Page 1 of 2 Cambodia, Vietnam re-affirm their vows
By Stephen Kurczy
PHNOM PENH - In 1977, a low-level Khmer Rouge cadre entered Vietnam from
Cambodia during a cross-border raid. He was captured, detained and interrogated
by Vietnamese military intelligence. With information gleaned from the skinny,
young communist, Vietnam began planning a major counterattack on Cambodia after
a series of Khmer Rouge massacres on its territory.
His name was Hun Sen, and he was soon joined in Vietnam by other Khmer Rouge
cadres fleeing the internal purges led by Pol Pot, then the radical Maoist
group's leader. Heng Samrin, who headed the Khmer Rouge's Eastern Zone Fourth
Division, defected and brought with him some 2,000 to 3,000 troops, while Chea
Sim, an Eastern Zone district chief, is known to have
escorted some 300 people across the Vietnamese border.
All three men assumed control of Cambodia on January 7, 1979, after Vietnamese
forces sacked Phnom Penh, ousted the Khmer Rouge and installed them as the
leaders of a puppet government. They ruled during a subsequent decade-long
Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia that heightened the traditional animosity
between the nations.
Thirty years later, Chea Sim is president of the Senate and number one in the
ruling and dominant Cambodian People's Party (CPP). Hun Sen, the country's
long-running prime minister, is the party's second highest-ranking member. Heng
Samrin is president of the National Assembly and number three in the CPP.
Despite Cambodia's transition from a single-party Leninist state to multi-party
constitutional monarchy, members of the CPP currently assume every ministerial
position and control three-fourths of the National Assembly's seats. The CPP
maintains close ties with Vietnam, bonds that have strengthened as Cambodia
looks east for a political ally and trade partner while links to Thailand come
under strain from a border conflict and political protests that have targeted
Hun Sen's government.
"Politically speaking, it is a very unique, special relationship," said
Cambodian political observer Chea Vannath. "Vietnam still plays big brother
whenever the CPP needs it."
In recent months there has been a flurry of bilateral exchanges. Vietnam
announced its intention to strengthen ties during a January visit by Heng
Samrin to Hanoi, where he met with Vietnamese Party General Secretary Nong Duc
Manh and President Nguyen Minh Triet. Both Vietnamese leaders said that they
prioritized relations with their smaller neighbor.
"Vietnam and Cambodia were side-by-side with each other in the past struggle
for national independence, therefore it is necessary for today's generation to
continue this solidarity to ensure further development," Triet said, according
to the government-run Vietnam News Agency (VNA).
In February, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung highlighted recent
collaboration between the two countries across many disciplines, including
politics, diplomacy, economics, trade, culture, arts, technology, security and
defense. That same month, Vietnamese military-owned mobile phone company
Viettel inaugurated its cell phone service in Cambodia after giving away some
one million free SIM cards to Cambodia's students and armed forces.
According to VietNamNet, Viettel has already signed up 500,000 subscribers,
making it Cambodia's third largest mobile phone provider. On February 21,
Vietnam's defense minister paid a visit to Hun Sen and pledged to continue to
provide training for Cambodian soldiers in Vietnam, including over 100 in
residence at Vietnam's infantry academy.
Hun Sen on Sunday applauded 21 high-ranking officers of the Royal Cambodian
Armed Forces, including Commander-in-Chief Pol Saroeun and Deputy
Commander-in-Chief Kun Kim, for earning degrees in military science from
Vietnamese military institutes. According to VietNamNet, Hun Sen also thanked
Vietnam for helping to protect Cambodia's national defense and economic
development.
Hun Sen in February also met twice with a Thai military delegation, but their
meetings focused on the heated border dispute and Thailand's supposedly
accidental firing of artillery into Cambodia earlier that month, rather than
collaborative opportunities.
In early March, Cambodia and Vietnam quietly planted the 281st border marker at
the edge of Cambodia's Takeo province, reflecting Hun Sen's ongoing policy to
quickly demarcate the two countries' contentious eastern border. That marks a
difference from the political opposition, which has frequently criticized Hun
Sen as being Hanoi's puppet. In 1996, bilateral tensions flared when then-first
prime minister Norodom Ranariddh said a military solution "may be found" to
Vietnam's alleged annexing of Cambodia's eastern lands.
Shifting borders
Hun Sen has insisted that border problems with Vietnam would be solved through
peaceful means. Controversy erupted in 2005 when under a veil of secrecy the
CPP-controlled National Assembly ratified a supplement to Cambodia's 1985
border treaty with Vietnam. At the time, Hun Sen threatened to sue anyone who
accused him of ceding land to Vietnam. Criticism of the treaty earned several
persons, including a prominent opposition radio host, jail time on charges of
defamation and incitement.
Soon after the recent border agreement, Vietnam's parliamentary vice president
met in mid-March with Hun Sen, Chea Sim and Heng Samrin to call for stronger
economic ties. In that vein, on March 16, Hun Sen met with Vietnam's Minister
of Industry and Commerce and Cambodia announced that its citizens no longer
need visas to enter Vietnam and vice-versa. The next day, Vietnamese Minister
of Public Security Le Hong Anh and Cambodian Minister of Interior Sar Kheng
signed a 2009 cooperation accord.
Anh also visited Hun Sen and laid a wreath at the Vietnam-Cambodia Friendship
Monument, a prominent structure in the center of Phnom Penh that abuts Hun Sen
Park. No similar Thai-Cambodia friendship monument exists in Phnom Penh. On
March 30, Cambodian Information Minister Khieu Kanharith visited Vietnamese
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in Hanoi, where the two pledged to "promote the
dissemination of information, helping to boost bilateral cooperation and refute
hostile forces' slanderous allegations".
"We are trying to strengthen the bilateral cooperation that we've had since
long ago," said Koy Kuong, an undersecretary of state at the Cambodian Ministry
of Foreign Affairs. "Between Cambodia and Vietnam, we have a long [history of]
friendship and cooperation." Koy Kuong dismisses suggestions that Cambodia's
current border dispute with Thailand over land surrounding the ancient Preah
Vihear temple has prompted Cambodia to replace declining trade and diplomatic
relations to Thailand with more robust ties to Vietnam.
A skirmish between Thai and Cambodian troops last October at Preah Vihear
temple left two Cambodian troops dead. Another flare-up in early April this
year resulted in the death of one Thai soldier. Fanning those flames, Thai
Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya in March referred to Hun Sen as a "gangster" in
the local media. When Hun Sen demanded an apology, Kasit re-phrased his insult
by calling Hun Sen "a gentleman who has the heart of a gangster", but he later
issued a written formal apology.
Relations have been strained due to Hun Sen's perceived close friendship with
deposed Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who is in self-imposed exile
and was instrumental in stirring the recent street chaos caused by his
anti-government supporters. Asia Times Online broke the news last week that
pro-Thaksin groups had for the past two years funneled arms through Cambodia to
Thaksin-aligned supporters in Thailand's northeastern provinces.
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