After the victory of 1975, the peoples of Vietnam and Cambodia shared a common aspiration to live in peace and rebuild their countries after decades of war, sacrifice, and hardships. That aspiration was brutally shattered when the Pol Pot reactionary clique betrayed the Cambodian people’s revolutionary cause and deliberately destroyed the long-standing tradition of Vietnam - Cambodia solidarity.
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Residents of Phnom Penh bid a heartfelt farewell as Vietnamese volunteer soldiers complete their international mission and return home. |
After seizing power in April 1975, the Pol Pot regime plunged Cambodia into one of the darkest chapters in human history. According to the Khmer Times, more than three million innocent Cambodians were killed in just three years, eight months, and twenty days. The regime systematically dismantled all social foundations, turning the land of pagodas into the scene of an unprecedented genocide catastrophe.
At the same time, the Pol Pot clique pursued an extreme policy of hostility toward Vietnam, seeking to trample what the Khmer Times described as a “precious bilateral relationship.” Despite the goodwill and sustained efforts of the Party, State, and people of Vietnam to preserve friendly neighborly relations and the hard-won achievements forged through years of joint struggle for national independence, the Pol Pot leadership relentlessly spread propaganda, distorted the image of Vietnam, incited anti-Vietnam sentiment, and launched bloody attacks that violated Vietnam’s sovereignty and territorial integrity along the southwestern border. These actions resulted in grave crimes against the Vietnamese people.
Confronted with brutal aggression and genocide, and responding to the urgent appeal of the Kampuchean United Front for National Salvation and the Cambodian people, Vietnam exercised its legitimate right of self-defense. Although still struggling to overcome the severe consequences of prolonged war and facing international blockade and embargo, the Party, State, armed forces, and people of Vietnam stood resolutely with Cambodia. Together with Cambodian armed forces and people, they overthrew the genocidal regime on January 7, 1979. This was an action consistent with both international law and moral principles, demonstrating the noble, pure, righteous and sincere international spirit, rooted in the long-standing bonds between the two nations.
The Khmer Times has repeatedly cited Samdech Techo Hun Sen in affirming that January 7 is the “second birthday” of the Cambodian people, and that Vietnam’s dispatch of volunteer soldiers to rescue Cambodia from the genocide “has been recorded by history.” Vietnam, for Cambodia, is not merely a neighboring country. The solidarity forged in the joint struggle against a common enemy remains indelibly etched in the collective memory of the Cambodian people. As the Khmer Times noted, without the arrival of Vietnamese forces, Cambodia would have remained a vast killing field, and the crimes might have never ended. The victory of January 7, 1979 closed a dark chapter and opened a new era of independence, freedom, democracy, and social progress for Cambodia, an unchangeable historical fact.
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Cambodian revolutionary armed forces together with Vietnamese volunteer soldiers advance to liberate Phnom Penh on January 7, 1979. |
Following the victory, the Cambodian Revolutionary People’s Council was established and requested continued cooperation from Vietnamese volunteer soldiers in eliminating remaining Pol Pot forces and consolidating the new government. Beyond military assistance, Vietnam sent experts to help rebuild grassroots administration and provided material support to restore Cambodia’s economy and society from the devastation left by genocide. For a decade, from 1979 to 1989, Vietnamese volunteers and advisors contributed to preventing the return of genocide and to rebuilding the functioning society, saving millions of Cambodian lives.
In the arduous and fierce struggle, countless Vietnamese volunteer soldiers, advisors, and Cambodian revolutionary fighters sacrificed their lives or shed their blood on the battlefield. On this solemn occasion, profound gratitude is extended to the heroic martyrs of both nations who gave their lives for independence, freedom, shared destiny, and enduring solidarity. Eternal glory belongs to those who fell for the Fatherlands of Vietnam and Cambodia.
Translated by Tran Hoai