chapter 4

Claiming Phu Quoc/Koh Tral: Irredentism as a

Recurrent Theme of Cambodian Domestic Politics1

Mária Strašáková

Introduction

The love-and-hate relationship between Vietnam and Cambodia, just like

the one between China and Vietnam, has been asymmetrical in nature and
plagued by periodical pangs of mutual distrust and conflict. Despite the fact
that bilateral relations between both the states have improved rapidly since
1991, tensions still revolve around two issues: first being the status of ethnic
Khmer living in Vietnam and ethnic Vietnamese in Cambodia, the second per-
tains to the unresolved land border and maritime delineation disputes.
On 2 September 2012 in the run up for the July 2013 Cambodian general
election, Kem Sokha, the opposition leader to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s rul-
ing Cambodian People’s Party, revived the sensitivities connected to the un-
resolved maritime disputes by claiming that Vietnam should return the island
of Phu Quoc (in Khmer Koh Tral) to Cambodia. In spite of stressing a resolu-
tion through legal and peaceful means, he uncovered a dormant and potential
source of conflict between the two countries. Furthermore, he unleashed a
heated domestic debate, in which the opposition leaders accused Prime Min-
ister (pm) Hun Sen of being responsible of relinquishing the island to the Viet-
namese (Lipes 2012).
The heated debate over the ownership of the island continued for almost
a year. On 17 June 2013 yet another government critic and union leader Rong
Chhun went even further by presenting new evidence supporting Cambodia’s
ownership of the island Phu Quoc (Koh Tral). At a press conference in Phnom
Penh he presented a 7th grade Cambodian geography textbook from 1985,
where Phu Quoc (Koh Tral) was shown as Cambodian territory. In addition,
Rong Chhun claimed that he would push Hun Sen not to accept Vietnamese
ownership of the island. However, Rong Chhun was suspected of seizing the
opportunity to stir up anti-Vietnamese rhetoric prior to July’s national election
in order to gain votes (Meyn and Aun Pheap 2013).

1 This chapter was published as a part of a research project of Metropolitan University Prague
(mup).

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���7 | doi 10.1163/9789004312180_006

Claiming Phu Quoc/Koh Tral 111

Even though many may consider the territorial disputes between Cambodia
and Vietnam as “anachronistic” in nature and the Cambodian stance towards
reclaiming the Phu Quoc (Koh Tral) as quixotic, the dispute still has the poten-
tial to unleash heated discussions and lead to tensions between both countries.
Thus, the objective of this chapter is first to analyze the history and nature of
the unresolved maritime disputes between both states. The main argument
is that the dispute can be perceived as a barometer of relations between both
countries, i.e. when relations are functional, the territorial conflict is shelved;
on the other hand, when the relationship between the two states deteriorates,
the disputes gain momentum again (Farrell 1998, p. 187).
As shall be shown below, in Cambodia, land and sea boundary issues are
also perceived as highly sensitive given the country’s historical experience of
“loss of territory” to much stronger neighbors (Thailand and Vietnam) and are
often perceived as a question of national survival. Therefore, the paper seeks to
answer to what extent have territorial disputes become a political calculation/
political card played by different political actors (e.g. King Sihanouk’s govern-
ment, the Lon Nol regime, the Khmer Rouge [kr] regime, political parties of
the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia [untac] period, and
currently the Cambodian National Rescue Party) in their quest for power and
public support. Thirdly, the paper investigates the main turning points in the
attempts of both countries to resolve this sensitive issue as well as prospects
for future development and resolution of the dispute. For a better understand-
ing of the complex issue a chronological approach has been adopted.

Uncertain and Unresolved Borders as Sources of Tension

Uncertain boundaries are an extremely politically sensitive issue that may lead
to conflict between nations. As has been discussed in greater detail in proceed-
ing chapters by Andělová and Kraus, in Southeast Asia, border conflicts among
states are caused by several factors, the most important being historical contro-
versies stemming especially from the colonial era, the Cold War and national-
ism. Furthermore, historical controversies have been further aggravated by the
fact that borders among Southeast Asian states were arbitrarily drawn by formal
colonial powers, which did not take into consideration ethnic, religious, social or
linguistic identities. As has already been stated in the first chapter, the controver-
sies over land and maritime borders can also stem from mistakes in using (1) inap-
propriate topographical terms, (2) unclear geographical features (e.g. changing
river streams); (3) inconsistent or contradictory statements (e.g. the adoption
and contested interpretation of Article 56 of the United Nations Convention on
the Law of the Seas (unclos) has led to the emergence of overlapping territorial