A Vietnamese Embassy official on Friday denied charges by former Khmer Rouge cadre Khieu Samphan that Vietnam had contributed to the genocide of Cambodia by interfering in the internal affairs of Cambodia during conflicts of the 1960s and 1970s.
Khieu Samphan said this week that Vietnam tried to press Cambodia into an Indochinese federation, by making overtures to Pol Pot as the Khmer Rouge rose to power.
Former Khmer Rouge leaders continually point to Vietnam's alleged designs on Cambodia as a main reason the regime was necessary.
Both Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea, the chief ideologue of the regime arrested by the Khmer Rouge tribunal in September on charges of atrocity crimes, have said Vietnam would have taken over Cambodia if not for the Khmer Rouge.
"Khieu Samphan wants to put the blame on Vietnam, and it is his fabrication to reduce his wrongdoings," Vietnamese Embassy spokesman Trinh Ba Cam said. "The Khmer Rouge leaders are being indicted, and now they can say whatever they want to so that they can find a way out. His words cannot be trusted or believed."