The southern province of Binh Phuoc on January 6 organised a meeting to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the victory in the southwest border defence war and the joint victory of Vietnam and Cambodia over the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime (January 7, 1979-2014).
The meeting also saw the attendance of authorities and military officers from the Cambodian provinces of Kratie, Mundukiri, Kongpongthom and Kongpongcham, which border Binh Phuoc province.
The participants recalled the time when the Vietnam People’s Army stood side by side with Cambodian people to fight for the latter’s freedom from the Khmer Rouge regime led by Pol Pot.
January 7, 1979 will always be remembered in the glorious history of the Vietnamese and Cambodian peoples, whose solidarity, friendship and all-around cooperation have since then been unceasingly fostered.
A representative from Kongpongcham province, on behalf of the participating Cambodian localities, expressed his profound gratitude to the Vietnamese volunteer soldiers who laid down their lives for Cambodia and its people.
In power from 1975-1979, the Khmer Rouge regime killed nearly three million Cambodian civilians, destroyed all social facilities and pushed the Cambodian nation to the brink of perdition.
It also distorted the history of Vietnam and mobilised most of its military strength to launch an invasion at Vietnam’s southwest border.
Besides ravaging villages and brutally killing local people, including the elderly, children and women, the regime seriously violated the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Vietnam.
Together with the armed forces and people of Cambodia as well as the support of international friends, the Vietnamese army overthrew the regime on January 7, 1979.
Following the victory, thousands of Vietnamese experts and volunteer soldiers continued to stand side by side with the Cambodian people in the country’s revival and reconstruction.-VNA
