Vietnam Denies Claims of Encroachment

Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer | Washington, DC
Wednesday, 09 June 2010

via Khmer NZ News Media

Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, left, and his Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen take part in a welcome ceremony after Dung's arrival in Phnom Penh.

“Saying that Vietnam is encroaching on Cambodian land is fully fabricated, baseless and deliberately ill-minded."

Vietnamese officials strongly denied any border encroachment with Cambodia on Tuesday, calling claims by opposition leader Sam Rainsy “fully fabricated” and “ill-minded.”

Sam Rainsy has posted a map on his party’s website claiming the current demarcation process is allowing the loss of Cambodian land, a delicate political topic in Cambodia. He is facing criminal charges as a result.

Sam Rainsy remains in exile and is already facing two years in jail on charges related to uprooting border markers in Svay Rieng province in 2009. He is currently in the US to build political support for his party and recently gave a talk in Seattle, where he claimed Vietnamese encroachment was swallowing Cambodian land.

A statement from the Vietnamese government sent to VOA Khmer said the two governments are currently in the process of marking the borders according to agreements from 1985 and 2005 through a joint border committee.

“Saying that Vietnam is encroaching on Cambodian land is fully fabricated, baseless and deliberately ill-minded,” the Vietnamese government said.

The statement also denied claims that Sam Rainsy was being prosecuted at the behest of the Vietnamese government.

“Sam Rainsy is being tried by the Cambodian court for his violation of Cambodian law, and this has no relation with Vietnam,” it said.