Cambodia may give villages to Vietnam

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, June 18 (UPI) -- Cambodia may have to cede two villages to Vietnam as a compromise while officials work to demarcate borders with Vietnam and Laos, a Cambodian official said.

The borders were renegotiated in 1985 but Cambodia is seeking to retain Thlok Trach and Anlung Chrey in Kampong Cham province. Va Kimhong, senior minister in charge of the Cambodian Border Affairs Committee, said the government would have to compromise to keep the two villages.

The Phnom Penh Post said Va Kimhong did not specify which villages would be given to Vietnam in exchange for retaining the territory.  Alleged Vietnamese encroachment on Cambodian territory stirs strong passions in Cambodia, the newspaper said.

A spokesman for the opposition Sam Rainsy Party says Cambodia shouldn't have to cede any territory, alleging the Vietnamese claim was based on an unacceptable 2005 supplementary treaty to the 1985 Treaty on Delimitation of National Boundaries between the two countries, the newspaper said. .