1

CambodiaandVietnam:
GoodFencesMakeGoodNeighbours
CarlyleA.Thayer

PresentationtoInternationalConferenceon Cambodia:ProgressandChallengesSince1991 convenedbytheInstituteofSoutheastAsianStudies TradersHotel,Singapore March2930,2012

CambodiaandVietnam:GoodFencesMakeGoodNeighbours
CarlyleA.Thayer

Introduction
This chapter provides an overview of Cambodias relations with Vietnam in the periodfollowingthe1991politicalsettlementoftheCambodianconflict.Particular attentionispaidtotheperiodafter2005,theyearbothsidesadoptedtheguideline of good neighbourliness, traditional friendship, comprehensive and longterm cooperationfortheirbilateralrelations. TheKingdomofCambodiaandtheDemocraticRepublicofVietnam(DRV)formally establisheddiplomaticrelationson24June1967.Sincethattimebilateralrelations havereflectedthevicissitudesofCambodiasdomesticpolitics.In1970,forexample, when Prince Norodom Sihanouk was deposed in a coup, the DRV granted recognitiontohisgovernmentinexile,theRoyalGovernmentofNationalUnionof Kampuchea. In 1976, after the Khmer Rouge seized power and established DemocraticKampuchea,Vietnam(renamedtheSocialistRepublicofVietnam,SRV) reopeneditsembassyinPhnomPenh. Asaresultofmountingbilateraltensionsandconflictalongtheborder,Democratic Kampuchea severed diplomatic relations with the SRV on December 31, 1977. A year later Vietnam invaded Cambodia. The SRV granted recognition to its protg, thePeoplesRepublicofKampuchea(PRK,197989),whichrenameditselftheState ofCambodiain1989.AsaresultofaninternationalagreementreachedinParisin October 1991, the SRV recognised the Supreme National Council and, following United Nationssponsored elections in May 1993, its successor, the Kingdom of Cambodia. This chapter reviews CambodiaVietnam relations in four parts. Part one provides an overview of political relations. Part two discusses border issues, the most contentiousaspectofbilateralrelations.Partsthreeandfourconsidereconomicand defencerelations,respectively.

PoliticalRelations
VietnamesemilitaryforcesinvadedCambodiainlate1978andoccupiedthecountry untiltheirunilateralwithdrawalinSeptember1989.Duringthisperiod,Vietnams relationswiththePRKwereconductedundertheframeworkofatwentyfiveyear treatyoffriendshipandcooperation.TherestorationoftheKingdomofCambodiain 1993 altered the framework of CambodiaVietnam bilateral relations. Under the newConstitutionCambodiabecamealiberaldemocracyandapermanentlyneutral andnonalignedcountry.1 UnitedNationssponsoredelectionsinMay1993resultedinacoalitiongovernment comprising two main political parties, FUNCINPEC2 and the Cambodian Peoples

Party(CPP).Insum,CambodiaceasedbeingVietnamsdependentallyandtheruling CambodianPeoplesParty,nurturedbyVietnamduringitsdecadelongoccupation, wasnowrequiredtosharepowerinacoalitiongovernmentthatcontainedpolitical leaders who were hostile towards Vietnam. According to a veteran observer, Hanoi's influence in Cambodia has been profoundly weakened and even relations with its former protgs are strained.3 Two main issues have dominated CambodiasrelationswithVietnamsince1993Vietnameseresidentsandtheland border(discussedinthenextsection). EthnicVietnamesebegansettlinginCambodiaduringtheFrenchcolonialera.Viet Minh forces operated in Cambodia during the antiFrench War (194654) and communist Vietnamese forces established sanctuaries along the eastern border during the Vietnam conflict. Vietnamese communist sanctuaries became a political issuein1970andresultedinKhmerattacksontheethnicVietnamesecommunity. SeveralthousandsreportedlywerekilledandhalfamillionfledtoVietnam.When the Khmer Rouge seized power in 1975 they expelled the remaining Vietnamese. Thosewhoremainedwerelargelydecimatedbystarvationanddiseaseintheyears thatfollowed.4 DuringtheperiodofVietnameseoccupationalargeethnicVietnamesecommunity reemerged.TheysoughtworkinPhnomPenh,andsettledineasternCambodiaand infishingvillagesaroundtheTonleSap.ThestatusofethnicVietnameseresidents became a major political issue as negotiations for a comprehensive political settlementwerecompleted.UnderthetermsoftheUnitedNationsdraftedElectoral LawaqualifiedvoterwasdefinedasaCambodianwhowaseighteenyearsorover, born in Cambodia, with a father or mother born in Cambodia, or a person outside CambodiawithamotherorfatherborninCambodia.5 The three major antiVietnamese political parties the Party of Democratic Kampuchea (Khmer Rouge), FUNCINPEC and the Khmer Peoples National LiberationFront(KPNLFheadedbySonSann)allegedthattherewereonemillion illegal Vietnamese migrants who had come to colonise Cambodia and support the CPP in the forthcoming elections. These parties called for these Vietnamese to be disenfranchisedanddeported. In this charged atmosphere at least three dozen Vietnamese were murdered in scatteredincidentsleadinguptotheMay1993elections.6Vietnamlodgedrepeated protests.Aspreelectionviolencemounted,tensofthousandsofethnicVietnamese fledtoVietnam.VietnamrespondedbysealingitsborderwithCambodiastranding anestimatedfivethousandinnomansland.7FollowingtheMay1993electionsand the formation of a coalition government, the status of these ethnic Vietnamese becamethemajorirritantinCambodiasrelationswithVietnam. In August 1993, the two coprime ministers, Norodom Ranariddh and Hun Sen, visitedVietnamtoreaffirmtheircommitmenttoimprovingbilateralrelations.Their demarchewasundercutwhenbothKingSihanoukandSonSanncalledforareview of border issues and redrawing of the boundary if necessary. In February 1994,

Vietnams Foreign Minister Nguyen Manh Cam visited Phnom Penh to discuss outstandingmattersandtoarrangeforthevisitofPrimeMinisterVoVanKiet.Kiets tripinAprilwasthehighestlevelcontactbetweenVietnamandthenewCambodian government.Ajointcommuniqustatedthattwocommissionswouldbesetup,one todiscussthestatusofethnicVietnameseandotheronborderissues.8 TheethnicVietnamesequestionneverthelesscontinuedtosurfaceasanirritantin bilateral relations particularly during national elections. In 1997, FUNCINPECs campaign against ethnic Vietnamese drew Vietnamese diplomatic protests. AlthoughtheethnicVietnamesequestionwasamajorirritantinbilateralrelations, thisissuedidnotpreventtheCPPledgovernmentfromdevelopingclosetieswith Vietnam. Cambodia was slated to join the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)inJuly1997butitsmembershipwaspostponedduetoamajordomestic upheaval that resulted in the collapse of the coalition government and the exile of NorodomRanariddh.TheseeventsstrengthenedthepositionofPrimeMinisterHun SenandtheCPP.VietnamstronglysupportedCambodiasmembershipinASEANat thistime. Violence against ethnic Vietnamese, abetted by Cambodias political parties, flared up in July 1998 during the election campaign. The CambodiaVietnam friendship monument in Phnom Penh was vandalized during a demonstration. When the election results were announced the CPP emerged as the winner. Vietnam, which had a strong stake in good ties with the CCP and in Cambodias stability, lobbied strongly but unsuccessfully for Cambodias admission at the informal ASEAN SummitheldinHanoiinDecember.VietnamfinallyachievedsuccessinApril1999 when consensus was reached on Cambodias suitability and it was admitted as ASEANstenthmember.9 After the 1998 elections the opposition parties continued to exploit the ethnic Vietnamese question. In June 1999, for example, antiVietnamese protests accompaniedthevisitofVietnamCommunistPartySecretaryGeneralLeKhaPhieu toPhnomPenh.ViolenceflaredagaininNovemberwhentwohundredVietnamese residents were forcibly evicted from their homes in Phnom Penh. In November 2001, Vietnamese squatter settlements were set on fire during the state visit of PresidentTranDucLuong. During 2003, both FUNCINPEC and the Sam Rainsy Party once again adopted jingoistic antiVietnamese rhetoric and racial slurs during the election campaign. They charged the Vietnamese with threatening Khmer identity and national sovereignty. During the campaign Vietnamese residents were subjected to systematic violence. One analyst concluded, Both ethnic Vietnamese and even mixed VietnameseKhmer are often subjected to evictions, extortion, and police brutality,aswellaspublicdiscriminationbyKhmerlanguagenewspapersdeploring invasions of Vietnamese.10 Despite the appeals to antiVietnamese sentiment by theopposition,theCPPstrengtheneditselectoralmarginoverthe1998election.

The consolidation of CPP rule from 1998 to 2003 set the stage for Cambodia and Vietnam to take their bilateral relations to the next level. In March 2005 the two countries agreed to guidelines for bilateral relations under the rubric of good neighbourliness, traditional friendship, comprehensive and longterm cooperation.11 This ushered in a period of sustained highlevel interaction that broadenedanddeepenedbilateralrelations(seeTable1below). Table1CambodiaVietnamHighLevelVisits,20052011 FromVietnamtoCambodia FromCambodiatoVietnam

March/July 2006 Prime Minister Phan Van October2005PrimeMinisterHunSen Khai December 2006 Prime Minister Nguyen Tan March2006KingNorodomSihamoni Dung February2007PresidentNguyenMinhTriet June 2006 President of the National AssemblyHengSamrin

April 2007 Chairman of the National June2008KingNorodomSihanouk AssemblyNguyenPhuTrong August 2007 Deputy Prime Minister and November2008PrimeMinisterHunSen MinisterforForeignAffairsPhamGiaKhiem December 2009 Secretary General Nong Duc November 2008 President of the Senate Manh CheaSim August2010PresidentNguyenMinhTriet January 2009 President of the National AssemblyHengSamrin

November 2010 Prime Minister Nguyen Tan December2009PrimeMinisterHunSen Dung April2011PrimeMinisterNguyenTanDung June2010KingNorodomSihamoni

Each Cambodian national election since 1993 has seen the CPP gain in electoral strength compared to its rivals. In 2008 the CPP won an absolute majority of the vote. The trend of CPP dominance has resulted in lessening but not ending the salienceoftheethnicVietnameseissueindomesticpolitics.ManyethnicVietnamese remain stateless. In 2010, the U.S. State Department offered this assessment: animosity continued toward ethnic Vietnamese, who were seen as a threat to the country and culture. Some groups, including political groups, continued to make strongantiVietnamesestatements.TheycomplainedofpoliticalcontroloftheCPP by the Vietnamese government, border encroachment, and other problems for whichtheyheldethnicVietnameseatleastpartiallyresponsible.12 The next section analyses the second major irritant in bilateral relations border issues.

BorderIssues
Border issues have featured prominently in Cambodias relations with Vietnam since both countries gained independence from France. This section discusses borderissuesasanirritantinCambodiasrelationswithVietnam. InthepostUNperiod,theactivitiesofpoliticallyactiveanticommunistgroups,or groupsdeemedhostiletothegovernmentinHanoi,becameasourceofcontinuing concern to security authorities in Vietnam. In 1995, for example, several hundred formerArmyoftheRepublicofVietnampersonnelgatheredinCambodiaandbegan acquiring weapons and conducting training programs for the violent overthrow of theVietnamesegovernment.ThisgroupwasfundedbyoverseasVietnameseinthe United States. Their activities came to the notice of Cambodian authorities and in Decembersixleaderswereexpelled.13 In November 2000, a group of seventy anticommunist Cambodian expatriates operatingunderthenameCambodianFreedomFighterslaunchedarmedattackson government buildings in Phnom Penh on the eve of a visit by President Tran Duc Luong. The Cambodian Freedom Fighters argued that the Hun Sen government lackedindependencefromVietnam.14Cambodiansecurityforcesquicklydealtwith the group but President Luongs visit was cancelled. In July 2001, Vietnam once again expressed its concern about the activities of anticommunist groups in CambodiaaimedatoverthrowingtheVietnamesegovernment. In the first quarter of 2001 unrest broke out among the Degar people, an ethnic minority group living in Vietnams Central Highlands.15 The Degar claimed they were subject to religious persecution and loss of land. Vietnamese authorities accused them of trying to set up an autonomous state with financial backing from compatriotslivingintheUnitedStates.WhenVietnameseauthoritiesattemptedto restoreorderanestimatedonethousandDegarcrossedintoCambodiaandsought sanctuary.SomewerereportedlyforcedbackintoVietnambylocalauthorities.Asa result of this incident Vietnams Minister for Public Security and Cambodias Co Minister for the Interior met and reached agreement on future border security arrangements. In 2005 the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) brokered a fiveyear agreement with Cambodia and Vietnam. The UNHCR agreed to set up a processing camp and the Degar asylum seekers would be given the choice of resettlementinathirdcountryorvoluntaryrepatriationtoVietnam.Bytheendof 2010,ninehundredandthirtytwoDegarsweregivenrefugeestatusandresettled. Inearly2011,afurtherfiftyfiveDegarwereresettledandtenwererepatriatedto Vietnam.TenDegarsarestillawaitingadeterminationoftheirstatus.16 In June 2007, a Buddhist monk living in Vietnam, a member of the Khmer Krom ethnic minority, fled to Cambodia to escape what he claimed was religious persecution. Sympathetic Buddhists staged public protests outside the Vietnamese EmbassyinPhnomPenhoverwhattheyallegedwasmistreatmentofethnicKhmer

monks in Vietnam.17 The Cambodian government responded by banning the protests. In addition to cross border security issues, the borderline between Cambodia and Vietnam emerged as a contentious issue in Cambodian domestic politics following UNsponsoredelectionsin1993.FUNCINPEC,theKPNLFandtheSamRainsyParty rejectedallborderagreementsandtreatiessignedbetweenthePeoplesRepublicof Kampuchea and Vietnam on the basis that the PRK was a Vietnamese client, its independencewasnotrecognisedbytheUnitedNations,andtheborderagreements favouringVietnamwereillegal. ThePRKandVietnamsignedthreemajorborderagreements.Thefirstagreement, signed in July 1982, delineated the historical waters between Cambodia and Vietnam. Cambodias historical waters included the coast of Kampot province and Poulo Wai islands. Vietnams historical waters included the coast of Kien Giang provinceandPhuQuocandThoChuislands.The1982agreementdidnotestablish amaritimeboundaryandoverlappingclaimsremainunresolvedtothisday.18 In1983CambodiaandVietnamsignedalandboundarytreatythatrecognizedthe borderasdefinedona1:100,000scalemappublishedbytheGeographicServiceof Indochina.In1985,CambodiaandVietnamadoptedandratifiedtheTreatyonthe Delimitation of the VietnamKampuchea Frontier. This treaty accepted the border demarcationlineatthetimeofCambodiasindependence.Between1985and1988 thetwosideserectedseventytwomarkersalongatwohundredkilometrestretch oftheir1,137kmborder.19 After the formation of a coalition government in 1993, both King Sihanouk and PrimeMinisterRanariddhpubliclyrejectedthetreatiessignedbythePRK.In1996, King Sihanouk accused Vietnam of nibbling away Cambodian territory by moving border markers 300 to 400 metres into Svay Rieng province. Prime Minister Ranariddh went further and called Vietnamese encroachments a full invasion and threatenedtouseforce. In April 1996, Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet led a delegation to Phnom Penh for borderdiscussionswithcoprimeministersRanarridhandHunSen.Kietproposed the creation of a formal mechanism to deal with border issues at local, provincial, and central levels. The following month Cambodia rejected Kiets proposals.20 Duringthe1998electioncampaign,PrinceRanariddhaccusedHunSenofinaction in the face of Vietnamese encroachments. At the next election in 2003, the Sam RainsyPartycriticisedHunSenfornotstandinguptoVietnamonborderissuesand promisedtorecoverlostterritories. In response to domestic pressures, Cambodia (now firmly under the leadership of HunSen)andVietnamnegotiatedandsignedaSupplementaryTreatytotheTreaty ontheDelimitationoftheStateBorderof1985on10October2005inHanoi.21The textofthe2005treatywasvirtuallyidenticalwiththetextofthe1985treaty.The 2005 treaty resulted in the adjustment of six border markers in the Central Highlandsbecauseofmappingerrorsintheearliertreaty.

The 2005 border treaty has done much to diffuse the borderline as an irritant in bilateralrelations.BothCambodiaandVietnamsetuptheirrespectiveCommission onBorderDemarcationandMarkerPlanting.ThefirstmeetingwasheldinHanoiin May1996whereagreementwasreachedtoplantmarkersatsixbordergatesbythe end of the year and to mark the entire border by the end of 2008. The national bordercommissionscontinuetomeetregularlyalternatingbetweenCambodiaand Vietnam. In September 2006, on the first anniversary of the 2005 border treaty, Prime Ministers Hun Sen and Nguyen Tan Dung attended inauguration of border marker no. 171 at the Moc BaiBavet international border gate, the main crossing point between Cambodia and Vietnam. The border issues as an irritant in bilateral relations did not disappear entirely. Opposition leader Sam Rainsy continued to claim that Vietnam was using the border demarcation process to encroach on Cambodianland.InDecember2009,SamRainsyandagroupofsupportersremoved borderpostsinprotest.Rainsywasconvictedincourtforhisactions;hefledabroad toescapeimprisonment.22 In March 2009, the joint CambodiaVietnam Commission on Border Demarcation andMarkerPlantinghelditsthirdmeetinginHoChiMinhCityanddrewupaplan onborderdemarcationcoveringtheperiod200912.InApril2011,Cambodiaand Vietnam signed a Memorandum of Understanding on demarcating the remaining areaofthelandboundarybeforetheendof2011(adeadlinesinceextendedtothe endof2012).

EconomicRelations
The development of CambodiaVietnam economic relations reflects the improvement in managing crossborder security issues as well as progress in physicallydemarcatingtheborderitself.Economicrelationsaremanagedthrougha CambodiaVietnam Joint Commission for Economic, Cultural, Scientific and Technological Cooperation. In November 2001, during the visit of President Tran Duc Luong, Cambodia and Vietnam codified their economic relations in a Joint DeclarationontheFrameworkforBilateralCooperation.Amajorturningpointwas reachedinSeptember2006whenPrimeMinistersHunSenandNguyenTanDung met and agreed to raise twoway trade to US $2 billion by 2010 and to facilitate crossborderinvestment.Theyalsoassignedtheirrespectiveministriesoftransport todevelopcrossborderroadandrailroutes.23 The 2005 border treaty laid the foundation for Cambodia to promote the developmentofSpecialEconomicZonesonitsborderwithVietnam.Thesespecial zonesweredesignedtoattractinvestmentthroughtaxbreaksandspecialservices. ThespecialzonesalsotookadvantageofcheaperelectricityprovidedbyVietnamto boost competitiveness and encourage development beyond Phnom Penh.24 Since 2007, Cambodia has licensed six Special Economic Zones, two of which have been setupandfourofwhichareinthedevelopmentstage,includingaspecialzonefor agriculturalprocessingvaluedatUS$100millionanddueforcompletionby2015,

In 2006 twoway trade stood at US $950 million. As a result of the Cambodia Vietnambilateraltradeagreementreachedin2007,Vietnameseinvestmentsinthe special economic zones and a downturn in Cambodias trade with Thailand following a border dispute in 2008, CambodiaVietnam twoway trade increased steadily from US $1.2 billion (2007) to US $1.7 billion (2008). In 2008 and 2009 Cambodia and Vietnam adopted a number of measures to facilitate trade.25 In November 2008 they signed five agreements including: visa exemption, goods transit, railway linkages, information exchanges between ministries and national radiostations.ThefollowingyearCambodiaandVietnamsignedatreatyoncross bordernavigationontheMekongRiver. ThetenthCambodiaVietnamJointCommissionforEconomic,CulturalandScientific TechnologicalCooperation,whichmetinOctober2008,setatargetofUS$2billion intwowaytradeby2010.Duetotheglobalfinancialcrisisthiswasnotachieved. TwowaytradefelltoUS$1.3billionin2009beforerisingtoUS$1.8billionin2010. Vietnams major exports to Cambodia include agricultural machines, pesticides, farm produce, seafood and petrol, while Cambodias exports to Vietnam comprise grains,tobacco,cassavaandwoodproducts.VietnamranksthirdamongCambodias ASEAN trading partners and sixth overall.26 Bilateral trade expected to reach $6.5 billionby2015. CambodiaandVietnamhavealsopromotedtradethroughthedevelopmentofcross borderlinkagesbetweenprovinces.InMay2010,forexample,CambodiasMinister of Commerce and his Vietnamese counterpart, the Minister of Industry and Trade, cohostedaconferenceinLongAnprovinceattendedbyofficialsandbusinessmen from the border provinces. This meeting agreed to simplify administrative proceduresatbordergatesandupgradetechnicalinfrastructure.Thismeetingalso calledforincreasedinvestmentinservices,thespecialeconomiczonesandborder marketsoverthenextdecade. Vietnamese investment in Cambodia picked up as a result of the general improvement in bilateral relations after 2005 and due to a downturn in Thai Cambodian relations in 200809. In November 2008, for example, Prime Minister Hun Sen paid an official visit to Vietnam and requested increased Vietnamese investment in Cambodias rubber, oil and gas, electricity, and post and telecommunications sectors.27 His counterpart, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, respondedaffirmatively. According to Vietnams Ministry of Planning and Investment, in 2009 Vietnamese entrepreneurshadinvestedinsixtythreeprojectswithacombinedtotalregistered capital of over US $900 million of which US $400 was invested in 2009 alone. In December2009,thetwoprimeministerscohostedthefirstinvestmentpromotion conferenceinHoChiMinhCity.28AMemorandumofUnderstandingwassignedto facilitate increased Vietnamese investment in Cambodia including electricity generation, fertilizer production, rubber plantations, and bauxite mining. It was estimated that there was a potential for US $12 billion in investments from Vietnam.29

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InAugust2010,PrimeMinisterHunSenannouncedthatfeasibilitystudieswouldbe carriedoutfortwohydroelectricpowerprojectstobeundertakenbyVietnam.He alsostatedthatCambodiawouldallocate100,000hectarestoaVietnamesefirmto plantandharvestrubber.30Bytheendof2010Vietnameseinvestorswereinvolved in nearly ninety projects in Cambodia embracing agriculture, forestry, rubber, minerals and mining, oil and gas exploration, electricity generation, aviation, telecommunications,finance,insuranceandbanking.Thecombinedtotalcapitalof theseprojectswasestimatedatmorethanUS$2billion. CambodianVietnam economic relations received a fillip in November 2010 when the two prime ministers met in Phnom Penh.31 Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung asked for more cooperation in aviation, banking, rubber, customs procedure facilitationandgreaterencouragementforVietnameseinvestorsandbusinessmen. DungalsosoughtapprovalforaVietnamesecompanytoexploreforoilandgasin Cambodia.PrimeMinisterHunSen,forhispart,askedVietnamtoprovideatleast 170 MW of power from end of 2010. At the conclusion of their talks, the prime ministers reached agreement to boost trade and investment in banking, power generation, mining, oil and gas, industrial crops and transport by encouraging cooperation between provinces. Hun Sen also agreed to accelerate formalities to enableVietnamesecompaniestobuildthesecondSeSanhydropowerdam. InApril2011,PrimeMinisterNguyenTanDungreturnedtoCambodiatoattendthe second CambodiaVietnam InvestmentCommerceTourism Promotion Forum co hosted by Prime Minister Hun Sen.32 This event witnessed the signing of cooperation agreements covering aviation, banking, telecommunication, hydroelectricity,mining,rubber,andsugarcane.Ofparticularnotewasthesigning oftheamendmenttotheagreementontheestablishmentofCambodiaAngkorAirto encouragetourism.CambodiaAngkorAirisajointventurebetweentheCambodian government,whichholdsafiftyonepercentshare,andVietnamAirlines,whichhas invested US $100 million. Both prime ministers also attended the opening of the CambodiaVietnam Securities Joint Stock Co. and ceremonies in which investment licenseswerehandedovertoVietnamesebusinesses.

DefenceRelations
VietnamcreatedthePRKarmedforcesduringitsdecadelongoccupation.Whenthe comprehensivepoliticalsettlementonCambodiawasreachedin1991,Vietnamas well as all other signatories, was required to cease providing military assistance. Vietnam complied with its international requirements. Indeed in 1994, after the formationofthefirstcoalitiongovernmentwhenCambodiaapproachedVietnamfor militaryassistancetodefeatKhmerRougeremnantsitwasturneddown.33 DefencerelationsbetweenCambodiaandVietnamweregraduallyrestoredafterthe 1998elections.ThissectionhighlightsthreeaspectsofCambodiaVietnamdefence relations: repatriation of the remains of Vietnamese combatants, highlevel exchanges,andjointnavalpatrols. Table2.HighlevelDefenceExchanges,20052011

 DelegationstoCambodia DelegationstoVietnam

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May2005Lt.Gen.PhungTrungKien,Deputy March 2005 General Ke Kim Yan, MinisterofNationalDefence Commander in Chief Royal Cambodian ArmedForces(RCAF) January 2006 Vice Admiral Nguyen Van December 2005 General Tea Banh and Hien, Commander Vietnam Peoples Army General Nhek Bunchhay, CoMinisters of (VPA)Navy NationalDefence September2006Lt.Gen.NguyenKhacVien, June 2007 General Neang Phat, Secretary of ChiefoftheGeneralStaff State,MinistryofNationalDefence January 2007 Lt. Gen. Pham Hong Thanh, October 2007 General Ke Kim Yan, VietnamPeoplesArmy CommanderinChiefRCAF March 2007 General Phung Quang Thanh, October 2007 General Pol Saroeun, State MinisterofNationalDefence Committee for the Repatriation of Remains ofVietnameseArmyVolunteersinCambodia June 2007 Lt. Gen. Le Van Dung, Director, March 2008 General Tea Banh, Minister of VPAGeneralPoliticalDepartment NationalDefence January 2008 Lt. Gen. Bui Van Huan, State March 2009 General Committee for the Repatriation of Remains CommanderinChiefRCAF ofVietnameseArmyVolunteersinCambodia Pol Saroeun,

March 2008 Maj. Gen. Pham Ngoc Hoa, VPA June 2009 General Neang Phat, Minister of GeneralStaff State,MinistryofNationalDefence February2009GeneralPhungQuangThanh, September 2009 Ministry of National MinisterofNationalDefence Defence, General Department of Logistics andFinance September 2009 Maj. Gen. Nguyen Phuoc February 2010 General Dien Sarun, Deputy Loi,DeputyCommanderVPABorderGuard ChiefofStaff,HighCommandGuards August2010GeneralLeVanDung,Director, February 2010 General Tea Banh, Minister VPAGeneralPoliticalDepartment ofNationalDefence September 2010 Lt. Gen. Nguyen Chi Vinh, August 2010 Maj. Gen. Sam Sarin, DeputyMinisterofNationalDefence Commander,RCAFArtilleryHighCommand March 2011 General Phung Quang Thanh, October2010GeneralTeaBanh,Ministerof MinisterofNationalDefence NationalDefence

In2000,CambodiaandVietnamsignedanagreementtocooperateintherecovery oftheremainsofanestimated19,500Vietnamesecombatants.34In2001,bothsides established their respective State Committee for the Repatriation of Remains of VietnameseArmyVolunteersinCambodia.Thesecommitteescontinuemeetonan annualbasistoreviewpasteffortsandtoagreeonaworkprogramforthefollowing year. In May 2001, for example, the Cambodian and Vietnamese State Committees

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agreed on an action plan and two months later recovery teams from the military commands of Vietnams Tay Ninh, Long An and Binh Phuoc provinces began joint excavations with their Cambodian counterparts. By the end of 2002 nearly 4,000 remainswererepatriated,afigurethatroseto6,569bytheendof2004and10,000 bytheendof2007.35 In August 2002, Vietnams Defence Minister, Lt. General Pham Van Tra, and CambodiasCoMinistersofNationalDefenceGeneralTeaBanhandPrinceSisowath Sereyrath,signedaMemorandumofUnderstanding(MOU)ondefencecooperation. TheMOUprovidedforfuturehighlevelexchanges(seeTable2),militarytechnical cooperation and exchanges of experience in the role of the military in national construction and defence.36 With the step up of political relations in 2005, the Cambodian and Vietnamese defence ministries initiated the practice of signing annualprotocolsondefencecooperation. In December 2005, Cambodias CoMinisters of National Defence visited Hanoi for discussionswiththeirVietnamesecounterpart.Theagendaforthismeetingcovered repatriation of Vietnamese remains, border demarcation and border security, and futuredefencecooperationactivities(highlevelvisits,cooperationbetweengeneral staffs,militaryeducationandtraining).37Bothsidesalsoagreedthattheirrespective defenceministriesshouldcooperateinimplementingprogramstoalleviatepoverty for people living in border areas.38 In 2008, defence cooperation was expanded to includeexchangesbetweenmilitaryhospitalsandresearchinstitutes. Three issues have become standard agenda items at all highlevel discussions. For example,atthemostrecentmeetingbetweendefenceministersheldinSiemReap in March 2011, Generals Tea Banh and Phung Quang Thanh discussed the repatriation of the remains of fallen soldiers, border demarcation and border security, and defence cooperation activities. The two defence ministers signed an MOUoutliningfutureactivitiesincludingVietnamesetrainingforRCAFpersonnel.39 Cooperation between the Royal Cambodian Navy and the Vietnam Peoples Army Navy commenced in September 2002 with the visit of the Cambodian naval commander to Vietnam at the invitation of his counterpart. In December 2005, during the visit to Vietnam by Cambodias CoMinisters of National Defence, Vietnamproposedthatthetwosidesconductjointnavalpatrolsatsea.InJanuary the following year, Vietnam donated two patrol boats to the Royal Cambodian Navy.40 InMarch2008,theCambodianandVietnamesedefenceministersagreedtoconduct jointmaritimepatrolsandtoexchangeinformationonsearchandrescueatsea.41By the end of the year it was announced that combined naval forces had conducted three patrols in waters in the Gulf of Thailand. These patrols were aimed at providingsecurityforfishermenaswellassearchandrescuetrainingandcultural and sport exchanges. The Cambodian and Vietnamese naval commands set up a communications channel to exchange information and jointly address issues as

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they arise.42 In September 2010, two VPA naval ships paid their first port call to CambodiasincetheendoftheCambodianconflict.43

Conclusion
Two major issues the status of ethnic Vietnamese residents and border demarcation issues have bedevilled bilateral relations between Cambodia and Vietnamsince1991.BothissueswereseizeduponbypoliticalpartiesinCambodia for domestic advantage and this opportunistic posturing exacerbated their resolution.Bothissuesaffectedpolitical,economicanddefencerelations. AsthepoliticalbalanceofpowerinCambodiashiftedtowardstheconsolidationof CPPruleundertheprimeministershipofHunSen,theCambodiangovernmentwas empowered to address these issues. A major turning point came in 2005 when Cambodia and Vietnam adopted the expression good neighbourliness, traditional friendship, comprehensive and longterm cooperation as the framework for bilateralrelations.In2005,CambodiaandVietnamsignedasupplementaryborder treatythatgavelegalstatustopreviousagreementsandwhichlaidthebasisforthe physical demarcation of their common border. In the meantime, the ethnic Vietnamesequestionhasrecededinimportanceasadomesticissue.Cooperationon the recovery and repatriation of the remains of fallen Vietnamese combatants will soonclosethischapterinbilateralrelations. After 2005 Cambodia and Vietnam began to develop extensive economic and defence relations. Vietnam is one of Cambodias major trade and investment partners. Defence cooperation has contributed towards creating an environment conducive to economic development by stabilising the border and contributing to good order at sea. Even after the last border marker is laid the management of crossborder issues will still demand continuing attention by both Cambodia and Vietnam. Whereas in the past an illdefined border contributed to insecurities on both sides, an agreed border will demonstrate Robert Frosts adage that good fencesmakegoodneighbours. 1TheConstitutionoftheKingdomofCambodia,September21,1993. http://www.embassy.org/cambodia/cambodia/constitution.htm.
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(NationalUnitedFrontforanIndependent,Neutral,Peaceful,andCooperative Cambodia)
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JanuaryFebruary1993,p.73.

4RamsesAmer,CambodiaandVietnam:ATroubledRelationship,inInternational

RelationsinSoutheastAsia:BetweenBilteralismandMultilateralism,editedbyN.

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GanesanandRamsesAmer(Singapore:InstituteofSoutheastAsianStudies,2010), p.105.
5GaryKlintworth,Cambodia1992:Hopesfading,inSoutheastAsianAffairs1993,

editedbyDaljitSingh(Singapore:InstituteofSoutheastAsianStudies,1993),p.124.
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JanuaryFebruary1993,p.89.
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Affairs1994,editedbyDaljitSingh(Singapore:InstituteofSoutheastAsianStudies, 1994),p.97.
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Trial,inSoutheastAsianAffairs1995,editedbyDaljitSinghandLiakTengKiat (Singapore:InstituteofSoutheastAsianStudies,1995),p.138.

9CarlyleA.Thayer,SoutheastAsia:ChallengestoUnityandRegimeLegitimacy,in

Southeast Asian Affairs 1999, edited by Daljit Singh and John Funston (Singapore: InstituteofSoutheastAsianStudies,1999),pp.1112.
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Consolidation,AsianSurvey,44,no.1,JanuaryFebruary2004,p.106.
11VietnamCambodiaRelations,SocialistRepublicofVietnam,MinistryofForeign

Affairs,December2009.http:www.mofa.gov.vn.AccessedApril12,2011
12U.S.DepartmentofState,Cambodia,CountryReportsonHumanRights2010. 13NickJ.Freeman,Vietnam:BetterManagingReform,inSoutheastAsianAffairs

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