Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, during a lavish ruling party celebration Monday to mark the 40th anniversary of the end of the bloody Khmer Rouge era, called for “wider political dialogue” in his country, but fell short of including the now-dissolved opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP).
During an event attended by more than 60,000 people at Phnom Penh’s Olympic Stadium, Hun Sen thanked Vietnam for “aiding the struggle to liberate Cambodia and her people from the genocidal regime,” under whose 1975-79 rule an estimated 3 million people are believed to have died.
“The timely Jan. 7 [1979] victory saved millions of Cambodian lives who otherwise would have been subjected to death,” he said, suggesting Vietnam had merely aided the Cambodian National Salvation Front in overthrowing the Khmer Rouge, rather than invaded and taken control of the country.
In full: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/dialogue-01072019163412.html
