Vietnamese Cambodians

Vietnamese Cambodians
ជនជាតិខ្មែរវៀតណាម
Người Campuchia gốc Việt

A Vietnamese floating village in Siem Reap
Total population
180,000–1,000,000 (est.) 1% - 6.25% of the Cambodian population[1]
Regions with significant populations
Siem Reap, Phnom Penh, South-East Cambodia
Languages
Vietnamese, Khmer
Religion
Vietnamese folk religion, Mahayana Buddhism, Theravada Buddhism, Caodaism, Roman Catholicism
Related ethnic groups
Overseas Vietnamese, Austroasiatic peoples

Vietnamese Cambodians refers to ethnic group of Vietnamese who live in Cambodia or it refers to Vietnamese who are of full or partial Khmer descent. According to Cambodian sources, in 2013, about 15,000 Vietnamese people live in Cambodia. A Vietnamese source stated that 156,000 people live in Cambodia,^[2] while the actual number could be somewhere between 400,000 and one million people, according to independent scholars.^[3] They mostly reside in southeastern parts of Cambodia bordering Vietnam or on houseboats in the Tonlé Sap lake and Mekong rivers. The first Vietnamese came to settle modern-day Cambodia from the early 19th century during the era of the Nguyễn lords and most of the Vietnamese came to Cambodia during the periods of French colonial administration and the People's Republic of Kampuchea administration. During the Khmer Republic and Khmer Rouge governments in the 1970s under the Pol Pot regime, the Vietnamese amongst others were targets of mass genocides; thousands of Vietnamese were killed and many more sought refuge in Vietnam.

Ethnic relations between the Cambodians and Vietnamese are complex, where despite engagement and collaboration between the two countries of Cambodia and Vietnam, Vietnamese have been the target of xenophobic attacks by opposition political parties against Hun Sen's policies since the 1990s.^[4] Many of the stateless Vietnamese residents face difficulties in getting access to education, employment, and housing.^[5][6] Although xenophobic sentiments have been a continuing source of concern, they have not been a barrier towards neighbourly ties within the context of Southeast Asia and other international affairs.^{[7][8][9][10]}