Vietnam applauds Cambodia's help in combating "plots"

Aug 4, 2010, 4:55 GMT

Phnom Penh - A senior Vietnamese government official has welcomed efforts by the Cambodian government to combat 'plots' by ethnic Cambodians in southern Vietnam, local media reported Wednesday.

Tran Dai Quang, Vietnam's deputy minister of public security, made the comments to 200 government officials during a meeting in Phnom Penh on Tuesday, the Phnom Penh Post newspaper reported.

'With the cooperation and positive assistance of the Cambodian armed forces, Vietnam's police force has struggled to disable plots and operations of hostile forces opposing the Vietnamese revolution,' he said.

Tran said combined efforts against Khmer Krom - ethnic Cambodians living in southern Vietnam - had resulted in the arrests of three people for handing out leaflets, and another for possession of a weapon.

He accused Khmer Krom activists of trying to 'oppose and destroy.'

Human rights groups have long complained that Khmer Krom face discrimination and persecution by the Vietnamese and Cambodian authorities in both southern Vietnam and Cambodia.

In January last year, Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused Hanoi of engaging in repressive activities in a bid to prevent the nationalist aspirations of the Khmer Krom minority in the Mekong Delta region.

HRW's report documented violations against Khmer Krom in Vietnam and against others who had fled to Cambodia. At least one Buddhist monk was deported to Vietnam by Phnom Penh.

HRW described the tactics Hanoi was using against Khmer Krom as 'bare-knuckled, indefensible political repression.'

The Phnom Penh Post quoted Cambodian opposition parliamentarian Yont Tharo, who heads a Khmer Krom cultural organization in Phnom Penh, as saying that actions by the authorities that affected freedom of expression were 'unacceptable.'

Hanoi and Phnom Penh have a close relationship, stemming from Vietnam's assistance in overthrowing Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge government in 1979.

Vietnam is also one of the biggest investors in Cambodia, with interests in telecoms, banking, mining and land concessions.