លោក​​ហ៊ុន សែន​ ប្រាប់​វៀតណាម​ថា​កម្ពុជា​គ្មាន​មូលដ្ឋាន​យោធា​បរទេស​ទេ

Editorial by Khmer Circle: 

Not sure who Hun Sen is trying to fool over this supposed Chinese 'army bases' on the South Coast. Not the Vietnamese, surely? Whether there is concrete basis to this rumour or not, the Vietnamese are probably the first to know about such schemes, simply because they are better placed than most to verify any given fact or the veracity of the rumour when it comes to Cambodia's internal affairs. 

Hun Sen himself may have confidence in the art of fooling his own compatriots given his long stay in power has largely depended on his ability to manipulate his political adversaries and civil critics/activists through violence, threats, bribe and trickery, but the Vietnamese are the undisputed masters of these dark arts. After all, they groomed him to rule the country on their behalf and thus are more than conscious of his impulses and ambitions. 

The Vietnamese's unspoken message to Hun Sen is one which is silently deafening yet clear enough for even one as thick-skinned and as mentally or intellectually restricted as he to grasp with a degree of fear and trepidation: Don't imagine for a second that all your appeasements - ELCs, illegal Vietnamese settlers, land annexations along the border, deforestation etc. - are enough to stop us short of trying to destabilise your regime if and when you cross that red line. 

On another note, it was likewise the Vietnamese's fear of Chinese encirclement that also led to their decision to oust the Pol Pot regime in the late seventies. One factor in that fear was the construction of an air base in the province of Kg Chhnang intended for Chinese military use. Deep-sea ports may serve civic commercial purposes, but there's nothing to stop war ships or other maritime transporters from docking there.