FOREIGN INFORMATION WORK ON CYBERSPACE TO SERVE THE TASK OF PROTECTING THE COUNTRY OF VIETNAM (PART 2)

The impact of the 4.0 industrial revolution and cyberspace on foreign information work

(1) Impact of the 4.0 industrial revolution on foreign information work: Foreign information work (FOR) is one of Vietnam's foreign activities to the world. Introducing and promoting information about Vietnam to the world through the image of the country, land, people, history, and culture of Vietnam; information about the Party's guidelines and policies, laws and policies of the Vietnamese State and bringing world information to Vietnam has brought Vietnam closer and more familiar with friends from all over the world. Promoting FOR also plays an extremely important role, associated with the direction and administration of our Party and State, through the form of propaganda and ideological orientation. Information technology activities have been developing in many rich and diverse forms of information: images of the country, land, people, history, and culture of Vietnam are expressed through films, stories recorded in books, newspapers, models, symbols, media prisms... transmitted in the form of watching-listening-reading directly according to tradition. The 4.0 industrial revolution has directly impacted information technology activities, changing the appearance of information technology work, harmoniously combining traditional and non-traditional forms, spreading quickly, widely, deeply and effectively. The 4.0 technology revolution is " a term cluster for technologies and concepts of organizations in the value chain " along with physical systems in virtual space, the Internet of Things (IoT) and the Internet of Services (IoS). Thanks to the convenience of IoT and IoS services, we have used them as non-traditional means to bring images of the country, people, and history of Vietnam... to all continents.

Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung speaks at Vietnam Security Summit 2019

However, the impact of the 4.0 industrial revolution on the work of information technology in the period of 2011-2020, in general, has many advantages but also faces many difficulties in carrying out tasks in accordance with the Party's guiding viewpoints and goals.

* Favorable

In Conclusion 16-KL/TW, it is stated that in recent years, the methods of information work have been innovated, more flexible, the number of participants has been increased, the subjects and areas have been expanded, and the activities have been effective, but compared to the requirements and tasks, the information content is still limited, not rich, passive, and confused in the fight against distorted information and false arguments... 2013 is called the year of the beginning of the 4.0 industrial revolution, our Party has grasped the trend of the era of industrial development 4.0 and promptly issued practical instructions and requirements so that information work does not lag behind the world. The Party assesses the role of the Internet as very important, it is necessary to focus on and increase the selection of information forms via the Internet, in information work, in the period of 2011-2020. According to the recorded results, there are many innovations and creations in both form and content that overcome some limitations as stated in Conclusion 16-KL/TW, when using non-traditional forms - digital technology - to bring TTĐN to the world.

Some of the achievements in the work of information technology in the period of 2011-2020 were due to the impact of the 4.0 industrial revolution. Information technology work was propagated on all aspects of domestic and foreign media, determinedly fighting to protect the sovereignty of the sea and islands, when, on May 2, 2014, China brazenly sent the Haiyang 981 drilling rig to encroach on Vietnam's exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, causing a stir in international and regional public opinion, also known as the Haiyang 981 drilling rig incident. In the face of complicated developments, our Party had clear-sighted and quick instructions on information technology work, both reassuring the spirit of the people in the country, encouraging and motivating the armed forces, steadfastly participating in the determination to preserve the airspace, sea, continental shelf, and exclusive economic zone of Vietnam from foreign invasion; Domestic media and press teams actively follow the developments to report accurate news, serving as an official source of information for international observers and politicians to follow and comment in support of Vietnam and oppose China's arrogant actions. The information and propaganda, reflecting honestly, accurately and in detail the 981 drilling rig incident in the international arena, has raised a wave of support for Vietnam in the just fight to protect sovereignty and territorial integrity in the East Sea. At the same time, it has attracted and enlisted the governments of the United States, Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, India, etc., and peace-loving organizations around the world to join in protesting the Chinese government's brazen actions of using force to plot to occupy Vietnam's exclusive economic zone and continental shelf in the East Sea. In many international media, it has become a hot topic in regional meetings and world summits: the Shangri-La Dialogue held in June 2014 in Singapore, heads of state and leaders of countries such as Japan and the United States have strongly condemned China's brazen actions in the East Sea. Vietnamese and international historical researchers have provided important evidence that ancient world maps from many centuries ago all show that Truong Sa and Hoang Sa belong to Vietnam. The ancient maps have been kept in libraries of many countries around the world, in personal antique collections... they are willing to give or sell them to us to add to the national historical archive of Vietnam and have enough international legal basis to fight against China, in all aspects from media, suing in international courts, to being able to use force to protect sovereignty, legal territorial integrity, in case of force majeure (this is the last resort for defense)... Vietnam also creates opportunities for major international media agencies, international reporters to come to Vietnam to report, write articles, and work right at the hottest place where Chinese ships are continuously engaging in aggressive and provocative acts such as opening cannon covers to threaten, using water cannons to attack Vietnamese ships, ready to ram and damage Vietnamese ships and injure some fisheries inspectors. Faced with increasing pressure from domestic and international public opinion, on July 16, 2014, China was forced to withdraw the illegal Haiyang 981 drilling rig from Vietnam's exclusive economic zone, one month earlier than planned and covered up with the reason of "mission completed". It can be said that our foreign information and propaganda work at this event was successful, bringing full legal and historical evidence in many forms to the world, calling for support from many countries, international dignitaries, peace-loving organizations, international media agencies and reporters. Propaganda information, historical evidence, and calls for protest are not only published in the form of printed books and speeches at international conferences and seminars, but are also spread on the Internet in the form of e-books, digital maps, video clips, short documentaries, infographics, and photos that are copied and widely spread, creating a wave of protest on the Internet from personal blogs, Yahoo messenger group chats of a few dozen to a few hundred people, thousands of personal websites to websites of organizations and countries...

Associate Professor, Dr. Le Hai Binh spoke at the workshop with the topic: "Ensuring ideological security in the current cyberspace environment".

The international event of the 2018 US-North Korea summit in Vietnam is an environment for Vietnam to demonstrate to the world Vietnam's foreign policy and cooperation with countries and international friends: "Vietnam is ready to be a friend and a reliable partner of all countries in the world community striving for peace, independence and development". We all know that it is not by chance that the leaders of the US and North Korea chose Vietnam as an intermediary environment to organize negotiations and dialogues, although the negotiations have not achieved the results that politicians and world observers expected. But the results of foreign media information about the beautiful country, friendly people, peaceful and stable politics of Vietnam have spread through live television and the online environment to reach the world in the shortest and fastest time, with honest and objective reporting by 3,000 reporters and freelance reporters from 200 international media agencies (an event with more international reporters coming to work than the APEC Summit) and nearly 600 Vietnamese reporters. Stories about Vietnam, outside the conference, before being published into books by international reporters, have spread on the online environment through questions and answers between reporters and their families or friends at home: Vietnamese people are very friendly, you can get help right on the street; Ordinary people do not know your language but they can still talk to you in a language that describes actions, gestures, closeness but still maintains enough distance, still called body language; high-rise buildings can be happily supported by the owner to work on the top floor; the food is very strange and delicious... and so on and so forth. As for scholars and observers, their comments on the country and people of Vietnam are exactly as reported by official media sources: "Clearly Vietnam is capable of ensuring logistics and security issues for the US-North Korea summit. Vietnam has experience hosting international events, typically the APEC conference in 2017", Professor Charles Armstrong, Columbia University, USA, assessed when talking to VnExpress . Mr. Armstrong assessed Vietnam as an "interesting place" to hold the second meeting between the US President and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Hanoi has good relations with both Washington and Pyongyang, and can be seen as a peace mediator; Professor Nam Sung-wook, Korea University, also said that "Vietnam is the best place to hold the summit". "Vietnam is a symbolic country in terms of its role as a peace mediator", Professor Nam said. According to Professor Carl Thayer, Australian Defense Force Academy, University of New South Wales, Vietnam and Hanoi will become the center of attention of the world until the Trump - Kim meeting ends. Vietnam has demonstrated its ability to organize high-level events by ensuring public security and luxurious infrastructure to meet the requirements of leaders. During the APEC 2017 summit week, Vietnam ensured security "at the highest level"...

During the days of the US-North Korea summit, every move of the two leaders Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un spread to the whole world, known as news from Hanoi, Vietnam. The name Hanoi - Vietnam has increased in frequency by a million times on Internet pages and electronic newspapers in the region and internationally. Even in Europe, the name Vietnam is not familiar to the people here. Some elderly people still only remember Vietnam being at war with the US even though Vietnam has been at peace for decades, but for those who live peacefully and in remote villages, do they still think that there is a war? The US-North Korea event has brought them closer to Vietnam. Vietnamese students studying in some regions of Europe, when talking to local elderly people, have heard the question: are you from Vietnam where the US-North Korea summit just took place?

It can be said that the above two events are just a few of the many successful ICT activities of Vietnam in the period of 2011 - 2020, developing in accordance with the strategy set out by the Politburo in Conclusion 16-KL/TW with the general goal . To achieve this result, there is a significant impact of the 4.0 industrial revolution in ICT work.

* Hard

The 4.0 industrial revolution has brought many benefits to life and many countries and industries have benefited and been affected in positive and negative ways if we cannot control cyberspace. However, dominating and controlling cyberspace at a certain point in time does not mean that we have completely mastered it. Because the change of technology is always developing continuously, resting, one version follows another and the time is unpredictable. Its lifespan is also decided by a small number of technologists. Therefore, the digital world, digital ecosystem and products on its platform do not follow the permanent rule. So dealing with it and being its real master is also a difficult problem that not everyone can do and not every country can handle. There was an incident when the US Government's website system was seemingly secure but was also attacked by hackers when infected with malware. Therefore, this is also one of the difficulties when foreign information work is affected by the 4.0 industrial revolution. There will be advantages but also many difficulties. If digital products are infected with malware, they will not be able to spread or provide information as they are supposed to. If the system of hundreds or thousands of websites on the network environment posting our propaganda information is attacked by hackers with malware or illegally accessed to change official information into distorted, untrue information... We must set up a backup warehouse, store network information, and reserve high-tech human resources capable of emergency response in any bad situation that may occur, ensuring network security and data security. At the same time, we must not let hostile forces take advantage of these situations to cause political instability, disrupt the peace we are preserving and damage Vietnam's image with international friends.

In summary, the impact of the 4.0 industrial revolution in general on the work of information technology, although it has many advantages in propaganda, fast and accurate dissemination worldwide through the network environment, it also faces many difficulties. If the network environment is infected with malware or physically impacted by hackers, our propaganda and promotion results will be affected.

(2) Impact of cyberspace - social networks in particular on information technology: since the 4.0 industrial revolution in 2013 until now, the accelerated development of digital technology, digital ecosystem, IoT, IoS has been an ideal environment for social networks to develop rapidly and diversely, in the form of private chat (sending messages), closed groups, public groups... After a period of development, cyberspace in general and social networks in particular have been changed and added many features such as sending messages in text and image format, live streaming videos.

According to report No. 20/BC-UBQGCĐS dated October 21, 2022 of the Ministry of Information and Communications, the time spent by Vietnamese digital platform users recorded an increase compared to August 2022 from 12.66% to 14.13% with an estimated average of each mobile phone subscriber using a smartphone spending nearly 10 hours/subscriber/month using domestically developed applications (an increase of more than 40 minutes compared to the previous quarter). In October 2022, the number of regular users of Vietnamese applications also increased compared to August 2022. Preliminary estimates of the proportion of regular users of Vietnamese applications compared to foreign applications increased slightly from 19.22% in August 2022 to 22.66%. Among the top 50 applications with the most users in September 2022, Facebook (USA) with more than 75.6 million active users is holding the #1 position in terms of number of users, followed by Zalo (Vietnam) at #2 with more than 74.1 million active users; #3 is YouTube (USA) with 7.1 million active users. In addition to Zalo, some Vietnamese applications are also highly ranked such as Zing MP3 (#17), Vi MoMo (#21), Bao Moi (#26), Vietcombank (#28), BIDV Smart Banking (#35),... It can be seen that as the number of social network users is increasing, the impact of foreign information work on cyberspace, social networks in particular, is another common phenomenon.

* Favorable

It can be said that the sharing and dissemination of information in the form of words, sounds, images... of social networks has effectively supported Vietnam's foreign information work abroad in the period 2011-2020. Facing the general trend, ministries, branches and press agencies, in addition to traditional forms of media promotion, have promoted the image of the country and Vietnamese people on many social networks: Facebook, YouTube (Ministry of Health, Vietnam Television, Vietnam News Agency, Voice of Vietnam), Twitter (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Instagram (Vietnam Television)... The implementation of image promotion on social networks is carried out by ministries and branches, posted and broadcast daily or periodically weekly or monthly. Press agencies with TTĐN channels (Vietnam Television, Voice of Vietnam, Vietnam News Agency) post and broadcast news, articles, photos, and programs daily, with many diverse genres. Vietnam News Agency promotes and posts information on the Vietnamese Facebook fanpage of Vietnam News Agency, which is updated with more than 20 information products in various forms (text, photos, television and graphic information); News Television (Vnews) posts information on Facebook every day with about 30-40 information; livestream information, real-time online news, with time slots of 8am, 11am, 6pm, 10pm on the fanpage, attracting many viewers and receiving positive feedback from the public; Tin Tuc Newspaper posts on social networks about 5-10 news and articles/day, focusing mainly on information posted on Tin Tuc Newspaper, with official information on politics, economics, culture, society, security and defense to promote the image of the country and people of Vietnam to the world.

The information content posted is relatively rich, all from official sources. The measurement and counting features of social networks have been well evaluated through the level of access and interaction with information of listeners-viewers-readers/online communities. Due to the available features and utilities of social networks, many readers/online communities can easily access information through sharing and commenting. In the period of 2011-2020, under the direction of the Party and the Politburo, ministries and branches have focused on promoting the image of localities/the country abroad on social networks, with the following contents: (i) promoting the direction, administration, and activities of ministries, branches, and localities; providing people with legal documents and state regulations related to ministries and branches; (ii) promote the achievements of the Government, ministries, branches, advanced models, good people, good deeds in the fight against crime, social evils, scientific and technological achievements, contributing to creating a favorable environment for the country's economic development, attracting foreign investors, creating a beautiful image of the country and Vietnamese people in the hearts of international friends; (iii) update information on foreign affairs activities of senior leaders, major international events held in Vietnam, Vietnam's official stance on issues of public concern as well as propaganda content, promoting the image of Vietnam; (iv) update information, promote the country, people, Vietnamese culture and interact with foreigners; (v) fight against the wrong views of hostile forces, orient public opinion, protect the image and prestige of the Party, State, Vietnam People's Army and Vietnam's armed forces, etc.

In addition, foreign press agencies focus on timely daily updates of domestic and international news in the fields of politics, society, culture, sports, entertainment and tourism. Most of the news and articles shared on the fanpages of press agencies are taken from press programs and products broadcast and posted on the media of newspapers.

In addition to propaganda and promotion, which is the political task of state agencies, we also have a large number of diplomats, Vietnamese diplomatic agencies, and Vietnamese embassies abroad participating on Facebook, in the form of using personal Facebook accounts and fanpages to post information about the situation of the country, economy, and politics of Vietnam in Vietnamese and foreign languages. Personal Facebook accounts of diplomats are interacted with and shared with many friends in the online community, many of whom are international friends. Fanpages of Vietnamese diplomatic agencies and Vietnamese embassies abroad are also one of the important information channels for overseas Vietnamese, people working abroad, Vietnamese students to connect and receive support and protection in emergency situations: natural disasters, epidemics, and some cases of instability and political conflicts in the host country. And the supported results are also spread on social networks.

Besides Vietnamese diplomats, foreign scholars and observers: Professor Carl Thayer of the Australian Defense Academy also has many articles with positive content about the image, country and people of Vietnam; articles with in-depth analysis refuting China's actions of promoting the nine-dash line, China illegally lowering the 981 drilling rig in the continental shelf and exclusive economic zone of Vietnam; posting images of ancient digital maps with Vietnam's Truong Sa and Hoang Sa with many accurate and valuable analyses... widely spread on social networks, through their personal social network accounts. They are people with great influence in the global online community.

Overseas Vietnamese, Vietnamese people working abroad, students also have personal accounts on social networks, participate in or create and manage fanpages or groups on social networks such as the Vietnamese community in Europe, in the US; Student groups; Business groups... are also an effective information channel on social networks to propagate, promote and spread the image of Vietnam.

Thanks to information channels on social networks, the image, country and people of Vietnam have become closer to the world, becoming a reliable partner in strategic cooperation between Vietnam and other countries; Vietnam's humanity, friendliness and stable political environment are bright spots for countries in the region and the world to choose partners. Doing a good job of rescuing Chinese fishing boats and fishermen in the East Sea (including fishing boats of fishermen who violated Vietnam's territorial waters were still treated well, the coast guard captured and returned both people and boats intact to China) has been internationally appreciated for its high humanity; demarcating and planting land borders with countries sharing the same border: China and Cambodia, without allowing armed conflicts to occur.

* Hard

Many people take advantage of cyberspace and social networks to spread bad, distorted, anti-Party and anti-State information and other harmful information... mainly on social networks Facebook and Google.

Officials and party members need to raise awareness and responsibility when using social networks.

On Facebook, the subjects of the main opinion use social networks to post and propagate fake, bad and incite anti -Vietnamese state. To implement this behavior, the subjects can set up fake accounts, the community of the leadership of the Party and the State. The fake community, impersonating the Party and State leaders, famous people, organizations and state agencies operating regularly and publicly, such as the fake accounts of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong; General Auditor General of Ho Duc Phoc ... In addition, there are fake community pages (fanpage), impersonating a number of organizations and state agencies such as the Central theoretical Council, Vietnam Television Station, VnExpress electronic newspaper, Vietnamnet ... The subjects of fake accounts, fake community pages for political or civilian purposes, specifically through the formation Attending and reputation of individuals, leaders of the Party and the State, agencies and organizations in Vietnam.

Propagating fake and bad information to smear and defame organizations, state agencies and agitated against the State of Vietnam: This is one of the very serious violations in posting content and information on social networks Facebook. Share, distribute the false content, violate Vietnamese law, even incite the protests and riots on the great anniversary of the country such as the liberation day of the South of the country reunited the country on April 30, the National Day of September 2 ...

Similar to Facebook, on YouTube appears a lot of videos that give bad information, false, propaganda, incite anti -Vietnam, in particular, most of these videos are produced, posted and shared by only some channels (channel) YouTube. that YouTube directly managed; for the money to earn money for channels with the content of the wandering behavior, the lifestyle lacked culture, the cheap likes, the violation of the law but it was not the popular culture or image of Vietnam but when it was broadcast on Youtube, it became a "part of the bad culture" This is a great challenge, seriously affecting the work of SC, propagating and promoting the image of Vietnam, promoting the strength of national unity, creating favorable conditions in the construction and defense of the country.

Individual accounts on social networks, participate or make, manage fanpage or social networks such as the Vietnamese community in Europe, in the United States; the students' group of students; Comments, agitation against Vietnam.

(continued)

Author :

Dinh Tien Dung - Deputy Director of the Department of External Information, Ministry of Information and Communications

Mai Thi Thu Lan - Specialist of the Department of External Information, Ministry of Information and Communications