6 - Cambodia and Vietnam: Good Fences Make Good Neighbours

Summary

INTRODUCTION

This chapter provides an overview of Cambodia's relations with Vietnam in the period following the 1991 political settlement of the Cambodian conflict. Particular attention is paid to the period since 2005, the year both sides adopted the guideline of “good neighbourliness, traditional friendship, comprehensive and long-term cooperation” for their bilateral relations.

The Kingdom of Cambodia and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) formally established diplomatic relations on 24 June 1967. Since that time bilateral relations have reflected the vicissitudes of Cambodia's domestic politics. In 1970, for example, when Prince Norodom Sihanouk was deposed in a coup, the DRV granted recognition to his government-in-exile, the Royal Government of National Union of Kampuchea. In 1976, after the Khmer Rouge seized power and established Democratic Kampuchea, Vietnam (renamed the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, SRV) reopened its embassy in Phnom Penh.

As a result of mounting bilateral tensions and conflict along the border, Democratic Kampuchea severed diplomatic relations with the SRV on 31 December 1977. A year later Vietnam invaded Cambodia. The SRV granted recognition to its protégé, the People's Republic of Kampuchea (PRK, 1979–89), which renamed itself the State of Cambodia in 1989. As a result of an international agreement reached in Paris in October 1991, the SRV recognised the Supreme National Council and, following United Nations sponsored elections in May 1993, subsequently recognised its successor, the Kingdom of Cambodia.

This chapter reviews Cambodia-Vietnam relations in four parts. Part one provides an overview of political relations. Part two discusses border issues, the most contentious aspect of bilateral relations. Parts three and four consider economic and defence relations, respectively.

POLITICAL RELATIONS

Vietnamese military forces invaded Cambodia in late 1978 and occupied the country until their unilateral withdrawal in September 1989. During this period, Vietnam's relations with the PRK were conducted under the framework of a 25-year treaty of friendship and cooperation. The restoration of the Kingdom of Cambodia in 1993 altered the framework of Cambodia-Vietnam bilateral relations. Under the new Constitution, Cambodia became a liberal democracy and a “permanently neutral and non-aligned country.”

United Nations-sponsored elections in May 1993 resulted in a coalition government comprising two main political parties, FUNCINPEC and the Cambodian People's Party (CPP).