Authorities of the southern Vietnamese province of Long An have sent a note to the chief of the neighboring Cambodian province of Svay Rieng over the recent violent actions by Cambodian extremists against Vietnamese people along the border. 

In the note, which was sent on Thursday to Svay Rieng Governor Chieng Am, the Long An administration demanded that Svay Rieng authorities take effective measures to prevent violent actions by Cambodian extremists against Vietnamese. The move was made following a serious attack on Vietnamese people carried out by Cambodian extremists on June 28 in Vietnamese territory in Long An Province, which borders Svay Rieng, leaving seven Vietnamese people injured. The attack has ruined peace along the common border of the two countries, Do Huu Lam, chairman of the Long An People’s Committee, said in the note, urging Governor Chieng Am to ask Cambodian competent agencies to satisfactorily settle the incident and prevent similar actions from recurring in the future. The violence has obstructed the border delineation and marker planting work between the two countries and undermined the friendly neighborliness and good cooperation between the two provinces, Chairman Lam said in the note.

The Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Le Hai Binh, said at a press briefing on Tuesday that Vietnam strongly criticizes the said violent actions by Cambodian extremists. Such actions have broken both Vietnam and Cambodia’s laws, as well as treaties and agreements signed by both sides, and affected the progress of demarcation and the sound relationship between the two countries, spokesperson Binh said. “We request that Cambodian authorities take measures to satisfactorily settle the incident and prevent similar actions from recurring in the future in order to ensure the smooth implementation of border delineation and marker planting for the common interest of both peoples,” he said. Among these Cambodian extremists were a number of parliamentarians from the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, according to the Vietnamese foreign ministry. The violent incident occurred at 2:20 pm on June 28 when a group of about 250 Cambodians traveled past border marker No. 203 and then crossed deeply into Vietnamese territory in Long An’s Moc Hoa District.  

About 20 Vietnamese tried to stop the group of Cambodians when the intruders reached 400 meters beyond the border marker, bringing flags and sticks along with them, said Huynh Trung Kien, a local.

Despite the fact that these locals stood in a line as a barrier, the intruders moved forward and then assaulted the Vietnamese with sticks, crash helmets and flag poles, Kien said.

It was not until 3:15 pm, when Vietnamese border guards and militiamen arrived, that the extremists halted the attack and left Vietnamese territory.

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