A Change of Guard

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Wednesday 2 June 2010

SRP asks King-Father Sihanouk to raise border issues with Vietnamese leaders during his visit to Vietnam



By Khmerization
Source: CEN

Twenty one MPs from the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) have written a letter to ex-King Sihanouk (pictured) asking him to raise border issues with Vietnamese leaders during his upcoming official visit to Vietnam later this month, reports Cambodian Express News.

In the letter, the 21 MPs cited a report by Regis Caloz, a French cartographer, who said that there are irregularities in the plantings of border posts in Samrong commune, Chantrea district in Svay Rieng province where villagers and Mr. Sam Rainsy claimed that the border posts had encroached hundreds of metres inside their rice-fields which caused Cambodia to lose thousands of hectares to Vietnam. On 25th October, Mr. Sam Rainsy led 100 villagers to uproot border post #185 in the area in which he and two villagers were sentenced to jail terms for sabotage and destruction of public properties.

The letter also cited encroachments by border post #270 in Anh Chanh village, Chey Chok commune in Borei Cholasa district of Takeo province as well as border posts #124 and 125 in Kok commune, Ponhea Krek district in Kampong Cham province. The letter also informed the ex-king that the opposition MPs had raised the issues with the government as well in the National Assembly but to no avail. The MPs stressed that only ex-King Sihanouk can raise the border issues directly with the Vietnamese leaders to make Vietnam fully respect Cambodian sovereignty in accordance with the 1:100,000 scale maps produced between 1933 and 1953 which was internationally recognised by the UN from 1963 to 1969.

The opposition MPs' letter irritates the government. Mr. Tith Sothea, spokesman for the Press Quick Reaction Unit, said the opposition is trying to make political gains out of the ex-king's visit to Vietnam. He said the reason Vietnamese leaders officially invited the ex-king to visit Vietnam was because he has good past and present relations with Vietnam. he added that whether the ex-king will raise the border issues with Vietnamese leaders or not is his prerogatives. He added that the present border demarcations with Vietnam have been conducted in accordance with mutually agreed treaty and maps, especially maps recognised by the UN.

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