After decades of depredations, both real and imagined, Vietnam remains the main bogeyman of Cambodian nationalism.
July 06, 2021
A Catholic church in Chong Kneas, a predominantly Vietnamese village on the edge of the Tonle Sap lake in Siem Reap, Cambodia.
Credit: Flickr/Anne Roberts
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Prominent Cambodian human rights organizations ignore discrimination and violations committed against ethnic Vietnamese communities in the country, fearful of backlash from nationalists and supporters of the now-dissolved opposition party, according to sources who spoke to The Diplomat.
Since early June, for instance, Cambodian authorities have been evicting
hundreds of ethnic Vietnamese people from their floating homes on the banks of the Tonle Sap river, ostensibly as part of a “clean up” of the capital ahead of Cambodia’s assumption of the ASEAN chairmanship next year and its hosting of the Southeast Asian Games in 2023.