Vietnamese Cambodians: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|Ethnic Vietnamese people in Cambodia}}{{good article}}

| caption = A Vietnamese boatfloating dwellersvillage in [[Siem Reap]]

| pop = '''180,000–1,000,000''' (est.)<br/>1% - 6.25% of the Cambodian population<ref>{{Cite news|date=2 July 2021|title='Please show mercy': Evicted by Cambodia, ethnic Vietnamese stuck at watery border|work=[[Reuters]]|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cambodia-vietnam-evictions-idUSKCN2E75RA}}</ref>

| regions = [[Siem Reap]], [[Phnom Penh]], South-East Cambodia

| rels = [[Vietnamese folk religion]], [[Mahayana|Mahayana Buddhism]], [[Theravada|Theravada Buddhism]], [[Caodaism|Cao Dai]], [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholicism]]

| langs = [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]], [[Khmer language|Khmer]]

| related = [[Overseas Vietnamese]], [[Austroasiatic languages|Austroasiatic peoples]]

'''Vietnamese Cambodians''' referrefers to ethnic group of [[Vietnamese people|Vietnamese]] livingwho live in [[Cambodia]] or it refers to Vietnamese who are of full or partial [[Khmer people|Khmer]] descent. According to Cambodian sources, in 2013 there are, about 15,000 Vietnamese people livinglive in Cambodia. A Vietnamese source saidstated there arethat 156,000 people livinglive in Cambodia,<ref>{{Cite news|date=23 September 2016|title=VN phối hợp với Campuchia đảm bảo cuộc sống người Việt|work=Ngày Nay|url=https://ngaynay.vn/vn-phoi-hop-voi-campuchia-dam-bao-cuoc-song-nguoi-viet-post25879.html}}</ref> while the actual number could be somewhere between 400,000 and one million people, according to independent scholars.<ref name="cambodia">{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/03/28/magazine/cambodia-persecuted-minority-water-refuge.html|title=A People in Limbo, Many Living Entirely on the Water|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=2018-03-28}}</ref> They mostly reside in southeastern parts of Cambodia bordering Vietnam or on [[boathousehouseboat]]s in the [[Tonlé Sap]] lake and [[Mekong]] rivers. The first Vietnamese came to settle modern-day Cambodia from the early 19th century during the era of the [[Nguyễn lords]] and most of the Vietnamese came to Cambodia during the periods of [[French protectorate of Cambodia|French colonial administration]] and the [[People's Republic of Kampuchea]] administration. During the [[Khmer Republic]] and [[Khmer Rouge]] governments in the 1970s under the [[Pol Pot regime]], the Vietnamese amongst others were targets of mass [[Genocide|genocides]]; thousands of Vietnamese were killed and many more sought refuge in Vietnam. Ethnic relations between the [[Cambodians]] and Vietnamese are poor and the Vietnamese have been the main target of [[Xenophobia|xenophobic]] attacks by political parties since the 1990s. Most of the Vietnamese are stateless residents of Cambodia and as a result they face difficulties in getting access to education, employment, and housing.

InWith 1880, the [[French Protectorate of Cambodia|French colonial administration]] to provide [[Citizenship|subject]] status to Vietnamese residentsindependence in Cambodia. Over the next fifty years1954, large numbers of Vietnamese migrated to Cambodia.<ref>Corfield (2009), p. 28</ref> Population censuses conducted by the French recorded an increase in the Vietnamese population from about 4,500 in the 1860s to almost 200,000 at the end of the 1930s.<ref name="Sch259">Schliesinger (2015), p. 259</ref> When the [[Japanese invasion of French Indochina|Japanese invaded Indochina]] in 1940, Vietnamese nationalists in Cambodia launched a brief but unsuccessful attempt to attack the French colonial administrators.<ref>Corfield (2009), p. 40</ref> In 1954,legislated a citizenship law was passedbased on the basis of knowledge in the Khmer language and national origin,; andthis effectively excluded most Vietnamese and [[Chinese Cambodian]]s.<ref>Ehrentraut (2013), p. 50</ref> At the grassrootsgrassroot level, Vietnamese also faced occasional cases of violent intimidation from the Cambodians. During a [[Sangkum]] congress in 1962, politicians debated on the issue of citizenship on Cambodia's ethnic minorities and a resolution was passed not to grant naturalization of Vietnamese residents.<ref name="Wil35">Willmott (1967), p. 35</ref>

When [[Lon Nol]] [[Cambodian coup of 1970|assumed power in 1970]], the [[Khmer Republic]] government launched a propaganda campaign to portray the ethnic Vietnamese as agents of the [[Vietcong]]. About 30,000 Vietnamese were arrested and killed in prison, while an additional tens of thousands fled to Vietnam. Five years later in 1975 when the Khmer republic met its demise at the hands of the [[Khmer Rouge]], lessfewer than 80,000 Vietnamese remained in Cambodia. whenThe the [[Khmer Rouge]] seizedproceeded power.to expel Closeclose to three quarters of them were expelledback to Vietnam, and; the remaining 20,000 whowere remainedclassified areas thosemixed who are of mixed-Vietnamese and Khmer descent. Those who remainedand were killed by the regime.<ref name="Sch260">Schliesinger (2015), p. 260</ref> By the time [[Cambodian–Vietnamese War|Vietnamese troops entered Cambodia]] in 1979, virtually all of Cambodia's Vietnamese population were either displaced or killed.<ref name="Tabeau48">Tabeau (2009), p. 48</ref> Vietnam established a new regime known as the [[People's Republic of Kampuchea]] (PRK), and Vietnamese advisers were appointed in the new government administration. In 1983, the PRK government formulated an official policy to encourage former Vietnamese residents of Cambodia to return and settle downin Cambodia. Even Vietnamese immigrants who had no family ties to Cambodia also came to settle in the country, as there was little border control to limit Vietnamese migrants from entering the country.<ref name="Eh56">Ehrentraut (2013), p. 56</ref> The Vietnamese were recognised as an official minority under the PRK regime, and Overseas Vietnamese Associations were established in parts of Cambodia with sizeable Vietnamese populations.<ref>Heder (1995), p. 154</ref> The PRK government also identity cards were issued to them until the withdrawal of Vietnamese troops in 1990.<ref>Heder (1995), p. 135</ref>

In August 1994, the [[National Assembly of Cambodia]] introduced an immigration law which authorisesauthorised the deportation of illegal immigrants. The [[United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees|UNHCR]] perceivedassessed the law as singling out and targeting Vietnamese migrants in Cambodia, and; the Cambodian government laterhad steppedto inreassure tothe international assurecommunity that no mass deportations of Vietnamese refugees would be implemented. TheMeanwhile in the remote northwest, he Khmer Rouge continued to carry out sporadic attacks on Vietnamese civilians. untilThe theyKhmer Rouge formally surrendered to the government in 1999. Ethnicbut ethnic Vietnamese continue to face discrimination fromin Cambodian societyCambodia, andboth encounteredas physical intimidation from societythe general population and governmentadministrative threats by local authorities. Anti-Vietnamese are familiar rallying cries from politicians in especiallycampaigns during the general elections orand become even more acute when disputes betweenflared Cambodiain andthe news between the Vietnamtwo arisecountries.<ref>Amer (2013), p. 95</ref>

The Vietnamese are generally concentrated along the river banks of the Tonlé Sap lake and Mekong river which encompass the provinces of [[Siem Reap]], [[Kampong Chhnang Province|Kampong Chhnang]] and [[Pursat]].<ref>Ehrentraut (2013), p. 30</ref> Smaller populations may be found in Phnom Penh as well as southeastern provinces bordering Vietnam, namely [[Prey Veng Province|Prey Veng]], [[Svay Rieng Province|Svay Rieng]],<ref>Willmott (1967), p. 107</ref> [[Kampot Province|Kampot]], [[Kandal Province|Kandal]], [[Kratié Province|Kratié]]<ref name="Eh71"/> and [[Takéo Province|Takéo]].<ref name="Sch260"/> The Vietnamese population was at its largest in 1962 when the government census showed that they were the country's largest minority and reflected 3.8% of the country's population. Demographic researchers returned higher estimated numbers of Vietnamese than government censuses reflect. For example, in the 1960s, the number of resident Vietnamese may be as high as 400,000,<ref name="Tabeau48"/> while another Cambodian-based researcher, [[Michael Vickery]] had estimated the Vietnamese resident population to be between 200,000 and 300,000 in 1986. On the other hand, government censuses conducted during the 1980s put the figures to be no more than 60,000.<ref name="Sch261">Schliesinger (2015), p. 261</ref> The following population figures shows population figures of ethnic Vietnamese based on figures derived from government censuses:

Ethnic Khmers have a poor perception of the Vietnamese community, due to persistent feelings of communal animosity from the past history of Vietnamese rule over Cambodia.<ref>Ehrentraut (2013), pp. 86–87</ref> In 1958, a survey conducted by William Willmott upon high school students in Phnom Penh showed that relations with Chinese were generally rated as friendly, whereas Khmer students viewed their Vietnamese classmates with suspicion.<ref name="Wil35"/> Relations between the Vietnamese and Chinese are considerably better, as both ethnic groups share a close cultural affinity. Chinese males sometimes take Vietnamese wives, particularly in Phnom Penh and eastern parts of the country where there are large Chinese and Vietnamese communities.<ref>Willmott (1967), p. 42</ref> In recent years, field research carried out by Ehrentraut in 2013 suggested that ethnic relations between Vietnamese have deteriorated not only with the ethnic Khmer, but also with the [[Cham people|Cham]] and Chinese Cambodians.<ref>Ehrentraut (2013), p. 76</ref>