The President of Cambodia’s Senate and ruling Cambodian People’s Party, Mr. Hun Sen, has called on Vietnam to accelerate the completion of the countries’ remaining land border demarcation.
Speaking on June 4 during a meeting in Phnom Penh with Vietnam’s Deputy Minister of National Defence, Mr. Nguyen Tan Cuong, Mr. Hun Sen urged both governments to reach a swift agreement on the outstanding 16 percent of the shared land boundary.
The meeting took place during a three-day official visit to Cambodia by the senior Vietnamese military official.
Mr. Hun Sen said Cambodia and Vietnam’s bilateral relationship remains strong and deeply rooted in traditional friendship, solidarity, good neighborliness and broad cooperation, particularly between the two countries’ armed forces.
He also confirmed that he will personally attend Vietnam’s upcoming 50th anniversary celebrations marking the liberation of the country’s southern region. The visit, he said, will also commemorate the 48th anniversary of his 1977 journey to Vietnam to seek assistance in overthrowing the Khmer Rouge regime.
During the meeting, Mr. Nguyen Tan Cuong reaffirmed Vietnam’s commitment to building a Cambodia-Vietnam Friendship Monument at the National Museum of Vietnam. He said the monument is intended to highlight to both national and international audiences the historic and ongoing closeness between the two nations, especially in military cooperation. He referred to the joint efforts of Cambodia and Vietnam during past struggles against colonial regimes.
The Vietnamese delegation’s visit runs from June 3 to June 6 and includes meetings with Royal Cambodian Armed Forces Commander Vong Pisen, Prime Minister Hun Manet and Senate President Hun Sen.
Meanwhile, opposition figure and former Cambodia National Rescue Party lawmaker Um Sam An criticised the push to finalise the border without involving the International Court of Justice. Speaking to The Cambodia Daily, he claimed such action would amount to further loss of Cambodian territory to Vietnam.
He urged Prime Minister Hun Manet to submit a request to the National Assembly to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and to review the 84 percent of the border that has already been demarcated. He argued that previous demarcation agreements have resulted in Cambodia losing land to Vietnam entirely.
