Vietnam, Cambodia Celebrate Important Milestone in Joint Victory over Pol Pot Regime

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (L) and Cambodian PM Hun Sen (R). Photo: VNA

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on June 20 attended a ceremony marking the 45th anniversary of Cambodian PM Hun Sen’s journey to overthrow the Pol Pot genocidal regime, held in Memot district of Cambodia’s Tbuong Khmum province, VNA and VOV reported.

Speaking at the ceremony, PM Chinh condemned the genocide caused to the Cambodian people as well as the brutal aggression crimes committed by the Pol Pot gang against the Vietnamese people.

He said that the celebration not only reminded of the start of the struggle for justice, but also was a vivid manifestation of the friendship and solidarity between Vietnam and Cambodia.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh speaks at the event. Photo: VNA

PM Hun Sen, for his part, stressed that the history proved that without the journey to overthrow the Pol Pot regime starting on June 20 and the subsequent events, Cambodia could not have had what it is having today.

He once again affirmed the soundness of Vietnam’s act, as Vietnamese volunteer soldiers joined hands with the Cambodian people in their struggle for national liberation, thus helping them get rid of the genocidal regime.

PM Hun Sen was received by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in Vietnam’s southern border province of Binh Phuoc on June 20. Photo: VNA

Earlier in the morning, PM Chinh welcomed his Cambodian counterpart in Binh Phuoc province to visit Loc Ninh district’s Loc Tan entrance road, where he first set his foot on the Vietnamese land 45 years ago.

As part of the visit, the two PMs joined a tree-planting ceremony.

They also met and talked with local residents, where PM Hun Sen expressed his gratitude to the Party, State, and people of Vietnam, specifically the people of village No. 9 of Loc Ninh district who had taken care of and assisted him in the early days of his search for national salvation whilst he worked to develop armed forces capable of overthrowing the genocidal regime of former Cambodian dictator Pol Pot.

The Cambodian PM outlined that without the vital help of the Vietnamese people, there might not be a PM Hun Sen or modern Cambodia today.

He said his first meal after arriving in Loc Ninh saved his life. Without the Vietnamese people’s assistance, there would have been no Hun Sen and Cambodia as they are today, the Cambodian PM stated.

Lauding growing bilateral relations between the nations across all fields in the past time, the Cambodian leader said the two countries' infrastructure has been smoothly connected in this border area and they agreed to build it into a symbol of their relations via promoting bilateral cooperation in trade, investment, tourism, and culture.

PM Hun Sen said he believed that the Cambodia-Vietnam ties will be sustainable forever.

The two PMs join a tree planting ceremony. Photo: VNA

PM Pham Minh Chinh of Vietnam and PM Hun Sen of Cambodia plant a friendship tree at Loc Tan open border crossing in Binh Phuoc province on June 20. Photo: VNA

On June 20, 1977, after crossing the Cambodia - Vietnam border and arriving in Binh Phuoc, Hun Sen, who was then a lieutenant colonel of Region 21 in eastern Cambodia, and his comrades decided to seek help from Vietnam to overthrow the Pol Pot genocidal regime to regain peace for his homeland.

Thanks to the Vietnamese Party, State, and people’s assistance, they took gradual steps to set up the Kampuchean United Front for National Salvation and, together with Vietnamese volunteer soldiers, completely defeat the genocidal regime on January 7, 1979, saving millions of Cambodians from the genocidal disaster.

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