Map Tattoos Grow in Popularity For Cambodian Youths Amid Fears of Ceding Territory to Vietnam

An increasing number of youths in Cambodia are tattooing the country's map on their bodies in protest of recent legislation that they say could lead to the ceding of territory to Vietnam, amid a long-running dispute over the border between the two neighbors.

Earlier this month, Cambodia's Senate approved a draft law on a supplementary treaty for the country's border with Vietnam which is based on a combination of border treaties the two countries used in 1985 and 2005, and would recognize 84 percent of the border's current demarcation.

Border activists and members of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) say that the legislation will cede land to Vietnam because it is based in part on the 1985 treaty, which was enacted after Vietnam invaded Cambodia in 1979 to oust the Khmer Rouge regime and installed a puppet government to run the country.

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