It's business as usual for Hanoi and its ambition to forge and consolidate an Indochinese Federation with Vietnam in charge and in the driving seat. In the 1970s Pol Pot and his Laos counterpart were also summoned to attend an annual tea meeting in Hanoi in which they were reminded of the need for the three countries to remain together in "fraternal solidarity" for a "thousand years" i.e. lasting Federation with Hanoi assuming the guiding Big Brother role [yeah, like the kind of hierarchy or leadership one finds in any Mafia or Triad organisation]. Pol Pol and the Laotian leader would have then been gently reminded of Vietnam's already active and critical war-time role in ousting the hitherto ruling regimes of both their small nations; something they alone would not have been able to muster themselves.
In Cambodia, Pol Pot - unlike Laos's leaders - saw the trap set by the Vietnamese early, and perhaps, encouraged and embolden by China's support, asked their Vietnamese brothers-in-arms comrades to withdraw from the country. The push to claim complete victory on 17 April 1975 was also the Khmer Rouge's pre-emptive move to emphasise their own historic effort made in the final stages of the armed campaign independent of Hanoi's direct armed support and involvement. The Vietnamese did not achieve their final victory until 30 April 1975.
After
this 'tea meeting' one of Pol Pot's colleagues is reported to have remarked:
'We are not going to accept any subordinate role offered by the Vietnamese' or
something along that line.
That is not what Hun Sen and his son - Hun Manet - would say to his boss at this tea meeting. Just as well, for Vietnam's sake. Neither the brutal Pol Pot regime nor the more liberal democratically elected non-Communist faction in Sihanouk's formed Funcinpec led by his son and successor Runnariddh when he assumed power briefly in the early 1990s would ever accept this kind of patronage and subordination sought by Hanoi. In fact, one of Runnariddh's first acts as PM was to declare all treaties signed between Hanoi and Phnom Penh since the former's installed administration in 1979 as 'null and void'. Needless to add, all such treaties plus the 2005 Supplemental Treaty that was meant to seal and legalise all Vietnam's territorial gains and encroachments at Cambodia's expense have since found a new leaf of life, thanks to Hun Sen and Co.
The visit comes days after he was named to a top post in the Cambodian People’s Party.
By RFA Khmer2023.12.11
(Nhac Nguyen/AFP)
Prime Minister Hun Manet arrived in Hanoi on Monday to start a two-day official visit, one of his first foreign trips since taking over as head of Cambodia’s government in August.
He met with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Hun Manet and Pham Minh Chinh signed a cooperation agreement between the Cambodian Chamber of Commerce and the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and another agreement in the areas of science, technology and innovation, the ministry said in a statement.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is also expected to visit Hanoi this week, according to Reuters.
On Sunday, the 46-year-old was named vice president of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, or CPP – a move that allows him to meet with his Vietnamese counterparts on an equal level, according to Men Nath, a Norway-based representative of the Cambodia Watchdog Council.
“If he went to Vietnam just as a permanent member of the party, it would not be insufficient,” he said.
Border issues and immigration
Cambodia’s National Assembly officially selected Hun Manet as prime minister on Aug. 22. The formality took place about a month after the CPP swept a general election in which the country’s only viable opposition party wasn’t allowed to compete.
Just a few days later, longtime Prime Minister Hun Sen announced at a July 26 news conference that he would step down as prime minister and would begin a transition to Hun Manet, his eldest son.
Over the years, Hun Sen’s opponents have often attempted to paint him as a tool of the Vietnamese. He remains the head of the CPP.
Unresolved border issues between Cambodia and Vietnam, former French colonies from the 1860s to 1954, have regularly inflamed nationalist sentiment. The disputed border has sparked incidents in the past, with the construction by Vietnam of military posts in contested areas quickly challenged by Cambodian authorities in Phnom Penh.
Cambodian activists also cite the fact that nearly 1.3-million ethnic Khmer people live in a part of Vietnam that was once southeastern Cambodia. They have faced serious restrictions on freedom of expression, assembly and movement.
RFA was unable to reach foreign ministry spokesman An Sokhoeun or government spokesman Pen Bona for comment on Hun Manet’s visit.
Translated by Sum Sok Ry. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.
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