The 1982 Historical Water Treaties between Hun Xen and Nguyen Co Thach

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Illegal border treaties with Vietnam: 1982, 1983, 1985 and 2005

Dear Readers,

In view of border demarcation discussion at the NatAss tomorrow, we are posting below a document published by Phnom Penh which includes full text of the 1982, 1983, 1985 and 2005 "illegal" border treaties with Vietnam.

KI-Media team





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Hue's secret history

How Thai friendship and hospitality helped create a Vietnamese royal treasure

3/02/2011
Bangkok Post

During Minh Mang's reign, which coincided with that of King Rama III , competition in asserting political influence over Cambodia resulted in a 14-year war between Siam and Vietnam. The expensive conflict ended in peace talks in which both sides agreed that Siam maintained the right to elect Cambodian kings and that Cambodia must send tribute to Vietnam every three years.

Look at the map and you'll see that Bangkok and Hue, the former capital of Vietnam, aren't so far apart. But if you peep into history, you might find that the two cities were once even closer than the map suggests.

In 1785, just three years after King Rama I established Bangkok as the new Thai capital, Nguyen Anh, the dethroned feudal ruler of what is now southern Vietnam was given asylum in the Siamese royal court.

He was fleeing from his political enemies: the Trinh lords of Thang Long (known these days as Hanoi) that controlled the north, and the Tay Son revolution army which was a rising power threatening both Nguyen and the Trinhs.

Like the displaced princes and princesses of Cambodia who also took refuge in Bangkok at the time, Nguyen Anh, known by Thais as "Ong Chiang Sue", and his troops were kindly welcomed by King Rama I.

Vietnamization of Cambodia – historical continuum [Cont'd]

LOST GODDESSES: The Denial of Female Power in Cambodian History

by Dr. Trudy Jacobsen (NIAS Press, 2008)

Excerpts from Chapter Five: Hostages, Heroines and Hostilities:

[Continued from this prior KI Media posting

provided by a reader of KI-Media:

Vietnamization of Cambodia – historical continuum]

Discussions were underway between the Thai and Vietnamese for the resolution of the Cambodian problem, resulting in a compromise whereby both Ang Duong and Ang Mei would rule as co-sovereigns […]

Mei’s story is told dispassionately in the Cambodian chronicles, where she is portrayed as a puppet of Vietnamese emperors and officials; some later writers do not even mention her at all, glossing over the period of her rule as one in which Emperor Gia Long made Cambodia into a colony. This is because her reign has been perceived as synonymous with the Vietnamese ‘occupation’ of Cambodia, a period that left deep scars upon the Cambodian psyche […]

The connection between Mei and Vietnamese annexation of Cambodia partly facilitated the identification of female political power with national humiliation […] Walter F. Vella implies that the Vietnamese used a pre-existing negative association between women and political power in order to weaken Cambodian internal politics.

[…]

The reign of Ang Chan, not Ang Mei, was the beginning of Vietnamese interference in the social, political and economic life of Cambodians; they had already been in control of Cambodian territory around Prei Nokor for over fifty years. Unlike the Thai, who were content to allow Cambodia to retain its traditions (which in any case differed only slightly from their own), the Vietnamese sought to impose their own customs. Ang Chan was ordered by the Vietnamese to relocate his capital from Udong to Phnom Penh, where Vietnamese storehouses and barracks were constructed. By 1816, Gia Dich Tong Chi, a Vietnamese advisor in Cambodia, reported that Cambodia had adopted Vietnamese clothing styles, which aggravated the oknha. Thai records relate that the Vietnamese forced Cambodians to dismantle their Theravada Buddhist wats and viharas. In 1816, Ang Chan was ordered to recruit 5,000 workers to excavate a canal linking Chaudoc and Hatien, some seventy kilometers apart. The 500 supervisors were solely Vietnamese, who beat some of the workers to death for infractions. One Cambodian man was decapitated and his head placed on a stake in order to intimidate other Cambodian workers. Conditions such as these only exacerbated the resentment that many Cambodians felt towards the Vietnamese for usurping Cambodian territory and may have contributed to the rebellion against them, led by a monk, Kai, in 1820.

[p. 114-116]

Please put Le Duc Tho and Hun Xen on trial for the K-5 crimes - Op-Ed by Uon Sim

Click on the article in Khmer to zoom in

07 January paroxysm

Hun Sen threatens to arrest those who distribute leaflets looking down on 07 January

Tuesday, January 05, 2009
DAP news
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

Kandal – On 05 January 010, prime minister Hun Xen used stern warning and threatened to arrest all groups of people who plan to distribute leaflets that look down on 07 January, a date that the CPP government will commemorate in the upcoming 2 days.

During an inauguration for a second section of National Road No. 1, and the opening of the repair of the 3rd section of this same road in Kien Svay district, Kandal province, Hun Xen indicated that he already knows the identity of the groups that plan to distribute these leaflets looking down on 07 January already. He said that he will order for an immediate arrest if such action takes place, because looking down on 07 January is looking down on him personally and also looking down on the entire CPP.

Hun Xen said that these leaflets were printed in Thailand and sent to Cambodia for distribution.

It should be noted that, yesterday, Hun Xen criticized and called groups of people who do not recognize 07 January as being worst than beast. Hun Xen’s claim on Tuesady is taking place 2 days prior to the 31st anniversary of 07 January, the date Pol Pot’s regime was toppled (and Cambodia became a Vietnamese colony).

Insurgents celebrate legacy

In a photo displayed during Friday’s ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of the Khmer People’s National Liberation Front, Son Sann, the group’s founder and president, speaks with villagers inside its liberated zone, Sok San village, Battambang province, in 1985. (Photo by: Sebastian Strangio)

Monday, 12 October 2009
Sebastian Strangio and Vong Sokheng
The Phnom Penh Post

Now there are Vietnamese everywhere because slaves of the Vietnamese took control of the country ... Without the resistance, Cambodia would be wearing a Vietnamese hat.

Veterans of the KPNLF mark their 30th anniversary, saying their nationalism and fight against communism and corruption remain relevant to the Kingdom.

THREE decades on from the founding of the Khmer People’s National Liberation Front (KPNLF) in the remote jungles of Battambang province, veteran resistance fighters say the group’s controversial legacy – and that of its president and founder Son Sann – remain relevant in a changing Cambodia.

One of the main resistance factions to emerge along the Thai border following the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge regime by Vietnamese troops in January 1979, the KPNLF prompted controversy for its role in the decade-long civil war against the Hanoi-backed government in Phnom Penh.

During a ceremony at the Son Sann memorial stupa in Kandal province’s Kien Svay district on Friday, a dwindling group of KPNLF veterans gathered to reflect on their experiences in the resistance and promote the continuing pertinence of the faction’s goals.

Svay Ngov, a soldier who lost both of his legs in the service of the KPNLF, said the sacrifice was worthwhile in the pursuit of the group’s aims.

“I made sacrifices for the sake of my conscience, which was to fight against the foreigners who invaded Cambodia, fight against the Khmer Rouge and fight against corruption in society,” he said in a speech at the ceremony.

“These three core issues remain unresolved.”

Son Soubert, Son Sann’s son and an active member of the movement, said it played an integral role in establishing the 1993 Constitution and helped usher in the current system of multiparty democracy.

“We fulfilled our aim of bringing about national reconciliation and, even if we have never ruled the country, we still continue to play a role in promoting democracy,” he said on Sunday.

Controversial role
The KPNLF was established on October 9, 1979, by a small group of nationalists, “white” Khmers and officials from the Sihanouk and Lon Nol regimes, unified in their opposition to communism and to the presence of Vietnamese forces in the country.

Recruiting its support from the flood of refugees seeking sanctuary in its bases along the Thai border, the KPNLF – with support from the United States, Europe and China – provided social services and waged a continuing insurgency against the Phnom Penh government.

The Cold War calculus of the age, however, created strange bedfellows. In June 1982, Son Sann entered into a coalition – the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea (CGDK) – with the royalist Funcinpec and remnants of the Khmer Rouge, an association that even today prompts controversy.

General Dien Del, the KPNLF’s former general chief of staff who was present at the founding of the group in 1979 and travelled to China to procure its first shipment of military aid, said the group’s aim was to act as a bulwark against the “Vietnamisation” of the country during the occupation of the 1980s.

Despite the Vietnamese military withdrawal from the country in 1989, however, Dien Del said, its influence remained.

“Even if the foreign troops withdrew, civilians remained and supported the Phnom Penh government,” he said, referring to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) – the successor to the communist regime of the 1980s.

“Now there are Vietnamese everywhere because slaves of the Vietnamese took control of the country.”

When asked whether the Vietnamese deserved any credit for overthrowing Pol Pot, Dien Del stood firm.

“Not at all,” he replied. “They were an occupation force. Without the resistance, Cambodia would be wearing a Vietnamese hat.”

Cheam Yeap, a senior CPP lawmaker, denied the charge, saying that by throwing in its lot with Pol Pot, the KPNLF had squandered its credibility.

“After we rescued the people from Pol Pot and stopped Pol Pot from returning to the country, the [KPNLF] and Funcinpec set up an alliance with the Khmer Rouge,” he said, emphasising the CPP’s independence from Vietnam.

“[We] have never taken a foreigner as our boss. Those criticising us should check and balance their historical background.”

Despite the controversy of its anti-Vietnamese nationalism, old resistance fighters said their animating principles – to resist foreign occupation, prevent a return to the “genocidal” Khmer Rouge regime and fight corruption – have been undiminished by time.

“Today, we find that all of these principles are still critical,” said Pol Ham, who joined the KPNLF in 1979 and served as the head of its information service from 1989 until 1991.

“We have contributed a lot to the liberation of our country and for [its] reconstruction.”

Noble end
After the signing of the Paris Peace Accords in 1991, the KPNLF collapsed after its civilian and military wings split into separate political parties to contest the 1993 elections.

Despite the party’s ignominious end, however, others said Son Sann was still able to play an instrumental role in the peace process.

“When people were repatriated from the border, the seeds of human rights and democracy were created inside the country,” said Lao Mong Hay, a researcher for the Asian Human Rights Commission who served as an aide to Son Sann from 1988 to 1992, in an interview in February.

“Unfortunately, because Son Sann was not successful at the elections, we could not translate the ideas that we cherished into concrete actions.”

The Forgotten History Part 1: Queen Ang Mey

Click on the cartoon to zoom in

Text excerpt from "A History at a Glance" by Chanda Chhay
Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

Cambodia's empty dock

International justice is a farce while those in the west who sided with Pol Pot's murders escape trial

Saturday 21 February 2009
John Pilger
The Guardian (UK)

At my hotel in Phnom Penh, the women and children sat on one side of the room, palais-style, the men on the other. It was a disco night and a lot of fun; then suddenly people walked to the windows and wept. The DJ had played a song by the much-loved Khmer singer Sin Sisamouth, who had been forced to dig his own grave and to sing the Khmer Rouge anthem before he was beaten to death. I experienced many such reminders.

There was another kind of reminder. In the village of Neak Long I walked with a distraught man through a necklace of bomb craters. His entire family of 13 had been blown to pieces by an American B-52. That had happened almost two years before Pol Pot came to power in 1975. It is estimated more than 600,000 Cambodians were slaughtered that way.

The problem with the UN-backed trial of the remaining Khmer Rouge leaders, which has just begun in Phnom Penh, is that it is dealing only with the killers of Sin Sisamouth and not with the killers of the family in Neak Long, and not with their collaborators. There were three stages of Cambodia's holocaust. Pol Pot's genocide was but one of them, yet only it has a place in the official memory.

It is highly unlikely Pot Pot would have come to power had President Richard Nixon and his national security adviser, Henry Kissinger, not attacked neutral Cambodia. In 1973, B-52s dropped more bombs on Cambodia's heartland than were dropped on Japan during the second world war: equivalent to five Hiroshimas. Files reveal that the CIA was in little doubt of the effect. "[The Khmer Rouge] are using damage caused by B-52 strikes as the main theme of their propaganda," reported the director of operations on May 2, 1973. "This approach has resulted in the successful recruitment of a number of young men [and] has been effective with refugees."

Prior to the bombing, the Khmer Rouge had been a Maoist cult without a popular base. The bombing delivered a catalyst. What Nixon and Kissinger began, Pol Pot completed. Kissinger will not be in the dock in Phnom Penh. He is advising President Obama on geopolitics. Neither will Margaret Thatcher, nor a number of her retired ministers and officials who, in secretly supporting the Khmer Rouge after the Vietnamese had expelled them, contributed directly to the third stage of Cambodia's holocaust.

In 1979, the US and Britain imposed a devastating embargo on stricken Cambodia because its liberators, Vietnam, had come from the wrong side of the cold war. Few Foreign Office campaigns have been as cynical or as brutal. The British demanded that the now defunct Pol Pot regime retain the "right" to represent its victims at the UN and voted with Pol Pot in the agencies of the UN, including the World Health Organisation, thereby preventing it from working in Cambodia. To disguise this outrage, Britain, the US and China, Pol Pot's main backer, invented a "non communist" coalition in exile that was, in fact, dominated by the Khmer Rouge. In Thailand, the CIA and Defence Intelligence Agency formed direct links with the Khmer Rouge.

In 1983, the Thatcher government sent the SAS to train the "coalition" in landmine technology - in a country more seeded with mines than anywhere except Afghanistan. "I confirm," Thatcher wrote to opposition leader Neil Kinnock, "that there is no British government involvement of any kind in training, equipping or co-operating with Khmer Rouge forces or those allied to them." The lie was breathtaking. In 1991, the Major government was forced to admit to parliament that the SAS had been secretly training the "coalition".

Unless international justice is a farce, those who sided with Pol Pot's mass murderers ought to be summoned to the court in Phnom Penh: at the very least their names read into infamy's register.

johnpilger.com

China downplays anniversary of Vietnam border war

Tue Feb 17, 2009
By Ben Blanchard

BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Tuesday sought to downplay the 30th anniversary of a short but bloody border war with one-time close Communist ally Vietnam, barely mentioning it in the media and seeking to deflect questions.

China invaded Vietnam on February 17, 1979, to punish Hanoi for toppling the Beijing-backed Khmer Rouge in Cambodia one month earlier. China had previously given Hanoi steadfast support against U.S. forces in the Vietnam War.

The month-long border war in which some say 60,000 soldiers or more were killed is a memory both governments are happy to suppress.

Neither country, run by stability-obsessed Communist parties, wishes to stoke any expressions of strident nationalism among their people, and both are keen to expand trade bilateral trade, which last year grew to $21 billion.

"China and Vietnam have had a period of unhappiness in their past," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters.

"But what's important is that the leaders and people of both countries have a broad wish and consensus to create a bright future together. History has already reached its conclusions," she added, declining to say if China planned to mark the day at all.

Chinese media made little mention of the anniversary, though the website of the Global Times (www.huanqiu.com), an outspoken tabloid published by Communist Party mouthpiece the People's Daily, carried a series of old pictures from the war.

The war was "forced" on China following Vietnam's mistreatment of ethnic Chinese and its invasion of Cambodia, all of which "seriously threatened and damaged China's modernisation and border security," it said.

The war "punished and taught a proper lesson to the Vietnamese invaders," the newspaper added.

"People say that a war between two socialist countries is the hardest to comprehend, and that war between two Eastern countries is the bloodiest," said the article on the "counter-attack in self-defense war."

Two comments by online readers of the piece, also carried on a Shanghai-government linked website, www.eastday.com, did not mince their words, though.

"China's old generation of leaders believed that struggle was necessary to protect territory. Today's officials should learn from that!" wrote one.

"I really don't understand why veterans of the war have to go to Hong Kong to get their books on the war published," wrote another.

Vietnamese newspapers did not mention the war at all, though at a small park near the Chinese embassy in Hanoi, about 40 Vietnamese police did marching drills.

The embassy has been the scene of a few protests over the years, including one with a few hundred youth when China reportedly set up a county-level government to administer the Spratly and Paracel Islands in the South China Sea.

Both governments claim ownership of the islands, which are thought to sit on valuable oil and gas deposits.

Hanoi and Beijing have agreed not to upset the status quo, but both are firm in their claims of sovereignty.

Last July, China pressured Exxon Mobil Corp to pull out of an oil exploration deal with Vietnam that it saw as a breach of Chinese sovereignty. In May, BP Plc halted plans to conduct exploration work off the southern Vietnamese coast, citing territorial tensions.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang also defended China's ties with Cambodia's Khmer Rouge regime, saying it was part of normal diplomatic relations, as a trial began in Phnom Penh of the group's chief torturer.

(Additional reporting by John Ruwitch in Hanoi; Editing by Nick Macfie)

07 January: The CPP grooms its image [... while omitting embarassing enormous International aid provided to Cambodia]

05 Jan 2009
By Leang Delux
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French by Tola Ek
Click here to read the article in French

In the morning of Monday 05 January, thousands of brochures depicting the glory of the ruling party were distributed to passers-by.

The distribution scene looks like an election campaign: a seller giving out brochures bearing the CPP logo with the photo of Chea Sim, Hun Sen and Heng Samrin on the cover, to her customers coming to eat breakfast in her shop.

On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the fall of the KR regime, the CPP distributed to the citizens thousands of copies of this 12-page-brochure boasting the constructions undertaken in the country following the fall of Pol Pot. Everything is included there: from the dark KR period which is illustrated with black and white photos along with piles of skulls, desolated roads, working camps, then came the liberation and finally the reconstruction era which lasts until now.

With loads of color photos of nice roads, oil platforms, buildings under construction, dams and schools, the brochure boasts the major works undertaken during the past few years.

“For 30 years, the CPP has always lived with the people, sharing their joy and hardship. The CPP prevented the return of the genocide regime, put an end to civil war, and rebuilt the country from zero to its current development,” the legend in the brochure stipulated.

One hiccup in all this: the CPP gave the impression of being in charge of the latest developments, while omitting to indicate that the major portion of these constructions was in fact undertaken with International aid.

[January 7] was the day that Vietnamese troops came and invaded Cambodia, adding further misery to the Cambodian people: Chea Poch

Would-be bombers identified

Monday, 05 January 2009
Written by Sam Rith
The Phnom Penh Post

Govt says suspects trying to disrupt January 7 celebrations

POLICE have identified two suspects in connection with Friday's foiled bomb plot that appeared to target the Defence Ministry and a state television station, officials say.

"[The perpetrators] placed these explosive devices to scare people from attending the anniversary of January 7," Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith told reporters Sunday, referring to the upcoming public holiday that celebrates the 1979 victory over the Khmer Rouge by Vietnamese-backed Cambodian forces.

He refused to comment further, saying that he did not want to jeopardise the ongoing investigation.

But Em Sam An, a secretary of state at the Ministry of Interior and president of the National Secretariat for Anti-Terrorism, said Sunday that police had yet to make any arrests and were continuing to investigate.

"It was not [international] terrorism," he added.

Around 50,000 people are set to participate in the celebrations at Olympic Stadium, he added.

Three explosive devices were found Friday in front of the Defence Ministry and near the TV3 offices. They were later disassembled and destroyed by mine clearance personnel.

Heng Ratana, deputy director general of the Cambodian Mine Action Center, told the Post on Sunday that the explosive devices were "improvised mines" - small bombs that had been placed in cans of mosquito repellent and small cooking gas containers.

Heng Ratana said the devices did not cause any significant damage when they were destroyed in controlled explosions since they contained no shrapnel.

But he warned that the bombs could still have wounded anyone passing by.

A similar incident occurred in July 2007 when three fertiliser bombs were found and detonated near the Vietnamese friendship monument in the park opposite Wat Botum.

Vietnam's role in Cambodia during the 1980s remains controversial, and Sam Rainsy Party parliamentarian Chea Poch said he would not participate in this week's celebration.

"[January 7] was the day that Vietnamese troops came and invaded Cambodia, adding further misery to the Cambodian people."

07 January celebration controversies

Khieu Kanharith (Photo: DR, Cambodge Soir Hebdo)

04 Jan 2009
By Ung Chansophea and Alain Ney
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Click here to read the article in French
Translated from French by Luc Sâr

Demands have been made in favor for the commemoration of 1991 Paris Peace Accords on Cambodia. The presence of CPP logos during the 07 January celebration will certainly raise criticisms from other political parties.

“It will be a ceremony to everybody’s memory,” Khieu Kanharith, government spokesman, indicated during a press conference about the 30th anniversary of the end of the Khmer Rouge regime.

While some are criticizing the choice of this date which marks the beginning of the Vietnamese intervention in Cambodia’s internal affairs, Khieu Kanharith retorted: “Some people said that 07 January should not be celebrated, but rather 23 October 1991, the date of the signing of the Paris Accords… but one must remember that if there were no 07 January 1979, there wouldn’t be 23 October 1991 either.”

Trying to cut short another controversy, Khieu Kanharith indicated that two logos will be seen during the ceremony: the 07 January banner and the CPP logo. To those who ask about the presence of the ruling CPP party logo, Khieu Kanharith replied that it is Hun Sen’s party who paid the bill for this anniversary which amounts to “several million riels,” and that the government did not pay for it. Nevertheless, he reassured that “07 January doesn’t belong exclusively to the CPP, but to all the Khmer people.” Khieu Kanharith did not indicate if other political parties have asked to contribute financially to be able to display logo at the Olympic Stadium.

Close to 40,000 people will participate in the festivities organized inside the Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh. NGO and embassies representatives, as well as other party political parties are invited.

Phnom Penh: Two bomb setters identified

04 Jan 2009
By Ung Chansophea and Alain Ney
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Click here to read the article in French
Translated from French by Luc Sâr

Less than 48 hours after the discovery of three bombs in the capital streets, the investigations are still being pursued. The bomb setting was linked to the 07 January 1979 commemoration.

The “terrorists wanted to prevent people from participating in the 07 January ceremony,” Khieu Kanharith, the minister of Information, indicated during a press conference held on 04 January 2009. Cambodia is currently getting ready to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the liberation of the capital from Pol Pot’s yoke by the Vietnamese troops [this dates also marked the beginning of more than one decade long occupation of Cambodia by the Vietnamese army and the installation of the current puppet CPP regime.]

Barely two days after the discovery of the three small bombs not too far from the ministry of Defense in Phnom Penh, Khieu Kanharith announced that two of the bomb setters were identified but that they were not arrested yet. “It seems that the bomb setters ‘did not want to kill’,” Khieu Kanharith added based on the types of the bomb. Nevertheless, security will be tightened during the ceremony.

Home-made bombs in Phnom Penh

Bomb disposals personnel put sandbags around one of two home-made bombs found near government buildings in Phnom Penh January 2, 2009. Authorities have blamed anti-government groups for wanting to prevent people from attending next week's anniversary to mark the fall of Pol Pot's regime. REUTERS/ Chor Sokunthea
A bomb disposal personnel examines one of two home-made bombs found near government buildings in Phnom Penh January 2, 2009. Authorities have blamed anti-government groups for wanting to prevent people from attending next week's anniversary to mark the fall of Pol Pot's regime. REUTERS/ Chor Sokunthea
One of the two home-made bombs found near government buildings explodes during a controlled detonation in Phnom Penh January 2, 2009. Authorities have blamed anti-government groups for wanting to prevent people from attending next week's anniversary to mark the fall of Pol Pot's regime. REUTERS/ Chor Sokunthea

Hun Sen's cup kicks off on 07 Jan: A befitting celebration of Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia by a VN puppet

Hun Sen Cup football tournament to kick off on Jan. 7

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

PHNOM PENH (Xinhua): Cambodia's annual football tournament under the name of Prime Minister Hun Sen is scheduled to kick off on Jan. 7, 2009, the third edition of the nationwide event, national media said on Tuesday.

Altogether 34 teams will join the tournament, Ouk Sethycheat, secretary general of the Football Federation of Cambodia (FFC), was quoted by English-Khmer language newspaper the Cambodia Daily as saying.

The 34 teams will compete in a qualifying stage, from which 16 teams will come out for the final stage in Phnon Penh from Jan. 24 to Mar. 28.

The champions will win 15,000 U.S. dollars and the two runners-up will get 10,000 dollars and 5,000 dollars respectively.

Political Cartoon: K5, the Crime Machine

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

Thank you VN for helping overthrow Pol Pot ... but NO thanks for your more than one-decade long occupation

Cambodia thanks Vietnam for military assistance

Wednesday, March 26, 2008
VNA (Hanoi)

Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Tea Banh Tuesday thanked Vietnam for its past assistance in overthrowing the genocidal Pol Pot regime and its current help in developing Cambodia.

At a meeting with President Nguyen Minh Triet in Hanoi, General Tea Banh, who doubles as the country’s Defense Minister, said “the maturity of the Cambodian Defense Ministry today is partially thanks to … Vietnamese experts on voluntary missions.”

Triet said Vietnam always held cooperation with Cambodia and Laos as a high priority in developing the Indochinese peninsula.

Tea Banh began a four-day official visit to Vietnam Monday at the invitation of Vietnamese Minister of Defense General, Phung Quang Thanh.

During their meeting Tuesday, Banh and Thanh agreed to cooperate on locating and repatriating the remains of Vietnamese volunteers who died on Cambodian soil.

Banh asked the Vietnamese Ministry of Defense to share its experiences in maintaining security and public order and help Cambodia ensure the success of the country’s legislative elections in July.

The leaders agreed they would meet again in the future to strengthen cooperation in personnel training between military hospitals and institutes.

The two sides also agreed to continue joint sea patrols and exchange information on search and rescue operations.