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Raising border tension between Cambodia and Vietnam: So ungrateful attitude

6/7/15


Despite of good relationship in the past, unfortunately, Vietnam – Cambodia relations have been eroded. Now, we have to confront with big problems like border issues and overseas Vietnamese people in Cambodia.
Cambodia and Vietnam which have shared border over 1,200 km, frequently have had border disputes for generations.   Between 1933 and 1953, the French helped to draw a map for Cambodia and Vietnam by using  some natural boundaries and their expertise and that map was preserved in National Geographic Institute in Paris.  And during Cambodian independence era, King Father favored with that map, and he sent a copy to preserve at the UN in New York in 1964.  And the current Cambodian government has determined that it followed the same 1964 map to redraw border line with Vietnam.
 But things went wrong when Sam Rainsy and his Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) have earned an significant number of seats in the Parliament after 2014 election. Who is Sam Rainsy? He is a political dissident and a former criminal whom Cambodian court sentenced to prison because of destroying demarcation border posts between Cambodia and Vietnam. And after that, he exiled to foreign countries till now.
The CNRP is now in possession of the constitutionally mandated map of the Cambodia-Vietnam border and will soon start using it with GPS technology to confirm whether border posts have been correctly placed along the 1,228-km frontier, opposition leader Sam Rainsy said Sunday.
CNRP lawmakers have for the past month called on the government to release the official map of the Vietnamese border to allow CNRP teams to verify whether markers have been properly erected, but have been met only by refusals.
So, they desperately held a thoughtless offensive to Vietnam’s border in Long An province in 28th June, 2015. The clash was provoked by Cambodian extremists, including members of the CNRP, who entered Vietnamese territory illegally. Vietnamese forces and locals residents tried to reason with the activists and stopped the group, told them about their ‘wrong action,’ but some extremists attacked them, injuring seven Vietnamese. Vietnam “strongly condemns these violent acts” which could jeopardize the good relationship between the two countries, ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh said in the statement.
In a related if not retaliatory development, Sok Phal, deputy national police commissioner and general director of Cambodia’s Immigration Department, ordered local authorities across the country to take tougher measures against illegal immigrants, especially Vietnamese.
“We must strengthen the immigration law,” he told provincial governors and border police officers from across the country during a Wednesday meeting in Phnom Penh about cracking down on illegal immigrants.
Cambodian authorities deported at least 1,200 illegal immigrants—mostly Vietnamese—in early 2015. Last year, the government expelled 1,800 illegal immigrants.
In another response to the map, CPP spokesman Sok Eysan said the government would be happy to verify that the map in the CNRP’s possession was the correct map but agreed with Mr. Rainsy that it should be readily apparent.
“There is only one map,” Mr. Eysan said. “The map the government uses to demarcate Cambodia-Vietnam border was left from the French colonial regime…and this map was also kept at the U.N. by King Norodom Sihanouk in 1964.”
“Therefore, there is nothing strange about this. If he has the map, please bring it to the government’s border committee, and the border committee will verify it,” he said.
Var Kimhong, the Cambodian head of the joint border committee with Vietnam, said he was unsure how the CNRP has been accusing his committee of misplacing border markers without such a map, but said he would welcome scrutiny.
“I’m happy the CNRP has the map now. They have criticized us for many years without a map,” Mr. Kimhong said.
The Cambodian government yesterday produced some of the maps it has been using to demarcate the eastern frontier, stressing that they match the constitutionally mandated map despite having been developed in Vietnam.
At a press conference at the Council of Ministers, the government’s senior official on border affairs, Var Kimhong, exhibited a few of the 26 maps used to delineate the border,
Kimhong told journalists and opposition lawmakers present that the maps, drawn to a 1/50,000 scale, were copied from the constitutionally mandated 1/100,000 scale maps – produced by French colonial authorities and submitted to the United Nations by late King Norodom Sihanouk in 1964.
He said they were jointly developed over the course of a month in Vietnam following the 2005 border agreement. Vietnam provided a “white map” without a border, and a joint working group drew the boundary, which was then approved and signed by the two border committee presidents, Kimhong said.
“We have respected the constitution fully,” he added.
“[We] have not used any untrue maps; they have been approved by co-presidents of the joint border committee and [the committee’s] technical chief. The royal government has not lacked transparency, but the border problem is a sensitive problem.”
Late last week, Cambodia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry announced that Cambodia and Vietnam had agreed to set up a bilateral committee to get to the bottom of what happened on June 28.
“We invited opposition lawmakers. We treated them with the respect due to them as lawmakers, but they acted like children,” said Mr. Siphan. He said one CNRP lawmaker stepped on the map, showing disrespect to Cambodia’s territorial integrity as well as the King.
 We, Vietnamese, don’t know what we have done to make Cambodia hate us so, but we still remember how many our soldiers lost in a fight against Khmer Rogue – the most cruellest  regime, which killed an estimated 1.7 million people, or one in four Cambodians. How ironical and painful what Cambodian people pay us now!
Chia sẻ bài viết ^^
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All comments [ 5 ]


Funny Day 13/7/15 06:03

it is clear that Sam Rainsy and his Party (CNRP) take advantage of the border issue between Vietnam - Cambodia to sever their political intrigue

Unknown 13/7/15 06:10

that's so right, CNRP always sought to discredit CPP leaded by Prime Minister Hun Sen with the hope of winning the right to lead the country

Unknown 13/7/15 06:14

Sam Rainsy is a political opportunist who is willing to put his interests over the national interest.

Anthony Jones 14/7/15 06:16

He strongly supports China in East Sea issue beacause China offers many things to him

Unknown 14/7/15 06:21

most likely China was behind a thoughtless offensive by Cambodian extremists, including members of the CNRP, who entered Vietnamese territory illegally in 28th June, 2015.

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