KI-Media Note: Dear Readers,
Near the eve of the signing of the Supplemental border treaty with Vietnam and the anniversary of the 1991 Paris Peace Agreements on Cambodia, we are posting following article written by a Vietnamese author which clearly emphasizes Hun Xen's involvement in SECURING the 1985 border treaty imposed by Vietnam during its occupation on Cambodia.
We would like to thank Mr. Bora Touch for pointing this document.
We urge all of you to read this document as it sheds important light on the border dispute with Vietnam, as well as the Master-Client relationship between Hanoi and the Hun Xen regime.
Knowledge is Power!
May Power be with You!
Abstract
Through providing a historical overview of border disputes between Vietnam and neighbouring Laos and Cambodia in Indochina, the article aims to evaluate the success gained by Vietnam in its efforts to secure the western and southwestern land border and thus maintain a peaceful external environment for the domestic reform. Since the Cambodian endgame, Vietnam has sought to improve political relations with all neighbours (including China) and, on that basis, consistently applied fundamental principles of international law while adopting the region’s common practice in order to resolve border issues. In return, the Communist leadership in Laos and the Hun Sen regime in Cambodia have been eager to sustain the Cold War border treaty system with Vietnam in order to stabilize the border, address cross-border non-traditional security issues, and ensure Vietnam’s assistance for economic development and regime security. In addition, Vietnam’s border disputes with Cambodia prove harder to deal with because the latter’s domestic power struggle has turned the issue into a political card played by opposition parties in their election campaigns.
(Manuscript received October 1, 2006; accepted for publication December 1, 2006)
Keywords: New Influence, Border Management, Border Disputes, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam
The Author
Vu Le Thai Hoang was born in August 1975, awarded with the M.Sc. in Strategic Studies by the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies (now the S.Rajaratnam School of International Studies), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He worked as a lecturer and research fellow at the Institute for International Relations, Hanoi, Vietnam. Presently, he is a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Leeds, United Kingdom, with fields of interest in Vietnam’s foreign policy and Southeast Asia’s political and security affairs. E-Mail: easlthv@leeds.ac.uk or vulethaihoang@gmail.com.
