Vietnamization: Military Occupation - Present
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Part 6: China Responds, ប្រវត្តិសាស្រ្ត (ខេមរ ភាសា)

China Responds

When Vietnam invaded Cambodia on Christmas Day 1978 with 180,000 soldiers, China retaliated by invading Vietnam a few weeks later with some 85,000 soldiers.

In the predawn darkness of Saturday morning, February 17, when thick mist blanketed the forested hills on the Sino-Vietnamese border, the Chinese People's Liberation Army unleashed its fury.... In an awesome display of firepower....

Then, like floodwater bursting through a dam, some eighty-five thousand Chinese soldiers, supported by armor, streamed into Vietnam through twenty-six points along the border....

The sixteen-day "pedagogical war" had left a wide swath of devastation along Vietnam's border with the northern neighbor.... Unlike Lang Son, where destruction came in the course of battle, most other towns occupied by the Chinese were objects of systematic destruction.... The reason the Chinese had not engaged in deliberate destruction in the first stage of their occupation, he said, was that they had hoped to use the occupied territory as a bargaining chip to get the Vietnamese troops out of Cambodia....

What were the objectives of the Chinese expedition? … Vietnam's treaty of friendship with Moscow and its invasion of Cambodia had thrown down a gauntlet to China's regional preeminence....

In contrast with Washington's earlier condemnation of the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia as "a threat to regional peace and stability [that] raises the danger of wider conflict," the United States implicitly justified the Chinese action. "In the last few weeks," Carter said, "we have seen a Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia and, as a result, a Chinese border penetration in Vietnam." The American spokesman called for immediate withdrawal of Vietnamese troops from Cambodia and Chinese troops from Vietnam, a formulation that was interpreted at the tie as implying the United States would not object to the Chinese troops' staying in Vietnam as long as the Vietnamese were in Cambodia. ...

The massiveness of the Chinese attack, the death and destruction it wrought on Vietnam....

Vietnam clearly had learned no lesson, nor did the operation have any effect on Cambodia. Pham Van Dong carried on his visit in Phnom Penh as if nothing had happened. He signed a twenty-five year treaty of friendship and cooperation with Heng Samrin that retroactively justified the presence of Vietnamese divisions in Cambodia. ...

Read more excerpts from Nayan Chanda's book Brother Enemy, here.

We must stand guard against viewing the world in Manichean duality: that if the US bombing is evil, the KR must be good; that if the KR is evil, the Vietnamese must be good; and more currently, that if China has influence, Vietnam no longer does.

When Hun Sen had only one Big Brother Vietnam...

Now he has two Big Brothers, Vietnam and China.

It’s not uncharacteristic of Mr. Hun to hate but then only to extra-love that Big Brother. When he was a Khmer Rouge we could hear him easily say "Vietnam is the root of everything evil".

Why Cambodia has cosied up to China

The Economist | 21 January 2017

[Excerpts]

To Cambodia’s west is Thailand, which has more than four times as many people; the two countries have a dormant but unsettled border dispute. To the east is Vietnam, nearly six times as populous, which invaded Cambodia in 1979 and occupied it for ten years. So Cambodia has done what small countries always do: it has found a protector....

But there are also two strategic benefits. First, Cambodia uses China as a counterweight to Vietnam. Among ordinary Cambodians, anti-Vietnamese sentiment runs deep. Many bitterly recall the Vietnamese occupation and some demand the return of “Kampuchea Krom”—the delta of the Mekong river, which today is part of Vietnam, but is home to many ethnic Cambodians and was for centuries part of the Khmer Empire. Since Vietnam harboured Mr Hun Sen, the opposition depicts him as a Vietnamese puppet. Closeness to China helps to defuse such claims.

Cambodia also uses China as a hedge against the West.

US Intelligence Chief Warns of Chinese Military Presence in Cambodia

VOA | 31 January 2019

The issue was first raised by the Washington-based think tank Center for Advanced Defense Studies in April last year, linking the Union Development Group, a large Chinese investor in a seaside resort in Cambodia’s Koh Kong province, to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.

ក្នុងទស្សនាវដ្ដីអន្តរជាតិ Foreign Affairs ចេញផ្សាយថ្ងៃនេះ ពីសហរដ្ឋអាមេរិក លោក សម រង្ស៊ី បង្ហាញពីនយោបាយចិនកុម្មុយនីស្ត ជួយជនផ្តាច់ការ បំផ្លាញលទ្ធិប្រជាធិបតេយ្យ នៅតំបន់អាស៊ីភាគអាគ្នេយ៍ ហើយយកប្រទេសកម្ពុជា ធ្វើជាឈ្នាន់ ដើម្បីឈ្លានពានប្រទេសជិតខាង។

Read complete article, Foreign Affairs magazine | June 10, 2020

...

ប្រវត្តិសាស្រ្ត (ខេមរ ភាសា) | In the Khmer language

Click to listen to Sam Rainsy's video, on Facebook.

Fellow Cambodians, I can attest to your zeal for Cambodia, but let your zeal be based also in knowledge. READ.

Then, it will be less likely that so gross a mistake, so costly a misunderstanding, so easily the manipulation can be painted of us by others and have that be the controlling narrative.

Walter Lippmann warned about a century ago, in his seminal “Liberty and the News.” “Men who have lost their grip upon the relevant facts of their environment are the inevitable victims of agitation and propaganda. The quack, the charlatan, the jingo . . . can flourish only where the audience is deprived of independent access to information,” he wrote. A nation whose citizens have no knowledge of history is asking to be led by quacks, charlatans, and jingos.

- The Decline of Historical Thinking, The New Yorker | 4 February 2019

Published Articles re Vietnamization - 7 Parts

អត្ថបទ បានបោះពុម្ភផ្សាយ អំពី វៀតណាមនីយកម្ម - ៧ ផ្នែក

1. Cambodia 1979-1984 (Genocides under Occupation, Jan. 7, Orwellian)

កម្ពុជា ១៩៧៩ - ១៩៨៤ (អំពើប្រល័យពូជសាសន៍ ក្រោមការកាន់កាប់, ៧ ខែមករា, «បង​ធំ»)

2. Cambodia 1985-1990 (K5 Genocide, Vietnam Security Intelligence Monitoring My FB, Blacklisted)

កម្ពុជា ១៩៨៥ - ១៩៩០ (ឧក្រិដ្ឋកម្ម ប្រល័យពូជសាសន៍ ក៥, ស៊ើបការណ៍សម្ងាត់ យួន ត្រួតពិនិត្យ ហ្វេសប៊ុកខ្ញុំ, បញ្ជីខ្មៅ)

3. Cambodia 1991-1999 (Paris Peace Accords)

កម្ពុជា ១៩៩១ - ១៩៩៩ (កិច្ចព្រមព្រៀង សន្តិភាព ប៉ារីស)

4. Cambodia 2000-Present (ECCC "Genocide" verdict)

កម្ពុជា ២០០០ - បច្ចុប្បន្ន (សាលក្រម «ឧក្រិដ្ឋកម្ម ប្រល័យពូជសាសន៍» នៃសាលាក្តី ខ្មែរក្រហម)

5. Vietnamization: Demographic, Military, By Province, Along Border, Economic

វៀតណាមនីយកម្ម៖ ប្រជាសាស្ត្រ, យោធា, តាមខេត្ត, តាមបណ្តោយព្រំដែន, សេដ្ឋកិច្ច

6. Vietnamization: China Responds, ប្រវត្តិសាស្រ្ត (ខេមរ ភាសា)

វៀតណាមនីយកម្ម៖ ចិនឆ្លើយតប, ប្រវត្តិសាស្រ្ត (ខេមរ ភាសា)

7. Vietnamization: Third-Party Spokespeople, Helen Jarvis, Ben Kiernan's Yale Genocide Program, "Yuon" Racism, Ad Hominen

វៀតណាមនីយកម្ម៖ អ្នកនាំពាក្យ ភាគីទីបី, ហេឡិន ចាវីស, កម្មវិធី ប្រឆាំង អំពើប្រល័យពូជសាសន៍ របស់ បិន ឃឺននីន នៅសាកលវិទ្យាល័យ យ៉េល, ការប្រកាន់ពូជសាសន៍ «យួន», តក្កវិជ្ជា យោងតាម មនុស្ស ជាជាង ភាពត្រឹមត្រូវ នៃគំនិត

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