DPRKPTboat said:Since the end of the Vietnam war, Vietnam has become a "local superpower" in its own right, as it is the dominant nation in Indochina. It has strong influence over both Laos and Cambodia. But China has also being trying to gain influence over these countries to. When the Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia, they were suppourted by China and opposed by Vietnam. When Vietnam invaded Cambodia to overthrow the Khmer Rouge, this caused the Chinese to invade and start the Sino-Vietnma war. Cambodia is no longer communist, but Laos is, and both China and Vietnam are competing for influence there. So I would say that both countries are still quite suspicous of one another, although relations have repaired recently.
Vietnam hold some influence over Cambodia only because Hun Sen is still in office. Most of the other Cambodia factions dislike Vietnam due to territorial disputes between the two nations. A typical Cambodian commentary on the broder incident reads like this:
Border problems with Vietnam have made headline news again with the recent incident in Ta Poeu village, Bavet commune, Chantrea district, Svay Rieng province where a young Khmer man whose buffaloes and farm equipments were confiscated, was beaten savagely and kicked severely three times in the chest by the Vietnamese border security forces for attempting to work in his own fields and in his own country. His escape from the Vietnamese border security forces was only made possible by the courageous actions of his loving mother who, despite being alone, continued to struggle without regards to her own life to help free him from their bondage.
As for PRC relations with Cambodia, it's like this: "the enemy of my enemy is my friend", about as realpolitik as it gets. The PRC Government under Mao supported both the Cambodian Monarchy and the Khmer Rouge. IMO if you look at what Pol Pot's boys did to the 425,000 ethnic Chinese living in Cambodia, I think the PRC should've just let the Vietnamese wipe them out. The Viets at the time were pretty mean and wanted to deport the Chinese, but that's still better than what the Khmer Rogue had in mind. If you look at the piles of skulls laying around Cambodia, at least 300,000 to 400,000 of them are ethnic Chinese.
KYli said:Vietnam is very ambitious nation and Vietnamese do have a strong sense of nationalism. They are willing to comprimise on the Spratley because China make steps to appease them. Such as China has give up some controversy lands between Vietnam and China, so the borders could be draw. The Joint development is a good idea, but Vietnam did not stopped their intention to take as many island and resources as they could. If Vietnam become stronger in the future, I would see more tension between China and Vietnam, but hopefully both sides could work more to solve the problems now. So the relationship should built up and trust could overcome difference.
Wouldn't you?? Territorial dispute is about self-interest. "Mine! Mine! All Mine!"
The Viets can turn around and say the same about Chinese: "...China is a very ambitious nation with strong sense of nationalism, they are willign to compromise for now while it benefits them".
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