Thanks James for your kind wisdom-sharing. I do hope Bopha Angkor can take time to answer to what James has concerned about. My response to Bopha Angkor is the same like James.
With Metta, On Oct 6, 8:11 am, James Sok <[email protected]> wrote: > Please read attachment. > > Thanks, > > James > > > ________________________________ > From: S. Sophan <[email protected]> > To: Cambodian Community of Canada <[email protected]> > Sent: Wednesday, October 5, 2011 3:52 PM > Subject: This is a must read article by Dr. Peang-Meth, a Khmer political > scientist > > Wednesday, October 5, 2011 > Brief History of Vietnamese Expansionism vis-à-vis Cambodia > Brief History of Vietnamese Expansionism vis-à-vis Cambodia > > In 1941, Ho created the Viet Minh, an abbreviation of > "Vietnam Doc Lap Dong Minh Hoi," or "League for the Independence of > Vietnam," and spread its anti-French activities to Laos and Cambodia, > where the Viet Minh later fragmentized the anti-French local Khmer > Issarak front into a Khmer Viet Minh front. In 1949, the Viet Minh > instituted the "Ban Van Dong Thanh Lap Dang Nhan Cach Mang Cao Mien" > ("Canvassing Committee for the Creation of the Revolutionary Kampuchean > People's Party") and created the Kampuchean People's Liberation Army > in 1950.By Gaffar Peang-Meth > Professor of Political Science (retired) > University of Guam > > Originally posted > at:http://www.khmerinstitute.org/articles/art13vietnamization.html > On Christmas Eve 1978, more than 100,000 Vietnamese troops, > backed by tanks and aircraft, crossed the border into Cambodia. In 14 > days of fighting, Hanoi's army sent Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge fleeing. The > Vietnamese captured Phnom Penh Jan. 7, 1979, installed a puppet > regime and stayed for the next 10 years. > > For victims of Pol Pot's genocidal rule, which began April 17, 1975 and > resulted in the deaths of upwards of two million people, Jan.7, 1979 > was the day of deliverance by Vietnam. Surely, Vietnam was their > "savior" and their "liberator" at a time when the world watched and did > nothing about the horrors of the Killing Fields. However, for many > Cambodians, Jan. 7th is also a day of infamy. Pol Pot was replaced by > those referred to as Cambodians with Khmer bodies but Vietnamese heads, > the Khmer Viet Minh. This cohort was created by the Vietnamese Communist > Lao Dong, trained at the Son Tay Military Academy and the Nguyen Ai Quoc > political school, and led by a disgruntled regional field commander, Hun Sen, > who became indebted to Hanoi for his return to power. Many Cambodians felt > that > substituting the Khmer Viet Minh for the Khmer Rouge was like replacing > cholera with the plague. > > A host of foreign governments also worried. The world was still > governed by the well-specified rule of law founded on the principle of > absolute, comprehensive, permanent and inviolable sovereignty and > independence. As Singapore argued before the international community at > the United Nations, the world is no longer safe, and peace and > security are no longer assured, if a more powerful state is allowed to > invade a weaker one like Vietnam had done. The Association of South > East Asian Nations spearheaded calls for Vietnam to withdraw its troops > from Cambodia. > > As a result, the United Nations and other international organizations > became a political-diplomatic battleground for many years between > proponents and opponents of Vietnam's invasion. And so it was that the > anti-Vietnamese Khmer Resistance was born, first as separate armed bands > with similar goals, and later as a loose coalition of Cambodians of > the fallen Khmer Republic, Cambodians of the monarchy, and the > leftovers of the Khmer Rouge. Despite their differences, they worked > together toward pressuring Vietnam into withdrawal and to seek > Cambodian self-determination. > > Cambodian nationalists assert that Vietnam attacked Pol Pot in 1979 > because he became too independent of Hanoi. The invasion was initiated > to bring the insolent back into line. Since 1979, they have asked: If > Vietnam's goal was to "save" and "liberate" the Cambodian people from > Pol Pot, what prevented Vietnam from surrendering a freed Cambodia and > her people to work with the world community to build a new government > and social order? Would not Vietnam have received profound gratitude by > ceding to the United Nations the role of assisting Cambodians' > self-determination rather than imposing 10 years of foreign occupation? > > HANOI’S GRAND DESIGN > > Hanoi, like the rest of the world, knew that Pol Pot's agents had > perpetrated brutalities against the Khmer people since April 17, 1975, > when the Khmer Rouge forced the evacuation of the entire Cambodian > population from homes, villages, towns and cities and took them to > perform forced labor. Suffering, death and destruction were the order > of the day. > > The widely reported burning of homes and massacres of civilians in > Vietnam's An Giang and Chau Doc provinces in 1977 by Pol Pot's guerrilla > units offered an incitement to Vietnam, which was then busy strategizing > and plotting Ho Chi Minh's grand design of a greater Vietnam. The Khmer > Rouge’s belligerence gave the Vietnamese even more reason to put in play a > takeover plan that would advance its goal of a > federation of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. > > It is no coincidence that Vietnamese troops invaded Cambodia on the same day > Brezhnev's Soviet 40th Army entered Afghanistan, Dec. 24, 1979. The Soviet > Union was Vietnam's chief ally and financial supporter at > the time. Following the regime change in Moscow in May 1988, the Soviets > began to exit Afghanistan one month after Gorbachev announced they > would. Meanwhile, Hanoi was working on an exit strategy of its own. > > Vietnam observed the rapid changes under way around the world: in the > Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, communism was in retreat; rival China > was on the rise; and U.S.-China relations was warming and mutually > supportive of the anti-Vietnamese Khmer Resistance. While Vietnam began > to hint at its eventual withdrawal from Cambodia, it took offensive > military action against the Cambodian resistance. Hanoi maneuvered to > weaken the anti-Vietnam U.S.-China alliance by encouraging talks > between the Vietnam-created regime in Cambodia and the resistance > factions. The talks were also designed to improve the puppet > government's legitimacy. By the time withdrawal of Vietnamese forces from > Cambodia began in December 1989 (11 years after the initial invasion), > Vietnam had ensured that its Cambodian subordinates, the Khmer Viet Minh, > were entrenched in Cambodia's administrative and governmental > organizations. > > BACKGROUND > > As French critic Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr said, "Plus ça change, > plus c'est la même chose," or, "The more things change, the more they > remain the same." Look at the history of relations between Cambodia and > Vietnam for affirmation. > > The Vietnamese southward expansion after Nam Viet freed itself in 939 > from a thousand-year Chinese bondage was described by Vietnamese > scholar Nguyen The Anh in "Le Nam Tien dans les textes Vietnamiens," as > a centuries-long phenomenon called "Nam Tien" (progression southwards), "one > of Vietnam's history's constants." Anh described the "sparsely > populated and accessible land available for [Vietnamese] rice growers" > to the south as "favorable for encroachment." Vietnamese "Confucian > persuasion" was abandoned in favor of "an action resolutely > imperialistic" to grab land and impose Vietnamese "administrative and > cultural practice ... to better integrate [the new area] into the > Vietnamese space." The migration was ongoing, even as other kingdoms were > encountered. In 1406, the ancient kingdom of Champa's capital, Vijaya, was > seized and the kingdom was extinguished in 1471. Then, in 1630, Vietnamese > princess Ngoc Van, married to Khmer King Chey Chetha II, > promoted Vietnamese settlements in the low delta Khmer territory of > Preah Suakea (Ba Ria) and Prey Nokor (Saigon). > > Historical records reveal that until the French protectorate was > established in 1863, Cambodia was a battlefield for Thai and Vietnamese > armies that fought on Khmer soil. Khmer dynastic quarrels led separate > royal factions to seek support from Bangkok and Hue. Cambodia was > known as a "two-headed bird" – a tributary state to both foreign capitals. In > 1833, after Vietnam defeated the Thais in Cambodia, the bird head > pointed toward Hue, and Vietnamization of Cambodia began in earnest: > Vietnam installed teenager Ang Mey as queen, Cambodia's capital was > renamed "Nam Viang," Cambodia's reorganization followed Vietnamese > administrative lines, and authorities adopted Vietnamese names, customs and > dress. In 1840, the Cambodian government was seated in Saigon, and > Cambodia's name was changed to "Tran Tay" (western commandery). > > REPEAT OF HISTORY > > Opponents of Vietnam's 1978 invasion see Hun Sen and his ruling > Cambodian People's Party as a force seeking integration of Cambodia > into the late Ho Chin Minh's dream of a federation of former French > Indochinese states of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. As has been the case > many times in history, Cambodians have connived with the > Vietnamese to accomplish Vietnam's goals: Khmer King Chey Chettha II in > 1620, King Ang Chan II in the 1800s, Prince Sihanouk in the Vietnam > War, Pol Pot and Paris-trained Khmer Marxists, Hun Sen and his ruling > Cambodian People's Party, supported by the King Father Sihanouk and his son > Sihamoni, the current king. > > What started as Nam Viet’s search for security and growth became a > strategy for expansionism. The intention to expand its influence is > illustrated even in the name of the political party founded in 1930 > by Ho Chi Minh – the "Communist Party of Indochina." Ho did not just > want to liberate Vietnam from the French; he defined the task of the > CPI "to make Indochina completely independent." > > In 1941, Ho created the Viet Minh, an abbreviation of "Vietnam Doc > Lap Dong Minh Hoi," or "League for the Independence of Vietnam," and > spread its anti-French activities to Laos and Cambodia, where the Viet > Minh later fragmentized the anti-French local Khmer Issarak front into a > ... > > read more » > > Intellectualism_n_ignorance_100611.pdf > 125KViewDownload -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Cambodia Discussion (CAMDISC) - www.cambodia.org" group. This is an unmoderated forum. Please refrain from using foul language. Thank you for your understanding. Peace among us and in Cambodia. 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