Although decades have passed by, the significance of the victory will forever remain in the minds of the Vietnamese and Cambodian people as well as people around the globe.
“Second father”
Growing up in the time when Cambodia was facing an unprecedented genocidal disaster in human history, Cambodian Ambassador to Vietnam Chay Navuth saw mass graves when he followed his families to flee from the country. Those mass graves were evidence for the heinous crimes of Pol Pot force. The diplomat’s father was also a victim of the disaster as he was killed by the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime. “Without the support of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers, the Cambodian people, including me, could not have survived,” said Ambassador Chay Navuth.
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Cambodian people bring jaggery juice to Vietnamese volunteer troops who were helping them harvest rice. (Photo: VNA) |
According to the ambassador, his families planned to go to Prey Veng province before fleeing to Dong Thap province of Vietnam, hoping to escape from the brutal “Angkar.” However, on learning that the Vietnamese volunteer troops entered Cambodia, his families decided to return to their house in Phnom Penh. On the way home, his families encountered friendly and gentle Vietnamese volunteer soldiers who then offered them a ride.
While everyone stopped for lunch, a Vietnamese volunteer soldier drew a portrait of Chay Navuth's little sister as a gift for her. Ambassador Chay Navuth could not help but regret, saying, “That was a very precious gift to us, but it was a pity that we lost the drawing while moving house many times.”
In Phnom Penh, Chay Navuth's house was located opposite a station of the Vietnamese volunteer soldiers. He said that he was impressed by the self-discipline of the Vietnamese soldiers. Regardless of the weather, on rainy or sunny days, the soldiers regularly did exercises at 5 a.m. every day. The Vietnamese volunteer soldiers contributed to forming the diplomat’s habit of exercising at 5 a.m. until today. “I will never forget the childhood memories associated with the Vietnamese volunteer soldiers,” said Ambassador Chay Navuth.
After being appointed to the post of Cambodian Ambassador to Vietnam, his wish was to meet the old volunteer soldiers again because “they are like my second father.” Although that wish has not come true, he still does not give up on that.
Talking with reporters of the People’s Army Newspaper, the Cambodian diplomat said that Vietnamese volunteer soldiers did not hesitate to sacrifice themselves and stood side by side with the Kampuchean United Front for National Salvation to save the Cambodian people from the genocidal disaster and achieve the victory on January 7, 1979. After the liberation day, thousands of Vietnamese advisors were sent to Cambodia, and tens of thousands of Vietnamese volunteer troops stayed in the country to help the Cambodian revive their country. The above-mentioned deeds were typical examples of the spirit of sharing between the two nations.
Sharing the same view with the Cambodian diplomat, Kin Phea, Director General of International Relations Institute of Cambodia, emphasized that the spirit of sharing between the two peoples is “a historic fact.” Vietnam played an important role in helping liberate Cambodia from the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime, while Cambodia gave important support to Vietnam's national reunification cause. According to Dr. Kin Phea, Vietnam-Cambodia friendship monuments built across the country “reflect Vietnam's assistance in overthrowing the brutal Khmer Rouge regime” more than four decades ago and express “Cambodia’s gratitude to Vietnam, especially the Vietnamese volunteer soldiers who sacrificed themselves to save the Cambodian people from the genocidal regime.”
The heart of a former prisoner
Although decades have passed by, the sentiment between Vietnam-Cambodia is carefully preserved and promoted. That love was built by blood and tears of troops and people through the struggle to gain the national independence. The victory on January 7, 1979 thus went down in the golden history of fighting solidarity between the two peoples of Vietnam and Cambodia.
According to Vietnamese Ambassador to Cambodia Nguyen Huy Tang, many works in remembrance the merits of Vietnamese volunteers and advisors, who jointly fought with Cambodian soldiers and people, have been built in almost all of provinces and cities in the country. The Cambodian Government and People's Party decided to choose January 7 the country’s national holiday and annually hold ceremony to mark the day. The Vietnamese diplomat said that these are noble symbols of the Vietnam - Cambodia friendship that nothing can ever destroy.
Ambassador Nguyen Huy Tang recalled that Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has repeatedly affirmed that without the victory on January 7, 1979, without the support of the Vietnamese volunteer soldiers as well as the support of the Vietnamese Party, State, Government and people during the 1979-1989 period, the Cambodian people and country could not revive and develop as it is today. “January 7, 1979 became a historic milestone of the spirit of pure and faithful international solidarity and special friendship between the two nations,” Ambassador Nguyen Huy Tang affirmed.
Former Vietnamese Ambassador to Vietnam Nguyen Chien Thang set foot in Cambodia for the first time in early 1979 as an officer of the Press Information Department under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After the Khmer Rouge was overthrown, he was appointed to the post of the fifth Vietnamese Ambassador to Cambodia. During the time working in Cambodia, Thang witnessed Cambodian leaders’ sincere gratitude for Vietnam for helping the country end the saddest and darkest page in its history. At a reception for the diplomatic corps in Phnom Penh in May 2007, his Majesty King Norodom Sihanouk told him that he was very grateful to Vietnam for helping the country to expel the Khmer Rouge. Without Vietnam’s support, King Norodom Sihanouk, who was also a former Khmer Rouge prisoner, could not survive. His Majesty King Sihanouk asked Thang to convey his sincere gratitude to the leaders and people of Vietnam.
Former Vietnamese Ambassador to Cambodia Nguyen Chien Thang said that he was touched when listening to King Sihanouk’s words expressing his feelings about Vietnam in front of other foreign guests, including American, Russian and Chinese Ambassadors.
Emeritus Professor Carl Thayer from the University of New South Wales at the Australian Defense Force Academy is a person who had opportunity to meet many Cambodian officials who grew up in the Khmer Rouge time and visited mass graves of victims of the Khmer Rouge regime.
In his view, without Vietnam’s help for Cambodian forces in the fight against the Khmer Rouge, “the genocide would have continued, and hundreds of thousands more Cambodians would have been killed.” “Vietnamese force, along with Cambodian people who defected from the Khmer Rouge regime, jointly liberated Cambodia from the genocidal regime in early 1979. Cambodian leaders were right when they said they would not be able to live until today without the help of Vietnam,” the Australian scholar confirmed during a conversation with a reporter of the People's Army Newspaper.
(To be continued)
Translated by Tran Hoai