Browse Items (1 total)

• TextASEANCambodians...2 more

  ASEAN as a regional organisation Cambodia-Vietnam relations

  Throughout its pre-colonial history, Southeast Asia was heavily influenced by outside power. The region is located midway between India and China. Yet even more than external influencers, Southeast Asia historically has been scene of intense internal competition, the result of the dynamic expansion and contraction of empires and kingdoms within the region. This competition has been significant for several reasons. First, it produced deep, lasting animosities among various ethnic groups that continue to cloud foreign relations to the present time. Example, the hatred between Vietnamese and Cambodians. Second, the historical ebb and flow of the major Southeast Asian kingdoms led in many cases to the mass migration of populations. So great was migration that today more ethnic Laotians can be found in Thailand than in Laos. Shifts in population such as these are significant because they are often provide seeds of conflicts when defining contemporary borders.