The Vietnamese minority in Cambodia

In recent history, the Vietnamese ethnic minority living in Cambodia (some 6–7 per cent of the population in 1970) have been the target of forms of racism initiated by the Cambodian state. The ‘genocidal’ ¹ policies of the Khmer Rouge (known in power as the government of Democratic Kampuchea) led by Pol Pot are well known to the outside world and the Vietnamese minority were one of the groups affected by these policies. From 1975–78, many Vietnamese were expelled or were forced to flee from Cambodia because of the harsh treatment meted out to them by Khmer Rouge cadres. Many of those who were not expelled or did not escape were killed by the Khmer Rouge, particularly in the eastern zone – an administrative region established by the Khmer Rouge close to Cambodia's border with Vietnam. Moreover, non-Vietnamese Cambodians thought to be sympathetic to Vietnam were also often killed on the grounds that, like the Vietnamese living in Cambodia, they were trying to destroy the Cambodian revolution and facilitate the integration of Cambodia into an Indochina Federation.