Date :   February  5, 2004 

SPECIAL FILE ON POULO WAI ISLAND (KOH ACH SES [in Khmer])

  Document PDF Khmer       Français

Paris, February 5 2004

REPERCUSSIONS OF THE TREATIES

CONCLUDED WITH VIETNAM

DURING 1979, 1982, 1983, and 1985

SPECIAL FILE ON POULO WAI ISLAND (KOH ACH SES [in Khmer])

1.0       HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

1.1       A War of Occupation or a War of Liberation

Under the excuse of liberating Cambodia from the genocide perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV) invaded and occupied Cambodia starting January 7, 1979 for a period lasting more than ten years.

It was a war of occupation that the world has condemned. 

The People's Republic of China had even given a lesson to the SRV by attacking the Vietnamese forces along the border between the two countries.

On the other hand, for legality purposes, the UN recognized the Coalition Government presided by HRH Samdech Norodom Sihanouk as the legitimate government of Cambodia, and it even voted each year, with a large majority, a motion intimating the SRV to withdraw its troops from Cambodia. 

1.2       Signature of the Treaties and Agreements

Taking advantage from its dominant position, the SRV imposed on the Popular Republic of Cambodia (PRK) several Treaties which favored Vietnam from all points of view because these treaties were signed under the constraint imposed on Cambodia by people in charge who were handpicked by the Vietnamese themselves.

1.2.1    Treaty of February 18, 1979

Although called a Treaty of “Peace, Friendship, and Cooperation”, it mainly served as basis for concluding other future agreements.  This treaty specifies that “it is valid for a period of twenty five years and will be tacitly renewed each time for another ten years period if one of the two parties involved does not notify in writing to the other party its desire to repeal this treaty one year before the treaty expires.”

This treaty thus eternally binds our country with Vietnam, not as an equal partner but rather as a poor relative even though it claims militant solidarity and revolutionary assets obtained together during approximately thirty years of struggle.              

1.2.2    Agreement of July 7, 1982

This agreement also referred as the Treaty of February 18, 1979, created a so-called area of “Historical Water Zone” consisting of about 10,000 sq. km put under common management, and it also recognized the annexation by the SRV of many Cambodian islands, and one third (30,000 sq. km) of the territorial water of Cambodia. 

However, the PRK boasted the full and complete sovereignty on these maritime zones and the continental shelf newly delimited. It even talked about the recognition by the Vietnamese party of our sovereignty on the Island Poulo Wai. 

It should be noted that this island has always been under our management.  Testimonies to this fact are:

-     Letter No. 1134-PCM/AP/X dated June 7, 1957 by HRH Samdech Norodom  Sihanouk:  As President of the Council of Ministers, he had ordered our Royal Khmer Navy to ensure the protection of the islands located in the Gulf of Siam, in particular the Island of Poulo Wai which we were managing; 

-     Letter No. 43/DG/DM/X dated July 20, 1972 from the Industrial, Mining Resources, and Maritime Fishing Minister who authorized the land occupation and management of this  island (installation of a heliport and a  harbor) to the French company “Société Française de Pétrole ELF-ERAP” (ELF-ERAP) of Cambodia. This company installed “geodetic and geographic markers” indicating that this island belongs to Cambodia prior to its first drilling operation 50 km to the south of the island in 1972.

Please refer to the attached photograph taken on August 19, 1972 during the visit of the ELF-ERAP [oil] platform on the Island of Poulo Wai by the [Khmer] Delegation headed by Mr. Chhan Sokhum, Minister of Industry, Mr. Heng Long, Director of the Ministry of Industry, Mr. Sean Pengse, Director of the Office of Mines, Geology, and Oil of the Ministry of Industry. The delegation traveled on a Royal Khmer Navy ship under the direction of a Khmer Royal Navy Commander, and was received by Mr. Jean-Claude Lot, Resident Director of ELF-ERAP in Cambodia. 

1.2.3    Agreement and Treaty of July 20, 1983

The new agreement on the “Border Status”, and the new treaty on the “Principle of Resolution on Border Issues” were concluded and regulated the creation and the delimitation of border zones, the inhabitants life, the trade, and the free border crossing, all to the detriment of Cambodia.

1.2.4    Treaty of December 27, 1985

A new Treaty was concluded between the two parties in order to officially recognize the new delimitation of the national borders between the two countries without taking into consideration past repeated recognitions by the North and South Vietnamese governments on the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of Cambodia. 

2.0       REPERCUSSIONS OF THE TREATIES

Among the Agreements and Treaties referred to above, the SRV used as basis the Agreement on “Historical Water” concluded on July 7, 1982 to provide two Declarations with the General Assembly of the UN and concluded an Agreement with Thailand.

2.1       UN declarations by Vietnam

The SRV presented to the UN two Declarations, one dated November 12, 1982 and the other dated June 5, 1984 requesting that all the member states respect the new baselines of the maritime territory and the new national airspace of Vietnam that it has recently acquired as part of the aforesaid Agreement.

If the SRV was sincere and if it did not gain any new territories out of these Treaties and Agreements, it would not need to present these new Declarations to the General Assembly of the UN.

Among third party countries in the region, the Republic of Singapore protested these Declarations that it described as opposite to the rules of international law.

At that time, HRH Samdech Norodom Sihanouk, President of the  Coalition Government, had incessantly declared null and void these Agreements and Treaties concluded between the SRV and the PRK.

2.2       Bilateral agreement between the SRV and Thailand

Furthermore, under the pretext of the 1982 Agreement, the SRV concluded with Thailand on August 11, 1997 a Bilateral Agreement to fix the new respective maritime zones between these two countries at the detriment of Cambodia. This resulted in another loss of a third (30,000 sq. km) of Cambodia’s maritime area.

Mr. HUN SEN himself protested against this Vietnamese-Thai Treaty on May 7, 1998 during his official visit to Thailand, however, Thailand referred him to Vietnam which used the 1982 Agreement as a basis to conclude the negotiations with Thailand.

3.0       RESPONSIBILITY OF KHMER AUTORITIES FACED WITH THESE ISSUES

These illegal treaties should have been cancelled since the first government  in 1993 in accordance with the Paris Peace Agreements on  Cambodia dated October 23, 1991, and with the 1993 Constitution of Cambodia  of 1993 (Article 55).

To the surprise of everyone concerned, these treaties were further recognized by the Joint Khmer-Vietnamese Committee on March 27, 1999, and were approved by the coalition government on December 22, 2000 to the contrary of the Constitution of Cambodia (Article 52).  This constitutes, without doubt, a deliberated act of the government. Even in his reply dated July 31, 2000 to a letter from the King, Mr. Hun Sen put forth the following incomprehensible argument:

“...Taking into consideration the current situation and the two points stated above, it is not suitable for the government to openly and officially declare today the nullity of these treaties and agreements with Vietnam in order to allow the Joint Khmer-Vietnamese Committee to pursue difficult negotiations until obtaining satisfactory final results ".   

Mr. Sok An, during his speech in front of the National Assembly in 2002, has also put forth the same argument.

His Majesty the King categorically refused to recognize these treaties and agreements at the pressing request of the delegation of the Communist Party of Vietnam that visited him on December 27, 2003. 

Indeed, the Royal Government which has the duty of defending the Independence, Sovereignty, and the Territorial Integrity  (Article 52 of the Constitution), must take all necessary actions to keep intact our Unity in order to preserve the primordial interests of the Khmer Nation. 

The Government must constantly listen to the complaints by the population and must immediately render justice on the spot the litigations that occur.

Soldiers, ex-soldiers, the population including women deplore and sound the alarm of despair against the injustices imposed upon them by neighboring countries, and they ask the head of the government, the President of the National Assembly, and even the heads of political parties to help them find their peace, to recover their lands, to preserve our borders which are continuously being nibbled away. Illegal annexation or appropriation of our lands and even of our temples near the borders are occurring on a daily basis.

- x -

It is also an issue of life and death that concerns us in particular. A solution is absolutely necessary. Foreign powers cannot do anything for us.  It is for us to become aware of these issues. We cannot allow this act to last perpetually because it could lead to our complete loss of territory and identity.  CFC/CBC.

Encl.: 

- Cambodge Soir press article dated Wednesday, January 21, 2004.

- Text dated January 24, 2004 by HM King Norodom Sihanouk.

- Letter of the President of the Council of Ministers dated June 7, 1957.

- Royal Decree from HM King Norodom Suramarit dated December 30, 1957.

- Letter of protest of Singapore to the UN dated December 5, 1986.

- Letter of the Minister of Industry dated July 20, 1972.

- Photos of the drilling operation by ELF-ERAP in 1972.

  Document PDF Khmer       Français

Cambodia's Borders Committee : http://www.cfcambodge.org   Email :  secretariat@cfcambodge.org

    UNSUBSCRIBE Si vous souhaiteriez ne plus recevoir d'autre lettre d'information de CFC-CBC