The meeting was joined by a Cambodian royal army delegation who acknowledged the Vietnamese volunteer soldiers’ contributions and sacrifices in helping the Cambodian people overthrow the Pol Pot genocidal regime and won the historic victory on January 7, 1979. 

"Prime Minister Hunsen has said Cambodia’s current development is made possible thanks to the salvation by the Vietnamese army. This has comforted war veterans like us and those who laid down their lives to help Cambodia defeat the Pol Pot regime. I hope the next generations of the two countries’ armies will carry on their predecessors’ fine traditions and tighten their cooperation to ensure both sides’ peace and security," said  Pham Thanh Vu, a war veteran of  Military Zone 5 who fought in the Cambodian battlefield.

Also on Friday morning, an exhibition was held at  Military Zone 5’s museum on Vietnam’s 10 years of fulfilling its international commitment in Cambodia (1979-1989). On display are more than 200 documents, photos, and artifacts on the history of  Vietnam’s army and Military Zone 5, its efforts to defend Vietnam’s Southwest border and fulfill its international duty of helping the Cambodians in the fight against genocide.

The exhibition opens at Military Zone 5's Museum on January 4th, 2019.

"The Vietnamese and Cambodian people have always wanted to live in peace, especially after the 1975 Spring Victory. However, the Pol Pot regime betrayed the Cambodian people and undermined the traditional friendship  between Vietnam and Cambodia. The Vietnamese Party, State, and Army exercised its legitimate right to self-defense to protect its southwest border and joined the Cambodian armed forces to overthrow the genocidal regime on January 7, 1979," said Major General Ha Huy Long, Vice Political Commissar of Military Zone 5.