Phnom Penh (VNA) – An in-depth article recently publishedon the website of the Royal Academy of Cambodia (RAC) spotlighted the Vietnam -Cambodia friendship over the past decades.

The August 28 article was written by Uch Leang, deputy headof the Department of Asian, African and Middle Eastern Studies under the RAC’sInstitute of International Relations, ahead of Vietnam’s 77th National Day (September 2).

The two countries are holding the Friendship Year 2022 andmarking the 55th anniversary of their diplomatic ties.

In the writing, Uch Leang noted the historical context of bilateralrelations, from the end of the Second World War in 1945, the Frenchcolonialists sending troops to re-occupy Indochina, the globe-shaking victoryof the Dien Bien Phu Campaign that forced the French Government to returncomplete independence to Vietnam and recognise the independence of Cambodia andLaos, to Vietnam’s assistance for Cambodia’s patriotic force to topple the PolPot genocidal regime in 1979.

He said in that context, Cambodia and Vietnam maintained andunceasingly promoted their ties and officially set up the diplomatic relationshipon June 24, 1967.

Since then, the two countries’ destinies have become intertwined,especially in the 1950s and 1970s, when Cambodia supported Vietnam’s struggleto gain national reunification and Vietnam assisted the Cambodian people toescape from the genocidal regime.

The article went on to say that bilateral relations have beendeveloping over the last more than 50 years. In 2005, Cambodia and Vietnamidentified the development orientation for their ties in the new context, whichis “good neighbourliness, traditional friendship, and comprehensive, sustainableand long term cooperation”.

Over the last couple of years, they have offered bothmaterial and spiritual support for each other in the fight against COVID-19 soas to bring the pandemic under control and resume bilateral cooperationactivities, according to the scholar.

This year, Cambodia is holding the rotational chairmanship ofthe Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for the third time.

Like Cambodia’s support for Vietnam’s previous ASEANChairmanship, Vietnam also consistently backs Cambodia’s endeavours to maintainthe bloc’s centrality, mobilise efforts within the bloc and from non-ASEANpartners, and enhance ASEAN’s solidarity and adaptability to achieve targets ofthe ASEAN Community Vision 2025, he went on.

Uch Leang held that the two countries’ sound friendship andneighbourliness are integral relations, of which economic partnerships play animportant role in helping with political ties./.