13 August 2009
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

Noting the heroism of the Viet troops in 1979 that came to Cambodia to help liberate the Cambodian people from the genocidal Pol Pot regime, Hun Xen declared on Wednesday that Vietnam truly helped Cambodia, and the presence of Vietnam is not a new story. Hun Xen made this declaration during the distribution of diplomas to law students, he said that the presence of the Viet troops in 1979 was to save people’s lives, then the Viets returned back home and the proof to that is that Cambodian land still remains Cambodian. Hun Xen added that Vietnam’s entry into Cambodia is nothing new because during 1970-75, both the North and the South Vietnamese entered into Cambodia: the Thieu-Ky group and the US entered Cambodia, as well as the Vietcong and North Vietnamese troops also entered Cambodia, and he said that all this was because the US started the coup d’état in Cambodia. Regarding 07 January 1979, a date that some Cambodian politicians consider as the date of the Vietnamese aggression into Cambodia, Hun Xen said: “Some oppose 07 January, but let me ask them, if there were no 07 January, would there be today? We must tell the truth, you have to swear to your death, or to have lightning strike you. There’s no need to keep the Pol Pot regime for 30 years, we leave them another 2 years and all the Cambodian people would have died, if not from the killings, it would be from hunger. However, some are ungrateful and they say the 07 January was the day of Vietnamese aggression, but if we tell the truth, if Vietnam did not help Cambodia, who would?”
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KI-Media note: It took the international community’s effort more than one decade-long to dislodge the occupying Vietnamese out of Cambodia. Even with their declared departure, the Vietnamese left behind a large contingent of troops disguised as civilians in Cambodia.