Good news for the Cambodian people: Vietnam steps back from policy of annexing Khmer territory

 December 16, 2011

GOOD NEWS FOR THE CAMBODIAN PEOPLE:
VIETNAM STEPS BACK FROM POLICY OF ANNEXING KHMER TERRITORY

Prime Minister Hun Sen has recognized in an official letter dated Dec.
2 (*) that the joint Cambodia-Vietnam commission working to define the
border between the two countries has not yet reached agreement on the
position of boundary markers # 184 to 187 in the Chantrea district in
the province of Svay Rieng. The two parties are ''continuing to
negotiate the position of these markers and others over which
agreement is needed in the future.''

On Oct. 25, 2009, Opposition leader Sam Rainsy removed “temporary”
boundary marker # 185 which had been placed in the middle of rice
fields in Khmer territory. He did so in an attempt to help Cambodian
peasants who lost their rice fields as a result of the border being
redrawn. For this he was given a prison term for ''destruction of
public property.''

But Hun Sen has just recognized in his letter that this boundary
marker # 185, removed by Sam Rainsy, in fact didn't represent anything
at all, as the boundary line in the region has yet to be defined ''in
a suitable and acceptable manner.''  So Sam Rainsy did not touch the
frontier – which does not exist officially – and his conviction has no
basis.

In fact, Hun Sen's letter is designed simply to save government face.
If Sam Rainsy hadn't made his symbolic intervention at Svay Rieng, the
fraudulent marker # 185 would have become established as an official
part of the frontier, meaning the permanent loss of a portion of
Cambodian territory.

Only the resistance of Khmer peasants and patriots can prevent the
annexation of Cambodian territory by Vietnam. Cambodia's Eastern
neighbour is seeking to achieve a fait accompli with the complicity of
Hun Sen by pushing the frontier into Cambodia and preventing
Cambodians from protesting. Wherever Vietnam advances into Cambodia,
annexation will become official and permanent if not challenged by
popular protest within a few months.

Only the determination of Khmer patriots can push the Vietnamese back,
as shown by the example of Svay Rieng: the fraudulent boundary marker
# 185 removed by Sam Rainsy has not to date been put back by the
Vietnamese. In fact, the Vietnamese themselves have removed the nearby
illegitimate markers # 184, 186 and 187 and taken them back to
Vietnam.

For the first time in a long time the Vietnamese have stepped back
from their policy of annexing Cambodian territory.

But under the Hun Sen regime, the patriots are punished and the
traitors rewarded.


OFFICE OF THE SAM RAINSY PARTY


(*) Letter addressed to Heng Samrin, president of the National
Assembly http://tinyurl.com/748wfyd in response to written questions
from a group of Sam Rainsy Party deputies dated Oct 17, 2011
http://tinyurl.com/cvynn2k .