Cambodian PM comments on 'disputes' over Vietnam border

By Lauren Crothers

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia

 Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has conceded the likelihood that some markers along the border with Vietnam have been improperly placed, indicating that some areas will have to be reviewed, according to local media Friday.

The Cambodia Daily cited the premier as commenting on the sluggish pace with which the border has been demarcated, and on disputes that have arisen over time about incorrect markings, during a graduation speech Thursday.

He was quoted as having said that 83 percent of the demarcation process was complete, but that it was still open to revision if areas were found to be in dispute.

“In cases of demarcation with bias, we must rectify it, must demand corrections,” he said, in an apparent departure from his previous stance that the border was as it should be.

The opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party’s (CNRP) leader Sam Rainsy has long held that Vietnam has encroached upon Cambodian land -- he spent four years in exile avoiding a jail sentence for uprooting a border marker. A number of lawmakers from the party have paid visits to disputed areas over the past few months to further highlight these discrepancies.

Cambodia and Vietnam also wrapped up talks held in Phnom Penh last week on how to proceed with mounting border issues, and Hun Sen has also sought access to original UN maps in order to establish the exact boundary between the two countries.

The request has been seen as an apparent attempt by the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) to prove its independence from Vietnam, which effectively put it in power in the 1980s after ending its caretaker period of Cambodia after the fall of the Khmer Rouge.

“I send a message to our partners, the neighboring countries, that Cambodia does not give up the right to make demands on some other points, even if Cambodia has not yet united on some points internally,” the Daily quoted Hun Sen as saying Thursday.

Opposition spokesman Yim Sovann could not be reached Friday, but Rainsy told the Daily he was pleased to see the premier’s volte-face on the issue, because it "vindicates what I have been trying to expose for many years."

CPP spokesman Sok Ey San could not be reached, but political analyst Ou Virak told Anadolu Agency on Friday that he had also listened to the same speech, but felt that some remarks were misrepresented.

“He acknowledged there were problems in the 1960s and that Cambodia was giving up a bit more,” Virak said. “He said that was from previous generation -- ‘don’t blame me’ -- that mistakes or concessions were made by a previous generation.”

He said that there was still no clear demarcation today, “because Cambodia doesn’t want to lose an inch with Vietnam.”

“He’s [Hun Sen’s] trying to stay credible as a tough negotiator with Vietnam,” Virak added.