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Withdrawal of Troops – 1992

The Khmer were not convinced that the UNTAC and the government of Cambodia did enough to make sure the infiltration of Vietnamese troops did not occur along the Vietnam-Cambodia border. The Khmer demanded UNTAC deploy its troops along the border.¹

On June 5, 1992, the Voice of Vietnam external service reported that the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry sent two notes confirming that no Vietnamese troops were left in Cambodia and that the Vietnamese military aid to Cambodia had been cut out. The notes added that by the end of 1989, Vietnam had completed the withdrawal of its troops, weapons, and military equipment from Cambodia. This confirmation had made an important contribution to the signing of the Paris agreement in Cambodia. Since the signing of the peace accord on Cambodia, Vietnam has consistently implemented the agreement. Now, as in the past, Vietnam has not infiltrated its troops and equipment into Cambodia. Prince Sihanouk himself has affirmed this fact. The head of the UN office in Cambodia also pointed out that there was no evidence of the Vietnamese military presence in Cambodia.²

In the SNC meeting held on July 23, 1992, the UNTAC chief recalled the Vietnamese government’s statement that “all Vietnamese troops left Cambodia between 17th July 1982 and 26th September 1989. This statement named the divisions, regiments and battalions involved; the places from where those troops were withdrawn; the types of materiel; the dates; numbers of troops; and the roads they took to return to Vietnam. That statement emphasized that Vietnam no longer had any troops, weapons or materiel left on Cambodian soil, and that Vietnam has not sent troops, weapons or materiel back to Cambodia.”³ In the same meeting, the UNTAC chief told SNC that the UNTAC had personally supervised Cambodia’s national defense institution and arranged a number of measures to verify that all foreign troops, advisers and military personnel had left Cambodia and would not be able to return absolutely. Checkpoints had been set up along the borders between Cambodia and its three neighboring countries. Mobile military units had also been employed to monitor and investigate whether foreign troops remained in Cambodia.

In the SNC meeting on December 10, 1992, Tran Huy Chuong, a Vietnamese ambassador accredited to the SNC, affirmed that Vietnam had withdrawn all its volunteer troops from Cambodia in September 1989.⁴ Because there were no Vietnamese troops in Cambodia, Australia and Japan lifted the trade sanctions on Vietnam.⁵ As of 1992, there were no Vietnamese troops in Cambodia.

1. “KHMER ROUGE SLOGANS CONDEMN VIETNAM AND URGE UNTAC DEPLOYMENT ALONG BORDER,” BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, March 18, 1992.
2. “Vietnam ”has never infiltrated its troops and equipment into Cambodia”,” BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, June 9, 1992.
3. “UNTAC HEAD ADDRESSES SNC ON FOREIGN TROOPS, IMMIGRANTS,” BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, July 27, 1992.
4. “Vietnamese ambassador denies troop presence in Cambodia,” BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, December 16, 1992.
5. “Japan to lift trade sanctions against Vietnam, Report From Japan,” United Nations, January 6, 1992.