Fact Check: Sam Rainsy in Vietnam Army Uniform?
Major national elections in Cambodia are approaching in the next two years. Criticism and political verbal attacks have become a topic of debate among the Facebook users especially on the opposition party and its leader, Sam Rainsy. Meanwhile, a photo of Sam Rainsy, the former president of the Cambodia National Rescue Party, in a Vietnam army uniform was posted and reshared recently on Facebook.
This is about our investigation over this photo.
Social Media Claim
On December 2, 2020, one of the Facebook users posted a photo of Sam Rainsy, former president of the Cambodian National Rescue Party, in a Vietnamese army uniform. The photo above may be believed by some Facebook users to be a real photo since it was publicly shared on social media.
A screenshot captured from the Facebook user's post in December 2020 with a photo showing Sam Rainsy in Vietnam army uniform.
Fact Check
Fact Crescendo Cambodia had started to check and verify this photo directly by running a Google Reverse Image search, which brought us to the sources containing the following original photos.
According to a post of official website of the Ministry of Defense of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, published on August 10, 2017, shows photos of the Vietnamese Minister of Defense, Ngo Xuan Lich, and a US Secretary of Defense, James Mattis, in Washington. This clearly shows that the person appearing in original photo is not the former president of the Cambodian National Rescue Party, Sam Rainsy at all.
The following is an excerpt from a website that reads in Englis as “US Secretary of Defense James Mattis received Vietnam Defense Minister General Ngo Xuan Lich”.
Ministry of National Defence of Vietnam Link | Archived Link
This exact photo was also posted on the official website of the US Embassy in Vietnam on August 09, 2017. This website also added that Defense Minister Jim Mattis met with his Vietnamese counterpart Ngo Xuan Lich during his official visit to the states on August 08, 2017, to discuss the ongoing US-Vietnam defense relationship and security challenges in the region.
Additional image from the US Embassy website in Vietnam showing the handshake between the Ministers of Defense of both countries.
U.S. Embassy in Vietnam Link | Archived Link
Who is Ngo Xuan Lich?
Ngo Xuan Lich (born 20 April 1954 in Hà Nam) is a Vietnamese politician and Vietnam's Minister of National Defence and Chief of the General Department of Politics of Vietnam. Ngo Xuan Lich became a member of the Communist Party of Vietnam on 8 August 1974. He was previously Vice Chief of the General Department of Politics (January 2008–2011) and was promoted to the rank of four-star General in 2016. He replaced Lê Văn Dũng as Director of the General Department of Politics in March 2011.
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Conclusion
Fact Crescendo Cambodia has found out that the photo posted by the user above was altered. This original photo was factually Defence Minister General Ngo Xuan Lich and US Secretary of Defence James Mattis during the official meeting in Washington on August 08, 2017.
