Historically, Cambodians have had a long and deep-seated hatred of the Vietnamese. This time however they were welcomed with open-arms as their whipping of the Khmer Rouge offered Cambodians hope for the future.
"...the Vietnamese were our friends. Villagers lined the streets to applaud them, and provided them with sugar cane and water. We did not see them as invaders," said Chea Vannath.*
The Vietnamese changed the name of Cambodia to the People's Republic of Kampuchea.
*Getting Away With Genocide: Elusive Justice and the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, Tom Fawthrop and Helen Jarvis, 2005.
This news report of the time is well worth watching. (Unfortunately I can't embed it.)
http://abcnews.go.com/Archives/video/jan-1979-fall-phnom-penh-12508505
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