![]() “Cambodia has always been a sideshow to the great powers. “China and the Khmer Rouge were brothers in arms,” he said. “Indeed, with the withdrawal of the U.S., the Khmer Republic collapsed,” he added. Embassy simply reminded Cambodia of who was supporting the Khmer Rouge at their height of power-1975-1979.” Sophal Ear, associate professor of diplomacy and world affairs at Occidental College at Los Angeles, said: “It looks like the U.S. “Cambodia doesn’t want to see the same history, as Cambodia has full peace,” it read. Phay Siphan, a Cambodian government spokesman, could not be reached for comment.Ĭambodia’s Ministry of National Defense said in a statement issued last week that Cambodia had suffered from a civil war that arose from “a coup supported by United States in 1970.” Repeated efforts to reach the Chinese Embassy in Cambodia were unsuccessful. “We hope the Chinese government will acknowledge its legacy in Cambodia and make amends to all the Cambodians its policies affected,” Zeeberg added. “The United States has addressed its war legacy by long-standing and substantial efforts for humanitarian demining and removing unexploded ordnance (UXO), including the removal of hundreds of thousands of Chinese-made mines, which have injured and killed people for decades,” she said in an email. Embassy spokeswoman, told VOA Khmer that there was “no evidence that the United States was involved in the coup that brought Lon Nol to power.”įILE - President Lon Nol in Cambodia in 1972. involvement to be a matter of historical record, Emily Zeeberg, U.S. China is Cambodia’s largest aid donor.Īlthough many consider the U.S. “Those two superpowers can take advantage” of a vulnerable country like Cambodia, he said, adding that Phnom Penh’s closeness with Beijing makes it unlikely to take a stand. Meas Nee, a political analyst who holds a doctorate in sociology and international social work from La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia, said Cambodia should be cautious of falling into a trap if a new Cold War emerges. “I think Cambodia has become the proxy of U.S.-China geopolitical rivalry,” he said in an email. have blood on their hands.”įILE - A photo taken in the 1970 outside of Cambodia, shows China's chairman Mao Ze Dong, left, greeting top Khmer Rouge official Ieng Sary, right, also known as " brother number three," while Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot, center, looks on.Ĭhheang Vannarith, president of the Asian Vision Institute (AVI), an independent think tank based in Phnom Penh, said the current war of words is another indication that the U.S.-China competition in Cambodia will continue to intensify. “The subject is too serious for these propaganda potshots,” she wrote VOA Khmer in an email. 1, mocking the idea that the coup “was not related to the U.S., but the CIA.”Įlizabeth Becker, author of When the War was Over: Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge Revolution, said the current tit-for-tat was “a distorted argument started by the Hun Sen government.” In response, the Chinese Embassy posted a statement on its Facebook page, Feb. “Instead, there is a lot of evidence showing that Chinese government actively supported Khmer Rouge from 1975 to 1979 and after that,” read a post by the U.S. The embassy later issued comments claiming Washington was not involved in the coup led by Lon Nol that ousted Sihanouk. 30, saying the Khmer Rouge “ignorantly depended on a superpower,” an apparent reference to China. Embassy posted a statement on its Facebook page, Jan. Today, that sequence of events reverberates in a diplomatic face-off in Phnom Penh that echoes the Cold War even as it has gone viral in Cambodia. Cambodia's former King Norodom Sihanouk, whose life mirrored the turbulent history of his nation where he remained a revered figure, died in Beijing, Oct. FILE- Cambodia's King Norodom Sihanouk in Vichy, Jan.
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