Vietnam and Thailand: Which country is a good neighbour of Cambodia?

A few days ago, I put a question to Khmerization’s readers to write a full length article titled “Vietnam and Thailand: Which country is a better neighbour of Cambodia?” Many people had left very good comments and expressing interesting views in regard to Cambodia’s turbulent relationships with these two countries and peoples. I have chosen five very interesting thoughts and comments about the topic and published them below. Please enjoy reading them. Khmerization

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By Neakareach

It is impractical to choose the countries as your neighbors because, for better or worse, they will always be your next door neighbors. In the case of Vietnam and Thailand, it is impossible for Cambodia to opt them out as our neighbors because, regardless of whether we like them or not, they would always be existed next to Cambodia and will be our neighbors for the millenniums to come.

However, just for the sake of answering Khmerization’s question, before we can conclude which country is a better neighbor of Cambodia, we must look at the issue from an historical perspective first.

The Vietnamese came from southern China and the Chinese called them Yueh, meaning “south”. The term “Yuon” that the Cambodians used to call the Vietnamese, which some ignorant foreigners viewed as derogatory, was probably originated from the Chinese term “Yueh”.

After living under Chinese suzerainty for more than a millennium, the Yueh (Vietnamese) people began their journey southward. As they began to gain military strength, they began to annex small and weaker states along their southward journey.

First, they attacked the Muslim kingdom of Champa, which was located in today’s central Vietnam, in 1471, by annexing parts by parts of the kingdom in the process of their southward expansionism. After the “Yueh”, by now called the Dai Viet, have completely annexed the kingdom of Champa, they have begun to stealthily encroaching the southern parts of Cambodia called Kampuchea Krom, or Lower Cambodia. The annexation had begun from around 1623 when Cambodian King Chey Chettha II allowed the Vietnamese who fled the Trinh-Nguyen War to settle in the area. Those Vietnamese refugees refused to return to Vietnam and by 1802, the Vietnamese emperor had annexed the whole of Kampuchea Krom territory, comprising around 18 provinces with the present population of 6-8 million by some estimates, completely.

Today, the Khmer Krom people, the original inhabitants of southern Vietnam, become a minority ethnic group in their own territory. They have been deprived of their basic human rights, the right to preserve their cultural and religious heritage as well being deprived of their own native Khmer language. Many Khmer Krom have been jailed, killed or force to flee Vietnam for simply trying to ask for the freedom and the respect for their basic rights.

Now come to the issue of Vietnamese invasion, which some said was the liberation, of Cambodia in 1979. To answer this controversial issue, one must examine the issue in a political context.

Vietnam was a creator of the murderous Khmer Rouge regime. We must remember that many Khmer Rouge leaders such as Tou Samouth and Pol Pot had joined the Vietnamese-created Indochinese Communist Party since the early 1950s. Afterward, they formed a breakaway party called Krom Pracheachun or Pak Pracheachun, which later renamed as the Communist Party of Cambodia, the political organ of the Khmer Rouge. During the Khmer Rouge insurgency in the 1960s and 1970s, the North Vietnamese Army had aided and abetted the Khmer Rouge, supplying them with weapons, medicine and foods. They supported the Khmer Rouge regime for the first two years of their murderous rule and aiding and abetting their murderous policies which have seen the massacre and slaughter of nearly 2 million Cambodians. Vietnam only withdrew its support of the Khmer Rouge in 1977 when they have a dispute with the Khmer Rouge after the Khmer Rouge rebelled against their domination and against Vietnamese border encroachments.

By examining the above facts, would we call Vietnam’s occupation of Cambodia an invasion or liberation?

Today, an influx of illegal Vietnamese migrants had freely flowed into Cambodia on a daily basis without any control. The Vietnamese government still maintains a strong control of the present Hun Sen regime by making sure that Cambodia will never be economically prosperous and politically and militarily stronger than them. Vietnam, from time to time, still encroaches on Cambodian border without any official protest from the friendly and submissive Cambodian government.

Thailand is in a similar situation with Vietnam in regard to its relations with Cambodia. The T’ai people, later on called the Siamese and now called the Thais, were originated in the southern Chinese province of Yunan in an area called Nanchao. In 1296, probably fleeing the advance of the Mongolian Kublai Khan invading army, the T’ai people had moved southward to settle in northern present day Thailand and shortly moved to occupy the Khmer kingdom of Sukhotai, by ransacking the palace, killing the king and massacring the Khmer people. In 1431, they attacked and sacked Angkor and had occupied this ancient Khmer capital for a period of time before they were pushed back by Khmer troops. In around 1576-1595, the Siamese attacked and occupied the Khmer ancient capital of Longvek.

Afterward, they expanded further southward steadily and by around 1582 the Siamese king had annexed Cambodian Nokor Reach Seima (Korat) province. By early 1700s, due to the weakness of the Cambodian kingdom, the T’ai troops had begun to annex many Khmer provinces one by one, with the annexation of Siem Reap, Battambang, Preah Vihear and Sirisophorn (Banteay Meanchey) in around 1795. These last four provinces were returned back to Cambodia under the Franco-Siamese Treaty of 1907. However, in 1954, taking advantage of the French withdrawal from Cambodia, Thai troops moved in to occupy Preah Vihear temple, knowing that a weak Cambodia is unable to defend such invasion. Unable to retake Preah Vihear temple by military means, the then Prince Sihanouk, as head of state, took the case to the International Court of Justice in 1959 and, in 1962, the court awarded Preah Vihear temple to Cambodia.

After it lost the Preah Vihear case, fearful that Cambodia might make a similar claim to other provinces it had annexed, the Thai government had waged a campaign of persecution against the ethnic Khmer people living in the 13 former Khmer provinces such as Surin, Kauk Khan (now Sisaket), Korat and so on. During that period, Khmers living in Thailand were prohibited from speaking Khmer. Anyone found to have spoken Khmer or possessed Khmer-language books will be severely punished. Because of this, many Khmers living in Thailand had stopped speaking Khmer and began to burn Khmer language books because they fear of persecution if the Thai authority found out. As a result, many Khmers living in Thailand, known as the Khmer Surin, could not speak Khmer properly or could not speak Khmer at all.

Later, taking advantage of the weakness of the Lon Nol republican regime from 1970-1975, Thai troops had moved in to occupy many Khmer villages along the borders. Thai troops did the same during the Khmer Rouge regime, causing some border skirmishes in 1977 which led to the massacre of Thai villagers living near Preah Vihear temple. Again, the re-occupation of Preah Vihear surrounding areas in July 2008 by Thai troops had re-ignited the old flame, causing at least three deadly armed clashes. As we speak, the matter is still before the International Court of Justice.

After examining all the historical evidences, which country would I prefer to be Cambodia’s neighbor?

As I said earlier, we cannot choose which country we want to be our next door neighbor as both countries will still be existed next to Cambodia for the millenniums to come.

However, for the sake of answering Khmerization’s question, I would prefer Thailand than Vietnam simply for the fact that the Thai people are similar to the Cambodians, have similar culture, similar food, similar language, similar religion and the Thais are more compassionate to Cambodians than the Vietnamese. The Thai rulers did not force Cambodians to assimilate. The assimilation came naturally as the Thais and the Cambodians have similar culture and also because the prosperity of Thailand had assured their future.

Thailand had provided refuges to hundreds of thousands of Khmer refugees fleeing the Khmer Rouge regime and during the conflict with Vietnam in the late 1970s and 1980s. Thailand had been actively involved in searching for peace for Cambodia in the 1990s. Today, even many Thais still look down on Cambodians as inferior to them, many Cambodians, nearly 200,000 to be exact, are allowed to work in Thailand, which enabling them to send money back to feed their family in Cambodia.

On the other hand, the Vietnamese authority had practiced a forced assimilation, persecuting and killing the Cambodians in the process. Furthermore, the Vietnamese are totally different to the Cambodians both linguistically and culturally.

They eat different foods from the Cambodian people, they practiced a different form of Buddhism from the Cambodians. But above all, they have persecuted Cambodians harsher than the Thais ever did. They deprived the Khmer Krom people of their basic rights, prohibited them from practicing their religion, language and culture. Many were brutally killed for standing up to their rights, like Oknha Son Kuy and the story of Kompoup Te Ong in around 1821, when the Vietnamese buried three Cambodians up to the necks to use their heads as a tripod to cook their master’s tea. You only need to ask the Khmer Krom about their mistreatments at the hands of the subsequent Vietnamese governments to know why I have preferred Thailand over Vietnam to be Cambodia’s neighbor.

By reading the above comparison, I think it is a self-conclusion to Khmerization’s question.
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Anonymous said...

In 1253 Kublai Khan occupied Dali the last Tai capital kingdom of Yunnan, and then the Siamese lost its kingdom. In 1257 Kublai won war over Dai Viet, the Viet king Tran Thai Tong accepted Mongol over lordship in the capital of Thanh Long later became Hanoi city. When Kublai finally defeated the Song Dynasty of China and established the Yuan dynasty over the then newly vast Empire of Yuan, we Khmer started calling the Viet as Yuan Annam or simply Yuon.

From that moment history had witnessed the decline and crumbling of Khmer Empire in contrast to the fast expansion of a newly formed Tai kingdom of Sukhotai, Ayuthia and finally Bangkok Siam or Thailand on the West side while the accelerated Southward then Westward of Yuon had eliminated Champa and absorbed Khmer Krom on the East side made Kampujdesa or Kampuchea a much smaller kingdom of nowadays Cambodia. Neither yuon nor Siam were/are good Khmer neighbors. To a certain degree Siam seems to be a lesser devil because of course before the Siamese gained independence from Khmer, we showed them our way of a civilized state as Angkor had attested. On the other hand the Yuon started to mingle with us when we Khmer became weak already who were worn out by wars with the Champa then with the Siam but worst of all with Khmer civil wars. Yuon had disdained Khmer and looked down on us as if we were the savage, laziest people on earth. Thai had left us alone, after they made Khmer as their vassal, we Khmer can still have our king and the name of our lands still recognizable only had a little different sound, thanks to Khmer alphabets which Thai adopted, but Thai Kings ordered we must pay tribute to them yearly. Yuon thought and acted different way; since we were so lazy in their eyes we could pay tribute once every three years. They took Khmer lands and changed the names completely and gave to the Viet outcasts and minority Viet whom they recruited to invade Khmer in the first place. Yuon imposed their way of life on Khmer. So we could see the former Chinese slaves wanted to improve the former Khmer master of the land a new way of living!

Thai is our old enemy who never forgets to want more of everything from Khmer. Yuon is our new enemy who wants to eliminate us completely. Ironically the yuon people were part of the Khmer-Mon tribes who wandered east from Tibet region along Red River before they made contact with China. We Khmer came along the Mekong while the Mon came along Salween River of nowadays Myanmar.

The leaders are the most sinful of human being. Usually they want to make Hero out of themselves and fight each other for fame and wealth. The scale of conflict started as small as in local political rivalry to national dispute and war as well as at grand scale of worldwide Mongolian invasion. What caused it? The economy is to be blame. If the nations know to cooperate to solve the economic problems they will likely to coexist peacefully. Knowledge especially in Science and Technology will help alleviate human suffering and promote peace. History is now a science too but not to lock a national sentimental to the glorious past and dwell in the past. Everything change or can be changed and tailored to adapt new need and fashion. The ASEAN can prosper when each nation prosper and in peace with each other. Therefore Khmer, Laos, Thai and Viet or Yuon have to learn and willing to live in peace and mingle around as brothers and sisters.

The Earth is small so human have to share it then live side by side. Khmer has no choice but to live with our two big ambitious nations Thailand and Vietnam. As Humankind evolve and progress, international law and order also develop. Human can start to accept the truth of our common origin and family.
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The Great Khmer Empire said...

In my opinion, Vietnam and Thailand are both equally territorial expansionists toward Cambodia and Laos. For one thing, Vietnam had a long history of divide and conquer. They would use all means of tactics to trick and entice Khmer leaders to follow their doctrines. I am not going to discuss the earlier history between the two countries. I will focus more on modern time especially starting from 1975. This is an excerpt from the Khmer Institute's article written by Dr. Gaffar Peang-Meth, a retired Political Science professor at the University of Guam.

According to Dr. Gaffar Peang-Meth, Vietnam had used the border tensions between Democratic Kampuchea and Vietnam as a pretext to a full scale invasion in 1979.

The Vietnamese southward expansion after Nam Viet freed itself in 939 from a thousand-year Chinese bondage was described by Vietnamese scholar Nguyen The Anh in "Le Nam Tien dans les textes Vietnamiens," as a centuries-long phenomenon called "Nam Tien" (progression southwards), "one of Vietnam's history's constants." Anh described the "sparsely populated and accessible land available for [Vietnamese] rice growers" to the south as "favorable for encroachment." Vietnamese "Confucian persuasion" was abandoned in favor of "an action resolutely imperialistic" to grab land and impose Vietnamese "administrative and cultural practice ... to better integrate [the new area] into the Vietnamese space." The migration was ongoing, even as other kingdoms were encountered. In 1406, the ancient kingdom of Champa's capital, Vijaya, was seized and the kingdom was extinguished in 1471. Then, in 1630, Vietnamese princess Ngoc Van, married to Khmer King Chey Chetha II, promoted Vietnamese settlements in the low delta Khmer territory of Preah Suakea (Ba Ria) and Prey Nokor (Saigon).

Historical records reveal that until the French protectorate was established in 1863, Cambodia was a battlefield for Thai and Vietnamese armies that fought on Khmer soil. Khmer dynastic quarrels led separate royal factions to seek support from Bangkok and Hue. Cambodia was known as a "two-headed bird" – a tributary state to both foreign capitals. In 1833, after Vietnam defeated the Thais in Cambodia, the bird head pointed toward Hue, and Vietnamization of Cambodia began in earnest: Vietnam installed teenager Ang Mey as queen, Cambodia's capital was renamed "Nam Viang," Cambodia's reorganization followed Vietnamese administrative lines, and authorities adopted Vietnamese names, customs and dress. In 1840, the Cambodian government was seated in Saigon, and Cambodia's name was changed to "Tran Tay" (western commandery).

On Christmas Eve 1978, more than 100,000 Vietnamese troops, backed by tanks and aircraft, crossed the border into Cambodia. In 14 days of fighting, Hanoi's army sent Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge fleeing. The Vietnamese captured Phnom Penh Jan. 7, 1979, installed a puppet regime and stayed for the next 10 years. For victims of Pol Pot's genocidal rule, which began April 17, 1975 and resulted in the deaths of upwards of two million people, Jan.7, 1979 was the day of deliverance by Vietnam. Surely, Vietnam was their "savior" and their "liberator" at a time when the world watched and did nothing about the horrors of the Killing Fields. However, for many Cambodians, Jan. 7th is also a day of infamy. Pol Pot was replaced by those referred to as Cambodians with Khmer bodies but Vietnamese heads, the Khmer Viet Minh. This cohort was created by the Vietnamese Communist Lao Dong, trained at the Son Tay Military Academy and the Nguyen Ai Quoc political school, and led by a disgruntled regional field commander, Hun Sen, who became indebted to Hanoi for his return to power. Many Cambodians felt that substituting the Khmer Viet Minh for the Khmer Rouge was like replacing cholera with the plague.

The widely reported burning of homes and massacres of civilians in Vietnam's An Giang and Chau Doc provinces in 1977 by Pol Pot's guerrilla units offered an incitement to Vietnam, which was then busy strategizing and plotting Ho Chi Minh's grand design of a greater Vietnam. The Khmer Rouge’s belligerence gave the Vietnamese even more reason to put in play a takeover plan that would advance its goal of a federation of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

What started as Nam Viet’s search for security and growth became a strategy for expansionism. The intention to expand its influence is illustrated even in the name of the political party founded in 1930 by Ho Chi Minh – the "Communist Party of Indochina." Ho did not just want to liberate Vietnam from the French; he defined the task of the CPI "to make Indochina completely independent."

Thailand is no difference than Vietnam when it comes to border expansion and annexation. Cambodian had lost 13 provinces to Thailand. They were Surin, Buriram, Srah Keo, Sisaket, Chantaburi, Trat, Nakhon Ratchasima, Ubon Ratchatani, Prachin Buri and Chonburi. Until recently, Battambang, Siem Reap and Posat were under Thailand control.

Thailand had sacked and looted Cambodia capital 3 times and taken priceless artifacts, treasures and educated teachers, dancers, royal courts to Thailand.

Hundreds of Thai troops were sent to occupy Wat Keo Sekha Kirisvarak pagoda in July, 2008. A group of 10 Thai soldiers who were camped at Wat Keo Sekha Kirisvarak pagoda have forbidden Khmer monks from constructing a residence building in the temple compound because they said that the area is a disputed zone. After this event, many armed clashed followed resulted in deaths and injuries on both sides.

Cambodia decided to have the International Court of Justice reinterpret the scope and meaning of the 1962 ICJ judgement. The court decided a temporary injunction to have a demilitary zone on both sides of the both worth 17 square miles. The final decision will be sometimes later on this year.

In conclusion, both Vietnam and Thailand will see to it that Cambodia will shrunk its size or ceased to exist as a sovereign nation. Vietnam will continue to promote Indochina Federation until Cambodia exstinct. Thailand will also continue to expand where they see the opportunity. Cambodia happened to exist between two land hungry neighbors.

Unless, Cambodia become stronger militarily, economically and politically, these two neighbor will continue to put a choke hold on her.

From Krong Battambang,
The Great Khmer Empire
(Not supporter of CPP)
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Anonymous said...

It seems we are looking right through our reflection in the mirror by casting fear to the shadow around us. I think we should not hate our neighbors neither Vietnam nor Thailand, and I don’t think they hate us either; However, I think they disrespect us one way or the other. The reason they disrespect us is because we disrespect ourselves. Our history has doomed us to this day for what we did in the past. If we exam this predicament more thoroughly, we would understand that it is not just our neighbors disrespect us, but other countries as well. I’m sorry to dilute the pot of soup by saying this. I understand many of you will disagree with me and I’m not afraid of being called ‘dog’ because my opinions are different from yours. It only shows that some people never grow up and it is impossible to remedy the ignorance.

We often cut off our nose to spice our face. For the long run, we ended up losing our territory. No one should be blamed, but to ourselves. Our history has been revealing that we were betraying each another, hate, distrust, and disunited, in which we set the condition for our neighbors to have the ambitions and the intentions to invade our land. One faction went to invite and to ask the Vietnamese military for assistant to expel the other faction, and the other faction was doing exactly the same thing by invite the Thai forces to come to overthrow the other regime. It was going back and forward, especially happened amount the royal family. Every time, when our neighbors were coming into our territory to help us killing each other, they did not want to leave none the less the job is done. There is no moral reason for them to depart, when they ready had the military power presented inside the territory. A nice piece meat already sets on the plate; no one really wants to walk away without the temptation to taste it, even with a full stomach.

Both countries, Thailand and Vietnam could be our good neighbors. It is more up to us to be strong, united, and caring for one another in order for us to earn the respect. On one hand I have to give Prime Minister Hun Sen some credits. He has ability to unite the countrymen against Thailand for invading the Preah Vihear. I am also giving him credit for bring about the economic prosperity and for him to lay down some ground works for outsiders’ idea to bring about changes in the country. On the other hand, I have to take it all back, because of his government evicting the poor to make rooms for the riches, which set the example for other to disrespect us. As long as we disrespect and distrust one another, it is hard for other countries to respect us and as long as we refuse to recognize that mistake, we will likely make the same mistake over and over again. So, instead pointing finger at our neighbors, we should be looking at our reflection in the mirror.

I don’t like to quote what other people were saying. I don’t care how famous they are. It is my opinion. If people agree with me is good, but if they don’t, I have to bite the bullet.
3 March 2012 10:16 PM

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Anonymous said...

4 March 2012 12:47 AM (Neakareach), I definitely agree with your input. You are absolutely right to the point that you learn how to accept the circumstance when Khmer people have been under the deceptions of neighbors, Thailand and Vietnam, that we trusted them too much without knowing what they were doing to us Khmer people by betraying in the harm ways.

As you know, Khmer people in general were very kind and friendly from the beginning and never regarded them as the enemy. When something happened in their minds like they want to own something that Khmer people had. Then, they robbed Khmer people.

From the history of Khmer Empire, Khmer king and people used to help the refugees flooding from Southern China, as you mentioned in your comment, when the Mongol Empire armies tried to destroy and killed them [Tai Chinese now today called Thai]. For the Vietnamese, Khmer king and military forces used to help the East side before Die Viet/Tai Sung Chinese/Annam to fight or push away the Mongol Armies.

During the Empire period, Khmer Empire and Mongol Empire were not against each other, but Khmer Empire was very powerful that Mongol Empire armies did not want to fight with. However, Khmer Empire helped Annam/Die Viet fight against Mongol Empire armies. The story told it all about two neighbors, on and on. Just leave it there.

We wonder why the two neighbors are such evils when Khmer people and Kings were so kind and friendly to them, helped save their nations and people from Mongol Empire armies' brutality and murderous violence to them. Now, they are just like evils turned against Khmer people and kings today, by robbing, stealing and beyond.

Yes, Khmer people have been suffering, giving up too much, and dealing with the tough circumstances and find the way out to make peace. Yes, we Khmer people were fooled to help them from the beginning of Mongol Empire invasion in China until they turned their to destroy Khmer people and kings and brainwashed their children and rewrote the histories. Khmer people are fed up and seeing Khmer people become dumb until today and causing Khmer people to fight each others because of two neighbor manipulations and trick or back stabbing. It is beyond the pains for all innocent Khmer people and the Kings.

So, Khmer people have to find the peace with Neighbors and educate the neighbors (brainwashed nation) the facts and even we can go the International Communities or UN to get helps to protect our Khmer nation and territory without any fight. we have to live in peace without fighting among Khmer by taking side of neighbors just like Hun Sen today.