More agreements imposed by Big Brother Yuon Hanoi?

Vietnam and Cambodia have agreed to sign agreements

Phnom Penh, Dec 5 (VNA) – Vietnam and Cambodia have agreed to soon sign a number of agreements to further deepen their ties for the benefit of their people.

The agreements cover maritime transportation, cooperation in industry, mining and energy, criminal extradition, labour cooperation and legal support.

The accords were reached at the 11th meeting of the Vietnam-Cambodia Joint Committee for Economic, Cultural, and Scientific and Technological Cooperation in Cambodia’s Preah Sihanouk province on December 3-4.

Under the co-chairmanship of Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem and Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Hor Nam Hong, the officials also agreed to soon address changes in visa exemptions for holders of ordinary passports.

Additionally, they unanimously agreed to boost cooperation, help each other in developing human resources, and to facilitate trade and investment.

They reaffirmed that the two countries will work harder to raise bilateral trade to 2 billion USD in 2010.

The officials pledged to encourage businesspeople to enhance ties, deploy licensed projects more effectively, and expand investment in the areas of oil and gas production, mining, energy, telecommunications, aviation, finance, banking, crop cultivation, farm produce processing, fertilizer and animal feed production.

They vowed to boost cooperation in agriculture, transport and communication infrastructure development, healthcare, labour issues, culture, sports and physical training, and tourism in addition to speeding up border demarcation so as to complete the work prior to the end of 2012 as previously agreed.

At this meeting, pledges were made for pressing ahead with collaboration in security and defence and the fight against cross-border crimes and coordination within sub-regional cooperation frameworks.

Reviewing the results of the implementation of the agreements reached at the committee’s 10th meeting, Vietnamese and Cambodian officials said they were delighted with the development of their comprehensive ties, notably in economy, trade and investment.

The two countries’ defence and security cooperation has been intensified; security and stability in their shared border areas have been maintained, border demarcation and marker planting have been stepped up, and more attention has been paid to cooperation among localities, ministries and sectors, they noted.

The Joint Committee will convene its 12th meeting in Vietnam .

During his time in Cambodia , Khiem paid a courtesy visit to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and paid tribute to fallen Vietnamese volunteers in Cambodia at a monument in Preah Sihanouk province.

Border Agreements or Border Encroachments? Cambodia Beware!

Sunday, February 24, 2008
Editorial by Khmerization
Originally posted at http://khmerization.blogspot.com

"In the past, Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Cambodian People’s Party cohorts have always asked for evidence whenever there are claims of border encroachments by our neighbours ... To ask for evidence every time someone reported about the border encroachments is like the police blaming someone for not catching the criminals when they reported about crimes. Ridiculous and irresponsible!"

Every time I read about border agreements with Vietnam, a question has always popped up in my mind: will Cambodia lose any lands in those agreements? (Click here to read the article).

The recurring problems of border issues with our neighbours, particularly the two powerful neighbours, Thailand and Vietnam, have scared many Cambodians. Cambodia seemed to have no border problems with our less powerful neighbour, Laos. This shows that Laos has never encroached on Cambodian lands because it is less powerful than Cambodia- scared of Cambodia, if I can use this term. Likewise, Laos has never complained about Cambodia encroaching into her borders.

On the contrary, Cambodia’s recurring and persistent border problems with her two powerful neighbours indicated that Cambodia had always been encroached by these neighbours. And any border talks or agreements had always seen Cambodia conceded or even seceded parts of her lands to these neighbours.

Before the present government took power in 1979, Cambodia have never had any border issues with her neighbours. Cambodia has never had any “overlapping areas”, the so-called “white areas” or “dombon Sor” in Khmer. Presently, there are many “overlapping areas” along the borders with Vietnam and Thailand, including on our maritime borders. In many cases, the “overlapping areas” are in fact Cambodian lands. And as a result Cambodia has to share her natural gas and oil resources with Vietnam and Thailand.

Cambodia’s borders with her neighbours should have been settled once and for all since the period of the French Protectorate in Cambodia. Cambodia’s borders with Thailand have been delimited and demarcated in the 1907 border agreements between the royal government of Thailand and the French Protectorate in Cambodia. And Cambodia’s borders with Vietnam and Laos have been settled by the French Protectorate Authority before they left Indochina in 1953-1954. So, the border issues should never have been a problem at all between Cambodia and her neighbours.

The fact that the problems have occurred and recurred continually meant that Cambodia’s borders have been encroached and encroached on a larger scale by our two powerful neighbours.

People do not have to ask for evidence. In the past, Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Cambodian People’s Party cohorts have always asked for evidence whenever there are claims of border encroachments by our neighbours. To find out exactly the evidence, the prime minister and his cohorts must travel to the border areas that have been encroached and physically examined them, using the maps that Cambodia had kept at the United Nations and by asking the villagers on the grounds. To ask for evidence every time someone reported about the border encroachments is like the police blaming someone for not catching the criminals when they reported about crimes. Ridiculous and irresponsible!