Hanoi (VNA) – Overthe two years of enforcement, the Law on the Vietnam Coast Guard has proved tobe a “sharp tool” for implementing law at sea.

The law, officially takingeffect on July 1, 2019, consists of eight chapters with 41 articles. It regulatesthe position, functions, tasks, authority, organisation, and activities of theVietnam Coast Guard; benefits and policies for the force; and responsibilitiesof relevant agencies, organisations, and individuals.

Assessing the law’senforcement over the last two years, Maj. Gen. Bui Quoc Oai, PoliticalCommissar of the Vietnam Coast Guard, said the law has helped improve all-levelauthorities, sectors, and people’s awareness and legal consciousness about thestate management over the country’s seas and islands by law, along with theforce’s position, role, functions, and tasks.

Based on the law’sstipulations on the force’s apparatus, personnel, and equipment, active andeffective moves have been made to build an elite, lean, and strong Vietnam CoastGuard, thus better performing its tasks in the new context.

Oai noted thanks to theenforcement of the law, the force’s coordination with military units andrelevant agencies of ministries, sectors, and localities in safeguarding themaritime sovereignty and enforcing law at sea has been carried out morestrictly and also fruitfully.

The Vietnam Coast Guard hasenhanced relations with law enforcement forces of other ASEAN countries, aswell as the countries whose sea areas are adjacent to Vietnam’s, in conformitywith the Party and State’s viewpoints on defence diplomacy and nationalsafeguarding.

Communications have also beenboosted to engage people in the formation of the people-based security positionat sea and to strengthen fishermen’s trust, the officer went on.

He added that in the timeahead, the Vietnam Coast Guard High Command is pushing ahead with informationdissemination to help people gain a better understanding of the law-based statemanagement over seas and islands while encouraging the people to join the forcein protecting national sovereignty and interest at sea and maintainingsecurity, order, and safety for the country’s sacred maritime and insular areas.

Located next to the sea,Vietnam boasts a sea area of more than 1 million sq.km., nearly 3,000 islandsand archipelagoes, and a coastline over 3,260km long.

In the face of recent complexdevelopments in the East Sea, particularly violations of the maritimesovereignty, smuggling, piracy, and fishing boats’ infringements of territorialwaters, the Law on the Vietnam Coast Guard has proved itself to be a “sharptool” and the legal basis for the coast guard force to implement law at sea,thereby helping to manage and safeguard the country’s sovereignty, sovereignright, and jurisdiction and guarantee order and safety in Vietnam’s seaareas./.