a number of factors affecting the implementation of strategies in economic development combined with strengthening national defense and security

in the Central Highlands At the same time, the above projects have also restored the process of formation, development and operation of a number of specific military units, directly undertook the task of economic development in combination with national defense in the Central Highlands

However, due to the influence of the object and the scope of the study,

so far, there has not been any study intensively researching systematically the military units performing the economic development task in combination with consolidation of national defense and security in the Central Highlands

1.3 THE ISSUES CONTINUE TO BE RESOLVED IN THETHESIS

On the basis of inheriting the research findings of the related works, the thesis will continue to clarify the following issues.:

- Systematically reproducing the process of the army performing the task of economic development associated with national defense and security in the Central Highlands through each stage from 1985 to 2013 under the scientific issues of the concept of "economy combined with national defense and defense combined with economy” proposed by the Party and the State

- Continuing to clarify the nature of the concepts "economy combined with national defense", " Economic - Defense Enterprises", "Economic - National Defense zone", "Economic – Defense Delegation”,…

- Clarifying the close and interrelated relationship between economic development and national defense-security consolidation in solving topical challenges in the strategic area of the Central Highlands Since then, the Army’s performance of the task of economic development associated with the consolidation of national defense and security is objectively assessed in terms of both the policy and the implementation process in the Central Highlands from 1985 to 2013

socio Confirming effective models, bringing great achievements to military units for economic construction in association with national defense and security in the Central Highlands

- Solving the above issues, the thesis clearly points out the limitations

in the process of implementing the policy in which the Army participates

in economic production in the Central Highlands region On the other hand, the lessons learned are drawn, providing some data that can be referenced in the process of making economic development policies associated with strengthening national defense and security in strategic areas throughout the country in general, the Central Highlands in particular

Chapter 2 THE ARMY IMPLEMENTS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN COMBINATION WITH CONSOLIDATION OF NATIONAL DEFENSE AND SECURITY IN THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS

(1985 - 1998)

2.1 FACTORS AFFECTING THE ARMY'S IMPLEMENTATION

OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATED WITH THE CONSOLIDATION OF NATIONAL DEFENSE AND SECURITY

IN THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS

2.1.1 Natural and socio-economic conditions in the Central

Highlands

2.1.1.1 Natural condition

Addressing the complex impacts of natural conditions is a difficult problem for the exploitation to both obtain effectiveness of economic development

potentials and protect natural resources and build a defensive position, people’s security in the border areas of the Central Highlands

2.1.1.2 Social and economic conditions

The socio-economic situation in the Central Highlands still has remained many problems, especially the limitations and deprivations in the life of the local people To continue overcoming these problems, the Party and the State must step up the socio-economic development strategy, increase vigilance, fight against "Peace evolutions", consolidate the national defense position nation-wide, especially in poor, remote and border areas

2.1.2 Security - political situation

Because of its important strategic location and abundant resources, the Central Highlands has always been a political "hot spot" This situation calls for strengthening the military forces on this strategic borderline, ready to combat and fight against reactionary forces, on the other hand, actively addressinh these issues by combining many fields, politics associated with socio-economy and culture

2.1.3 The Party's policy on the Army’s economic construction associated with the consolidation of national defense

2.1.3.1 The period before 1985

Right after the end of the resistance war against the French colonialists, the Party and President Ho Chi Minh took advantage of the military forces

to participate in production, to carry out the economic development in combination with national defense in an appropriate manner to contribute to overcome the post-war consequences, build up a large northern base, and support the South to continue fighting against the world's leading great nation - the American empire

2.1.3.2 The period of 1985 - 2013

In the process of renovation, integration, the Party and the State have always paid attention to, adjusted and directed the forces in economic development in the direction of promoting close cooperation between economy and national defense

2.1.4 Initial results of military units in economic construction