THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Law No. 22/2018/QH14 dated June 8, 2018 of the National Assembly on National Defense
Pursuant to the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam;
The National Assembly hereby issues the Law on National Defense.
Chapter I
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article 1. Scope of adjustment
This Law provides for basic national defense principles, policies and activities; state of war, state of national defense emergency, martial law and curfew; people’s armed forces; national defense assurance; duties and powers of regulatory entities and organizations; rights and obligations of citizens regarding national defense.
Article 2. Interpretation
For the purposes of this Circular, terms used herein shall be construed as follows:
1. National defense means the defense of the nation with the combined strength of the whole nation in which the military power is characteristic, the people's armed forces are the core.
2. National defense potentiality means the domestic and foreign human, physical, financial and spiritual capabilities that may be mobilized for performance of national defense tasks.
3. Military means a special activity of the society in the building of armed or armed combat forces of which the People's Army is designated as the core.
4. People's war means an all-people and total war in which the people's armed forces play the core role in safeguarding independence, sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of the Homeland and protecting the People and the Party, the State and the socialism.
5. All-people national defense posture means organization and disposition of the national defense forces and potentialities throughout the territory in conformity with an integrated strategic intent which is in line with the strategy to succeed in preventing and dealing with any hostile plots and acts, and to be ready to shift the country from peacetime to wartime.
6. Homeland defense means a combination of organization, preparation and practice of political, spiritual, economic, cultural, social, scientific, technological, military, security and foreign affairs to safeguard the Homeland.
7. Aggression means an act against independence, sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of the Homeland by using armed forces or other means in breach of Vietnamese and international laws.
8. Information war means a form of warfare, including activities and measures to disable the enemy’s information system and protect Vietnam's information system.
9. State of war means a country’s special social state declared during the period from the time when the aggression of the Homeland occurs to the time when that act of aggression is actually ended.
10. State of emergency means a social state of the country where there is a risk of a direct invasion, or an armed aggression or violence occurs but not to the extent of being declared the state of war.
11. General mobilization means a measure to mobilize all resources of the country against the aggressive war.
12. Local mobilization means a measure to mobilize all resources of one or several localities in the state of national defense emergency.
13. Disaster means naturally occurring events or dangerous epidemics spreading on a large scale or catastrophic events caused by human beings or as a result of war, all of which inflicts serious damage on people, property and environment.
Article 3. National defense principles
1. Abide by the Constitution and laws of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam; be placed under the direct, absolute and all-round leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the centralized and unified management of the State.
2. Consider strengthening and development of national defense as a key and regular task, and consolidate the overall strength of the whole nation and the entire political system in which the people's armed forces act as the core.
3. Build the all-people national defense and the all-people national defense posture in association with the people's security and the people's security posture.
4. Combine national defense with socio-economic activities, and socio-economic and national defense activities.
5. Combine national defense with security and external affairs.Click download to see the full text