Minister of Education, Youth and Sport Hang Chuon Naron speaking at a press conference on the establishment of the Institute of International Studies and Public Policy at the Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP) on August 19. Heng Chivoan
Minister of Education, Youth and Sport Hang Chuon Naron clarified that the establishment of the Department of Vietnamese Language was not for every student, saying that the training was not going to be incorporated into the standard curriculum for all students, but only for Cambodian students who get scholarships to study in Vietnam and others with an interest in the language.
At a press conference on the establishment of the Institute of International Studies and Public Policy at the Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP) on August 19, Chuon Naron said that Vietnam is the number one trading partner with Cambodia and the volume of exports and imports totals to more than $5 billion and that number increased considerably the context of Covid-19.
He added that the establishment of the Vietnamese language department to train people in the language will help create jobs for Cambodians living in border provinces by increasing the trade volume with Vietnam and increase the number of Vietnamese investors in Cambodia.
“In addition, the department of Vietnamese language will provide one year of Vietnamese language training to Cambodian students who receive scholarships to study in Vietnam. We send 120 students per year from Bachelor’s to doctorates, mostly medical students and athletes,” he continued.
He also said that in the past, Cambodian students had difficulty studying with Vietnamese students if they did not learn Vietnamese first and many only studied the language for two or three months before taking regular classes with Vietnamese students.
“Concerns about the current situation and the situation in the 18th and 19th centuries are very different. We know that in the 18th and 19th centuries, the relationship between the two countries did not have the benefit of international law, rather it was just colonisation through the use of force,” Chuon Naron emphasised. “But after World War II, we’ve had strong international laws and the United Nations. No nation can now go and colonise any other country, so the current situation is very different from the situation 100 or 200 years ago.”
He added that Cambodia is a sovereign state and it created the Vietnamese language department not at the request of anyone, but according to the needs of the Kingdom, so the Vietnamese side cannot and did not order Cambodia to do anything. Therefore, the establishment of the Institute of International Studies and Public Policy is to promote international studies and also the study of all member nations in ASEAN.
“Study of ASEAN countries, including studies from neighboring countries such as Thailand, Vietnam and Laos, are important for boosting trade, investment, tourism and development in border areas, such as the development of the Bavet Special Economic Zone on the border with Vietnam and development in the provinces bordering Thailand and Laos,” he said.
He added that Cambodia has also established two centres for ASEAN studies, one at the National University of Management focusing on ASEAN economics and the other at RUPP which is a general studies programme.
He said that the establishment of the Vietnamese language department will also train prospective diplomats and those who are doing business in Vietnam, as well as those who work in private companies that use the Vietnamese language.
“This Vietnamese language training is not for all students or for general students, but for specialists, diplomats and students who are going to study in Vietnam,” he said.
He said that RUPP is already conferring Bachelor’s degrees in English, French, Japanese, Chinese, Thai and Korean.
“If we want to know about ASEAN, we need to know about each member of ASEAN, and this general knowledge is very important for the world today to maintain peace rather than go to war with each other,” he added.
He continued that this cooperation is important because the early history between Cambodia and Vietnam was marked by conflict and war and the Cambodian people know that this benefits no one because of experiences they’ve had under previous rulers such as the Lon Nol regime or the Khmer Rouge.
