Comprehensive Relations with a Military Pillar

Vietnam–Cambodia relations are described officially as “comprehensive” and indeed have political, economic, security (military and police), cultural and other facets. Politically, there are close and tightening links between the two countries’ ruling parties, symbolized by the fact that in a speech to the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Congress in January 2016, General Ngo Xuan Lich, about to be promoted to Minister of Defence, placed the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) as second among the foreign political organizations with which the CPV was strengthening bilateral cooperation, behind only that of Laos. The comradeship entails general efforts “to closely coordinate and to strengthen the exchange of information and experiences in party-building work” and the two sides speak of it as a “special relationship”, the formulation used to describe the relationship between Cambodia and Vietnam (and Laos and Vietnam) from 1979 to 1990. During an April 2017 visit to Phnom Penh to meet with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc described links as flourishing, declaring that “especially in the recent years and months, Vietnam–Cambodia relations have been very much more familial, affectionate, trusting and intimate”.

Within this framework, the Vietnam–Cambodia military ties embodied in the links between the Vietnam People's Army (VPA) and Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) are characterized as a “main pillar”. This is a realm in which the Vietnamese believe they can and should continue to have a very special place, rooted in their unique role in militarily toppling Pol Pot's Democratic Kampuchea in January 1979 and directly building Cambodia's security forces for a decade thereafter. In bilateral contexts with a military flavour, Hun Sen has been prone to affirm that “without the help of Vietnam, Cambodia would absolutely not be where it is today”.

Two overarching themes of VPA–RCAF cooperation are that, historically, “always at the most difficult times, there has been only Vietnam helping Cambodia”, and that, currently, the VPA is ready to assist the RCAF “in all circumstances”, including at any time “when the CPP is encountering difficulties”. Hun Sen has described bilateral relations like one of “lips and teeth”, with a basis in a “political relationship” between the two countries’ armed forces. In historical Asian Communist parlance, the notion of a lips and teeth relationship has referred to one of militant solidarity in wartime against a common enemy.