Free to follow every thread. No paywall, no dead ends.
Cambodian–Vietnamese War | HearLore
— Ch. 1 · The Border That Bleeds —
Cambodian–Vietnamese War.
~8 min read · Ch. 1 of 7
On the 21st of December 1978, a Vietnamese offensive consisting of two divisions crossed the border and moved towards the town of Kratie. This marked the beginning of a full-scale invasion that would topple Pol Pot's government in just two weeks. The Kampuchean Revolutionary Army could not withstand the assault despite generous support from China. Heavy defeats on the battlefield prompted much of the Kampuchean leadership to evacuate toward the western region of the country. By the 7th of January 1979, the People's Army of Vietnam entered Phnom Penh along with members of the Kampuchean United Front for National Salvation.
This military action ended a decade of escalating violence between the two communist neighbors. Earlier conflicts had included the Ba Chúc massacre of over 3,000 Vietnamese civilians in April 1978. The Khmer Rouge had repeatedly invaded Vietnam, killing hundreds of civilians in provinces like An Giang and Châu Đốc. In September 1977, KRA artillery struck several villages, and six villages in Đồng Tháp Province were overrun by Kampuchean infantry. These attacks killed more than 1,000 Vietnamese civilians in Tân Biên district alone.
Vietnam responded by assembling eight divisions estimated at 60,000 soldiers to launch a retaliatory strike against Kampuchea. On the 16th of December 1977, these forces crossed the border along several axes. Despite the ferocity of the retaliation, the Kampuchean Government remained defiant. On the 31st of December 1977, Khieu Samphan declared that diplomatic relations would be temporarily severed until Vietnamese troops withdrew from what they called sacred territory. The conflict had evolved from border skirmishes into a total war that would reshape Southeast Asia.
The UN Seat Controversy
After the capture of Phnom Penh on the 7th of January 1979, representatives of Democratic Kampuchea called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council. Prince Sihanouk presented the deposed government's case despite strong objections from the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia. At the 34th Session of the UN General Assembly, both the People's Republic of Kampuchea and Democratic Kampuchea claimed the right to represent their country. The UN Credentials Committee decided to recognize Democratic Kampuchea by a vote of six to three.
This decision allowed representatives of Democratic Kampuchea to be seated in the General Assembly with strong support from China. By January 1980, 29 countries had established diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of Kampuchea, yet nearly 80 countries still recognized the legitimacy of the deposed Democratic Kampuchea. Western powers including the United States, France, Norway, Portugal, and the United Kingdom supported resolutions calling for a ceasefire and withdrawal of all foreign forces from Kampuchea.
China went as far as accusing Vietnam of forcing Kampuchea into an Indochinese federation to serve as an outpost of Soviet global hegemony. Romania was the only country in the Eastern Bloc that supported the Khmer Rouge and did not recognize the newly installed People's Republic of Kampuchea. Before the war broke out, Nicolae Ceaușescu warned Lê Duẩn that Vietnam would lose its international support the moment they invaded Cambodia. This diplomatic isolation placed Vietnam on the periphery of the international community throughout the decade-long occupation.
The K5 Plan and Border Fortifications
In 1984, Vietnam unveiled a five-phase strategy known as the K5 Plan to disengage from Kampuchea. The plan was authored by General Le Duc Anh who had led the Vietnamese campaign in Kampuchea. The first phase required the Vietnamese military to capture the bases of armed groups in western Kampuchea and along the border with Thailand. Foreign observers believed that the Vietnamese Army completed the first phase during the dry season offensive of 1984, 85 when base camps of several anti-Vietnamese resistance groups were overrun.
To fulfill this construction project, the PRK government conscripted 380,000 people, with large numbers succumbing to malaria. Claude Malhuret of Médecins Sans Frontières reported that a tactic used by the Vietnamese and their allies was to withhold food from areas controlled by the Khmer Rouge. Thousands of tons of food provided by international relief organizations spoiled on the docks of Kompong Som. Food sent by aid organizations was often instead used to feed Vietnamese troops and Cambodians living under Vietnamese control.
By 1985, the majority of ten Vietnamese divisions were assigned to operations on the frontiers while the remainder stayed in major provinces to protect the local population and train the Kampuchean People's Revolutionary Armed Forces. This strategy aimed to seal off the border with Thailand and destroy local resistance groups. Despite these efforts, armed resistance continued throughout the decade as guerrilla warfare persisted along the Thai-Cambodia border.
The Economic Strain
Throughout the decade in which Vietnam occupied neighboring Kampuchea, the Vietnamese Government faced severe economic challenges. The United States convinced other countries to deprive Vietnam and the People's Republic of Kampuchea of much-needed funds by denying them membership to major international organizations such as the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the International Monetary Fund. In 1979, Japan stepped up pressure by suspending all economic aid to Vietnam.
Vietnam maintained the fifth-largest armed forces in the world with 1.26 million regular soldiers under arms. Of these, 180,000 were stationed in Cambodia in 1984. Consequently, the Vietnamese Government had to spend one-third of its budget on the military and the campaign in Kampuchea despite receiving US$1.2 billion in military aid annually from the Soviet Union. During the Chinese invasion in February 1979, the Soviet Union provided US$1.4 billion worth of military aid to Vietnam, a figure that peaked at US$1.7 billion between 1981 and 1985.
To help implement its third Five Year Plan from 1981 to 1985, the Soviet Union provided a sum of US$5.4 billion for expenditures while economic aid reached US$1.8 billion annually. The Soviet Union also provided 90% of Vietnam's demand for raw materials and 70% of its grain imports. However, privately Soviet leaders were dissatisfied with Hanoi's handling of the stalemate in Kampuchea and resented the burden of their aid program as their own country was undergoing economic reforms.
The Doi Moi Reforms
At the 6th National Party Congress in December 1986, newly appointed General Secretary Nguyen Van Linh introduced a major reform known as Đổi Mới or renovation. This initiative aimed to fix Vietnam's economic problems through radical changes in defense and foreign policy. Vietnamese leaders concluded that their dire economic situation resulted from international isolation following the invasion of Kampuchea in 1978.
In June 1987, the Vietnamese Politburo adopted Resolution No. 2 calling for complete withdrawal of Vietnamese soldiers from international duties and reduction of army size by discharging 600,000 soldiers. On the 13th of May 1988, they adopted Resolution No. 13 on foreign policy which aimed to achieve diversification and multilateralization of Vietnam's relations. Its main objectives included ending embargoes imposed by UN members and integrating Vietnam with the regional and international community.
As part of this change, Vietnam ceased to regard the United States as a long-term foe and China as an imminent enemy. Official propaganda stopped labeling ASEAN as a NATO-type organization. To implement new reforms, Vietnam started transferring several years' worth of military equipment to the KPRAF which numbered more than 70,000 soldiers. The Ministry of Defense advised its counterparts to use available equipment only to maintain current operations without engaging in major activities.
The Final Withdrawal
Between April and July 1989, 24,000 Vietnamese soldiers returned home while Vietnam estimated it had about 100,000 troops in Kampuchea. Then between 21 and the 26th of September 1989, after suffering 15,000 soldiers killed and another 30,000 wounded during the ten-year occupation, Vietnam's commitment to Kampuchea officially ended when remaining 26,000 Vietnamese soldiers were pulled out. Ten years of the Vietnamese occupation of Kampuchea officially concluded on the 26th of September 1989.
The departing Vietnamese soldiers received much publicity and fanfare as they moved through Phnom Penh, the capital of Kampuchea. However, armed resistance groups opposed to the Vietnamese-installed PRK government claimed that Vietnamese troops still operated on Cambodian soil long after September 1989. Non-communist groups engaging in land-grab operations reported clashes with elite Vietnamese Special Forces near Tamar Puok along Route 69.
In March 1991, Vietnamese units were reported to have re-entered Kampot Province to defeat a Khmer Rouge offensive. Despite such claims, on the 23rd of October 1991, the Vietnamese Government signed the Paris Peace Agreement which aimed to restore peace in Kampuchea. The withdrawal offered Cambodia opportunity to mediate its internal affairs through participation of local stakeholders including permanent members of the Security Council.
The Paris Peace Agreements
On the 23rd of October 1991, the Vietnamese Government signed the Paris Peace Agreement which aimed to restore peace in Kampuchea. This treaty opened the process of reconciliation between Cambodia's factions leading to UN-led transition and restoration of multi-party rule and constitutional monarchy in the Kingdom of Cambodia in September 1993. At the Third Jakarta Informal Meeting in 1990 under the Australian-sponsored Cambodian Peace Plan, representatives agreed to power-sharing arrangement by forming unity government known as Supreme National Council.
The SNC's role was to represent Cambodian sovereignty on international stage while United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia supervised country's domestic policies until elected government formed. Cambodia's pathway to peace proved difficult as Khmer Rouge leaders decided not participate in general elections but instead chose disrupt electoral process by launching military attacks on UN peacekeepers and killing ethnic Vietnamese migrants.
In May 1993, Sihanouk's FUNCINPEC movement defeated Cambodian People's Party to win general elections. However CPP leadership refused accept defeat and announced eastern provinces would secede from Cambodia. To avoid such outcome, Norodom Ranariddh leader of FUNCINPEC agreed form coalition government with CPP. Shortly afterward constitutional monarchy restored and Khmer Rouge outlawed by newly formed Cambodian government.
When did the Cambodian, Vietnamese War begin and end?
The Cambodian, Vietnamese War began on the 21st of December 1978 when a Vietnamese offensive crossed the border. The war officially concluded on the 26th of September 1989 after Vietnam withdrew its remaining soldiers from Kampuchea.
Who led the Vietnamese forces during the invasion of Cambodia in 1978?
General Le Duc Anh authored the K5 Plan and led the Vietnamese campaign in Kampuchea. He commanded eight divisions estimated at 60,000 soldiers to launch the retaliatory strike against Kampuchea.
What was the outcome of the United Nations vote regarding Democratic Kampuchea in 1979?
The UN Credentials Committee decided to recognize Democratic Kampuchea by a vote of six to three. This decision allowed representatives of Democratic Kampuchea to be seated in the General Assembly with strong support from China despite objections from the Soviet Union.
How many Vietnamese soldiers were stationed in Cambodia in 1984?
Of the 1.26 million regular soldiers under arms, 180,000 were stationed in Cambodia in 1984. By 1985, the majority of ten Vietnamese divisions were assigned to operations on the frontiers while the remainder stayed in major provinces.
When did Vietnam sign the Paris Peace Agreement to restore peace in Kampuchea?
On the 23rd of October 1991, the Vietnamese Government signed the Paris Peace Agreement which aimed to restore peace in Kampuchea. This treaty opened the process of reconciliation between Cambodia's factions leading to UN-led transition and restoration of multi-party rule.