The Puppet and the Puppet Master

 

 

Hun Sen on one of his frequent visits to Hanoi, ostensibly to boost co-operation and bi-lateral relations between the two countries. Image reproduced.

 

 

by School of Vice

 

The country that still exercises the most influence upon Cambodia internally is her Eastern neighbour, Vietnam. Afterall, it is the Vietnamese who put him in power through military intervention and almost a decade of armed occupation afterward. The September 1989 military withdrawal of the occupying Vietnamese forces from Cambodia had not spelled the end of Vietnam's de facto influence and hegemony there and, only the most disingenuous observers and or those ill-informed of recent history and historical relations between the two nations would argue otherwise. The unspoken dread or threat playing on Hun Sen's mind and one that always lurks behind the scenes of Cambodia’s turbulent politics is the possibility of the Vietnamese cease extending their backing - "friendship" - to him as their choice to rule over the country. Other candidates and factions exist within the CPP, the ruling party that is itself dictated to by Hun Sen and, these factions can conceivably be expected to serve Vietnam in most aspects but, also possibly would not be as loyal or subservient options as has been shown by Hun Sen or as treasonous, for that matter. 

In the seventies and eighties, when the Vietnamese were still trying to consolidate their influence in the country and in preparation for an ending to their armed occupation of Cambodia due to mounting international pressure and the downfall of Hanoi's principal benefactor - the Soviet Union - there had been a number of candidates ahead of Hun Sen, including Pen Sovann and Chan Si, but these had proved - to the Vietnamese - to be too inflexible and recalcitrant in their inclinations to defend their nation's interests, from the issue of ownership or management of the lucrative rubber plantations to the controversial 'K5 Plan' that forced hundreds of thousands of able-bodied Cambodians to clear the forests in the North-Western region of Cambodia where many had failed to return to their families as they succumbed to untreated malaria and land mines. 

 

When Pen Sovann eventually returned to Cambodia after decades of detention in exile in Vietnam and at an advanced age, he sought explanations from his party as to why he had been treated as an outcast in that way. The answer, according to Sovann, was swift and to the point: 'You only have to ask yourself that question. You are extremely nationalistic!' It's likely, judging by the tone of the reply and the mood within the CPP hierarchy that none would have had the temerity or arrogance to respond in such a terse manner except the man who led a group of Vietnamese soldiers to Sovann's residence to make his arrest: Hun Sen.

About the same time, the Vietnamese were also concerned about the late Chea Sim's gathering influence through his use of personal patronage within the party and, one of his proteges is still there in the CPP in the person of Sar Kheng, the Interior Minister, who is known to have a close personal tie to Chea Sim through marriage. It's most likely that it is Kheng who sent the guards of honour to Sovann's funeral in acknowledgement of the latter's legacy in leading the party following the overthrow of the KR in 1979.

Thus, for the Vietnamese, it is a matter of why fix something that is not broken? Certainly, Hanoi will deny it has anything to do with what goes on in Cambodia internally or any other countries, nor desire to. Nevertheless, the one channel of influencing events in Cambodia - if only to salvage the legacy of Untac and the Paris Peace Accords that allowed the country a glimmer of peace and democracy in the early nineties - and one that hitherto has yet to be explored or engaged seriously is Hanoi. How do we know this? Well, Hun Sen's record in the course of his time in office and to this day says as much, while his dubious dealings with the Vietnamese at Cambodia's expense also point to Vietnam's insidious hold on him.  

If there are visible or invisible chords or strings that pull him, then find those strings and break them. The US and other democracies have the means to make this happen. Paying lip service is not among those means.