Friday, September 2, 2011

Cambodian-Vietnamese Border Problem

Opposition Leader Sam Rainsy has renewed his call for the Cambodian Government to reexamine the demarcation of the Cambodian-Vietnamese border after the Cambodian -Thai border situation has eased out. Sam Rainsy made this comment from France in a recent interview.
Sam Rainsy said that the Cambodian Government should now look at the Cambodian-Vietnamese border because the situation along the Cambodian-Thai border has eased.
Changing Scenario
He said that Cambodia had lost more land to Vietnam than to Thailand. He stressed that ‘attention should be shifted to the border with Vietnam because over the past few years the Hun Sen government was using the conflict with Thailand as a cover to deflect attention away from Vietnam, which had grabbed much more Cambodian land than Thailand did.’
In response to his call, Cheam Yeap, Cambodia's People Party MP from Prey Veng constituency, said that the loss of land raised by Sam Rainsy was based on a map drawn by Sam Rainsy himself. He added that the Cambodian Government is currently working on the demarcation of the Cambodian-Vietnamese border by using a modern technology. He said that ‘in order to know who comes in and who goes out, a clear border demarcation is needed, which is currently being worked on by the government. Sam Rainsy's comment has no meaning, substance and thought whatsoever.’
Deflection of Attention
Rong Chhun, a member of the Cambodian Watchdog Council, said that he supported the comment raised by Sam Rainsy, and the government's comment is merely a deflection of attention; he used to inspect the border and found out that Cambodia indeed lost its territory to Vietnam.
He argued that ‘no other basis is better than his going to inspect the border, which he found out that border makers were planted encroaching into the Cambodian territory although the survey and measurement of the border was made with an advanced technology. If they use it a wrong way, Cambodia can lose land because of the fact that the technology is operated by human being.’
Demarcation of Land Border
It should be recalled that San Rainsy made this call at a time when the process of the demarcation of the land border between Cambodia and Vietnam was reportedly set to complete in the end of 2012.
On the demarcation of the Cambodian-Vietnamese border, Sam Rainsy was sentenced to 13 years in prison because he uprooted border stakes at the Cambodian-Vietnamese border planted on Cambodian farmers' land in Svay Rieng Province, and his showing of a map that he used as a basis for affirming that Cambodia had lost its territory because of the demarcation work.

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