Major General Hoang Huu Chien

As one of two excellent graduates in the 15th class of the Border Police Officer School, now the Border Guard Academy, Lieutenant Chien was retained to work as a lecturer at the Reconnaissance and Law Faculty in 1986.

Just one year later, he took orders to go to the border area to become the head of the reconnaissance team of the Xuat Le Border Post which belongs to the Lang Son province’s border guard force.

Later, he assumed the positions of Deputy Head, Head of Reconnaissance Division, Deputy Chief Commander and then Chief Commander of the provincial Border Guard forces in Cao Bang and Quang Tri provinces.

Since June 2017, he has been Deputy Chief of Staff, and Party Committee Secretary of the Border Guard’s General Staff. He was promoted to the rank of Major General in 2020. Alternating his missions in border areas, Chien has returned to the school five times to work as a lecturer, deputy dean and dean there.

As a General with the title of Associate Professor of Military Sciences and doctorate in law, who has served in the army for 40 years, one can see a a person of great learning and a border soldier with typical characteristics.

The general as teacher

Having worked 18 years as a teacher at the Border Guard Academy, General Hoang Huu Chien has been pursuing a clear mindset. He believes that the center of training must be humans and the center of scientific research must be practical and highly feasible.

Border guards respect Chien because they admire his will to study and practice on his own. Having been away from home for 16 years to implement tasks assigned to him at the border areas of Lang Son, Cao Bang and Quang Tri, Chien still takes time to learn.

Border guards respect Chien because they admire his will to study and practice on his own. Having been away from home for 16 years to implement tasks assigned to him at the border areas of Lang Son, Cao Bang and Quang Tri, Chien still takes time to learn.

Always searching for new things with an amazing iron will to study, during his military career, he has completed many training programs with excellent results as a trainee at the Border Guard Academy, Hanoi Law University, the Border Guard Academy in Russia, the People's Security Academy, and the National Defense Academy.

In 2012, he successfully defended his doctoral dissertation on State management over security and order in the border sea areas implemented by the Border Guard.

In 2018, with worthy contributions in border management and protection and scientific research, he was granted the title of Associate Professor of Military Sciences.

“When I was working as a teacher, and when I was following a literary career, I went to border areas for practice. This is called ‘putting away the pen to use the sword’. If I had something that was not understandable, I would ask the soldiers in my unit,” he said.

“During the time of working as Commander in Chief in Quang Tri, I invited the nautical chart officers to come to give instructions on how to read the charts. On Saturday and Sunday, when I was on duty, I spent time reading documents and maps. I always read documents before I did something,” he said.

One door, one-stop-shop

With special love for the national border and scientific knowledge accumulated through practical work, Major General Chien has made contributions to the drafting of the national border protection strategy and the Law on Vietnam Border Guard project.

During his time working at the Quang Tri Border Guard, he gave advice to local authorities on effective welfare policies that would help them develop the economy.

In 2015, the High Command of the Border Guard gave advice to the Ministry of National Defence. The ministry submitted to the Government a plan to apply a one-door, one-stop-shop model at the Lao Bao (Vietnam) – Den Savan (Laos) international border gate under an EMS Agreement.

At that time, Chief Commander Chien instructed the Quang Tri Border Guard to join forces with appropriate agencies to deploy the model.

The model was considered a breakthrough in administrative procedure reform, promoting economic exchange and comprehensive integration among the Mekong sub-region countries.

In 2019, China sent a group of officers to the site to learn about the model. They planned to apply the model to Vietnam-China border gates.

Also during this period, General Chien successfully carried out two research projects with practical significance, titled "Border guards use inline reconnaissance in fighting drug crimes" and "Quang Tri Border Guard prevents and fights violations of entry/exit at land border gates".

Protecting the fatherland

On November 11, 2020, the National Assembly passed the Vietnam Border Guard Law, which will take effect on January 1, 2022.

Not many people know that General Chien and his co-workers had to spend 15 months and 17 days to study, compile and amend the draft law, and hold legal discussions with relevant ministries and branches.

During the compilation time, he was assigned to attend many large workshops with representatives of central ministries, branches and committees, local authorities and local departments of border provinces in the northern, central and southern regions.

There were also 10 workshops at border posts to consolidate the legal bases defending the need for a national border law. 

Son Khang

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