27th combat engineer battalion vietnam

Party delegates voted to adopt the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress at the final session of the Congress held on February 1, 2021.

The goals are part of the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress held from January 25 to February 1, the entirety of which has just been released by the Office of the Party Central Committee.

The Resolution noted the highlight of the 12th tenure was the successful handling of the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in significant economic achievements – including stable macroeconomics, controlled inflation and high GDP growth, while people’s living standards were improved. The fight against corruption, loss and waste was intensified, while the socio-political situation remained stable, foreign relations deepened and Vietnam’s profile on the international stage grew.

However, numerous shortcomings – including slow modernisation and industrialisation, shifting in the growth model, limited competitiveness and quality and productivity of the economy, inadequate adaptation to climate change and environment protection demands, drawbacks in Party building and rectification, that science and technology has not been the driving engine of socio-economic growth and the lives of certain groups of people remain difficult – of the 12th tenure have been identified in the Resolution.

The achievements of 35 years of implementation of doi moi (Reform), 30 years of implementing the 1991 Party Platform and in the 10 years of implementing the 2011 Revised Party Platform have proved that the country’s path towards socialism is consistent with Vietnam’s practical situation and the times’ development trends, with the Party’s righteous leadership the leading factor in Vietnam’s revolutionary victories, the Resolution reads.

Amid rapidly shifting and complex developments in the global scene, the Party Platform continues to serve as the ideological flag to gather the collective strength of united peoples for the goal of a “prosperous-people, strong-nation, democratic, equitable, and civilised” Vietnam.

Development vision and orientations

In the coming years, the challenges and opportunities of a complicated world demand the entire Party and Vietnamese people to “unite” and continue to have major changes in mindset and make correct and timely forecasts of the situation to prepare and deal with any circumstance, to “bring the country forward on the path of rapid, sustainable development” and the attainment of many orientations, goals, and tasks.

The Resolution lists major guiding orientations of the years forward, including “persistent and innovative” implementation of Marxist-Leninism and Hồ Chí Minh ideology, persistent pursuit of socialism and independence and upholding national interests based on the principles of the United Nations’ Charter and international law and the spirit of equal and win-win co-operation, with national defence and security in mind.

It also aims to enhance patriotism, the spirit of resilience, national unity and people’s aspirations to develop a prosperous and happy nation, promoting socialist democracy, enhancing the quality of human resources and promoting innovation and science and technology – especially the achievements of the Fourth Industrial Revolution – in service of the country’s sustainable and rapid development.

In addition, Party building and governance are goals, working towards a streamlined and effective Party system with quality cadres and civil servants.

The “general objectives” are identified as improving the Party’s leadership and ruling capacity; building a pure, strong and comprehensive Party and political system; consolidating and raising people’s confidence in the Party, the State and the socialist regime; fomenting aspirations to develop a prosperous and happy country; promoting the will and strength of national solidarity; promoting comprehensive and synchronous đổi mới (reforms), industrialisation, and modernisation; building and firmly defending the Fatherland, maintaining a peaceful and stable environment; and striving to become a developed country with socialist orientations by the middle of the 21st century.

The “particular objectives” are set on Vietnam becoming a developed nation with a modern industrial base and leaving the ranks of lower-middle-income countries by 2025 – the year marking the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the south and national reunification. By 2030, when the Party celebrates its 100th founding anniversary, Vietnam is hoped to become a developing country with a modern industrial base and upper-middle incomes. By 2045, the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, now the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Vietnam is hoped to become a developed, industrialised nation with high income.

In 2021-25, the Resolution sets a target for average GDP growth of 6.5-7 per cent, GDP per capita by 2025 reaching $4,700-5,000, the contributions of total factor productivity (TFP) in economic growth reaching 45 per cent, the labour productivity increase hitting 6.5 per cent a year, urbanisation reaching 45 per cent, the ratio of processing and manufacturing industries in the GDP exceeding 25 per cent, and the digital economy accounting for 20 per cent of the country’s GDP.

In this time frame, the Resolution aims for agricultural labour ratio staying at 25 per cent, the ratio of trained labour reaching 70 per cent, urban unemployment kept at below 4 per cent, the rate of multidimensional poverty maintaining a decrease of 1-1.5 per cent year-on-year, aiming for 10 doctors and 30 hospital beds for every 10,000 people, striving towards 95 per cent of the Vietnamese population being covered under the State’s health insurance, life expectancy reaching 74.5 years, and the ratio of communes obtaining new rural standards reaching at least 80 per cent, including 10 per cent meeting the requirements of exemplary new rural standards.

In terms of environment, by 2025, the goals are to have 95-100 per cent of the urban population and 93-95 per cent of rural population having access to clean and hygienic water, 90 per cent of urban waste properly collected and treated, 92 per cent of active industrial-processing zones outfitted with proper wastewater treatment facilities; 100 per cent of all businesses polluting the environment punished; and upholding the national forest coverage at 42 per cent.

The 13th tenure has “six central tasks”, with the first being Party building, building rules-based socialist State, with effective, corruption-free governance. The second task is controlling the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring COVID-19 vaccination coverage, while engaging in economic recovery, pursuing the transformation of growth model and economic restructuring, implementing national digital transformation strategy, raising labour productivity and innovation, and third is upholding independence, improving the effectiveness of foreign affairs and international integration, building modern and elite armed forces, and maintaining peaceful and stable environment for development.

The fourth central task is inspiring patriotism among the people to develop a prosperous and happy nation, promoting the role of cultural values and the strength of Vietnamese people in nation-building and defence, with detailed policies to develop the culture of ethnic minority groups, carrying out social policies and ensuring social security for the people, raising living standards and happiness indexes of the Vietnamese people. Fifth is perfecting the legal system, institutions, and policies to promote socialist democracy. The final central task is to strictly manage, reasonably and effectively use land and natural resources, protecting the environment, and implementing adaptation measures to cope with climate change and natural disasters.

Breakthrough strategies

To achieve the goals, the Party sets three major breakthrough strategies – completing development institutions, developing human resources, and building modern infrastructure.

Regarding institutions, the Party identifies the need to improve development institutions for a socialist-oriented market economy; reforming State governance towards modernity and competitiveness; improving the legal system and institutions to create a favourable, healthy, and fair business and investment environment for all sectors of the economy where innovation can foster; mobilising, managing and using all resources – especially land, finance, public-private partnership – for development purposes; bolstering reasonable decentralisation, while enhancing inspections and keeping powers in check via the legal system.

For human resources, the Party wants a priority on high-quality human resources for leadership and management and key positions, based on “comprehensive and radical transformation of education and training quality in tandem with recruitment and incentive policies”; promoting research, transfer, application and development of science and technology, innovation; promoting the aspirations for national development, people’s sense of unity and national pride in nation-building and defence efforts.

The Resolution also states the demand for “modern and synchronous” social and economic infrastructure, with a focus on national key transport projects, climate adaptation projects, and information and communications projects to serve national digital transformation and the development of a digital economy and society.

VNS

The situation is set to worsen and Hanoi has to pay due attention, they add.

In the last week of February, the Red River section that flows through Lao Cai Province in northern Vietnam has become so clear that there are some shallow areas towards the banks where the river bed can be seen at a depth of one meter. This is a highly unusual development because the Red River is known for its reddish or pinkish hue.

Dao Trong Tu, head of the executive board of the Vietnam Rivers Network, said one possible reason for the changes seen in the Red River is rooted in China. A series of hydropower plants and reservoirs operated by China further upstream could have held back alluvium, he said.

The Red River, over 1,100 km long, originates in China and flows through 26 localities in northern Vietnam including Lao Cai, Yen Bai, Phu Tho, Vinh Phuc and Hanoi, with a combined population of more than 26 million. The river section that flows through Vietnam is about 510 km long.

Tu said that of Red River’s total water volume of 133 billion cubic meters, China contributes 39 percent, the rest is from Vietnam (60 percent) and Laos (1 percent). The amount of alluvium that comes in from China is huge, at around 160 to 200 million tonnes per year.

The Red River has three tributaries in Vietnam – the Da, Lo and Thao rivers. In upstream parts of these rivers, China has completed several of 52 planned hydropower plants.

China’s dams are likely holding a large amount of sediment, stopping it from flowing downstream to Vietnam.

“Consequently, agriculture activities in the Red River delta are strongly affected,” Tu said.

The lack of alluvium might have caused the riverbeds to sink lower, preventing water from flowing into farmers’ fields. Authorities are, therefore, forced to release around three to five billion cu.m of water every year from dams in Hoa Binh and Tuyen Quang provinces for irrigation.

Agreeing with Tu, Nguyen Lan Chau, Deputy Director of Institute of Mechanics and Environment Engineering, under the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations, said China’s hydropower plants could be considered a key reason for the drastic reduction in the amount of alluvium in the Red River.

Chau said the river water in Lao Cai has been getting clearer after China began operating two major power plants on the upstream part of Thao River.

The first one is Nanshan, with holding capacity of 300 million cu.m of water and the second one is Madushan, which can hold more than 550 million cu.m. The two dams are 140 km and 100 km away from the Vietnamese border.

Chau said her studies show that the river’s clear color in Lao Cai has been randomly seen in recent years, especially in the dry season. Water flow in the river has also been reduced, she added.

She said Beijing has begun operating 12 of 29 dams planned in the upstream area of the Thao River, 11 among 12 on the Da River, and eight plants on the Lo and Gam rivers.

“The lower amount of alluvium from the upper Red River makes it hard for Vietnam to cultivate, and increases erosion along rivers in downstream sections,” Chau said.

Floods and droughts

Numbers that indicate flood levels on the Red River under the Long Bien Bridge, Hanoi, August 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy.

Tu said China’s dams typically cause floods in Vietnam in the rainy season, when Beijing needs to release water to ensure the reservoirs’ safety. The water flow in this season accounts for 70 percent of the whole year’s flow due to geological and climatic conditions.

“This creates the situation where Vietnam is constantly bombarded by floods.”

He also said the risk of dam collapse is a possible disaster that people downstream cannot ignore.

Chau said Vietnam has suffered many times from flash floods caused by China. In 2015, there was a flood with an amplitude of three meters in Lao Cai; in 2006, the flood amplitude was over 10 meters in a section of the Da River in Muong Te District, Lai Chau Province; another flood the same year, which was caused by a broken dam in the upper part of Thao River, surpassed alarm level 2 (82 meters), and left two people dead. In 2007, the flood amplitude was over four meters in the Nam Na River in Lao Cai’s Bat Xat District.

In August 2020, authorities in China’s Hekou Yao County informed their Lao Cai counterparts that the Madushan Dam would open its floodgates as heavy rains had caused the dam to reach its maximum capacity. They did not provide a specific figure, only saying that water levels in the Red River would be higher, prompting Vietnam’s northern localities to take precautions without really knowing what to prepare for.

The third problem, Tu and Chau said, is drought during the dry season, when dam operators store water in their reservoirs.

Chau’s studies have shown that in January and March 2007, the water flowing into to Hoa Binh hydropower plant in Vietnam was at the lowest level in a century, at 140 cu.m and 145 cu.m per second. Additionally, China’s night and day regulation mode made for huge fluctuations of water levels in the Da, Thao, and Lo rivers, leading to a higher risk of riverbank erosion.

Tu said he was very worried that Vietnam does not have a bilateral mechanism for cooperation with China on the Red River despite Hanoi’s attempts to reach one. Tu and his colleagues have visited China to discuss this issue, but things haven’t changed.

One possible mechanism that should be considered is similar to that of the Mekong River Commission (MRC), where some riparian countries’ leaders exchange information and views regularly.

Tu said that when China does not provide detailed information, Vietnam could not have good preparation to react in urgent cases. For example, in 2020, China announced when it would release water from its dams, but did not say how much . Vietnam did not know how to measure the impacts on economic and civil activities in order to prepare an adequate response.

He said the situation will only worsen in the future if no agreement is reached on joint management of rivers that flow through both countries.