Translated from French by Luc SârThe unexpected friendship of US President George Bush
By N. Sihanouk
08 August 2008
By N. Sihanouk
08 August 2008
Grandiose and very beautiful, very successful opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics Games.
In a portion of the podium reserved for Chinese and foreign VIPs (heads of state, national leaders, retired Prime Ministers), the PRC protocol placed not far from one another the illustrious President George Bush, the father of the current US President, the illustrious Lee Kuan Yew of the Republic of Singapore, N. Sihanouk of Cambodia.
Unforgettable event: President George Bush stood up, smiling and affable, to come and warmly shake my hand. I stood up to greet him and tell him: “Sir, I admire you so much!”. The US President was visibly touched. He thanked me by shaking my hand warmly a second time.
H.E. Lee Kuan Yew and I are old friends. We had a lot of pleasure and we were very moved to see each other again.
In the podium reserved for heads of state and current heads of government, my son Preah Sihamoni, King of Cambodia, was placed not far from the illustrious President Hu Jin Tao of the glorious PRC, next to the illustrious US President Bush (son).
US President Bush was very amicable with Preah Sihamoni.
(Signed) N. Sihanouk
In a portion of the podium reserved for Chinese and foreign VIPs (heads of state, national leaders, retired Prime Ministers), the PRC protocol placed not far from one another the illustrious President George Bush, the father of the current US President, the illustrious Lee Kuan Yew of the Republic of Singapore, N. Sihanouk of Cambodia.
Unforgettable event: President George Bush stood up, smiling and affable, to come and warmly shake my hand. I stood up to greet him and tell him: “Sir, I admire you so much!”. The US President was visibly touched. He thanked me by shaking my hand warmly a second time.
H.E. Lee Kuan Yew and I are old friends. We had a lot of pleasure and we were very moved to see each other again.
In the podium reserved for heads of state and current heads of government, my son Preah Sihamoni, King of Cambodia, was placed not far from the illustrious President Hu Jin Tao of the glorious PRC, next to the illustrious US President Bush (son).
US President Bush was very amicable with Preah Sihamoni.
(Signed) N. Sihanouk
32 comments:
Forty-one years ago during Lee Kuan Yew's state visit to Cambodia back in April/1967, he commented how beautiful Phnom Penh was at the time with its tree-lined boulevards and nice buildings and wanted Singapore to follow Phnom Penh as its role model.
Today with our 2 digit grow annually, we will make Phnom Penh beautiful again...and eventually the "Pearl of Asia"
The only way to prosperity is peace...Cambodia wants to live in peace with its neighbors.
Yes, that's true. Cambodia was beautiful, progressive, and energetic then.
Many head of states including Lee Kuan Yew, Jacquelin Kenedy, Charles de Gault, and many others visit Cambodia then.
A few years after that, Cambodia fell into the Abyss. Now Cambodia is known as the wounded and broken child.
To see the World Leader in corruption is Cambodia, go to this site:
http://www.modbee.com/opinion/national/story/401363.html
If USA so amicable Sihaknuk whore would appreciate and take care the friendship since 1970 to now ,Sihaknuk whore shouldn't supplying ,supporting Vietcong to defeat USA and help khmer rouge to kill Lon Nol, so is it too late for Sihaknuk whore to wake up?
And also what Sihaknuk whore receiving in return from Vietcong and Khmer rouge?
To Sihaknuk whore you are not in the back up singr anymore on the Vietnam war that you were conspire and retaliated with USA,because USA has no policy for you to be king for life .
Have a good hope the king of khmer rouge.
This idiot 1:30AM doesn't even understand what is going on in south east region during the cold war until now. More stupid like you more disaster in everywhere.
Sihanouk did his utmost job to save your country and your ass from thousand bombs flew from U Tapoan, base in Thailand, you idiot.
Without Sihanouk Cambodia and all of you dead, no one left.
The US didn't even care your little shit country. The US and the west sacrificed Cambodia to hell just to win over Communist.
2:12AM, great respond. Don't expect these people to understand, they are below average to know what's happening to their country after French left. The vietnamese secret troos were everywhere in the country side since the French still controlled. You are right, the US and the west like UK didn't care about Cambodia, they just wanted Cambodia to disappear.
Bush visited his puppet King in Bangkok and congratulated Bhumibol of their friendship for 175 years since Prez Andrew Jackson started his foreign policy.
Not only the US wanted to sacrifice Cambodia for its victory over Communist, French, Cambodia's former protector also wanted to get rid of Cambodia. The French punished Khmers by hiring the Vietnamese to control over Cambodia and Laos.
You see what happens to these Khmers? They are stupid. Not King Sihanouk, but his people are stupid.
Right now there is China and Russia that don't like your boss very much and because your country is host to US military base, that is an extra reason for Thailand to be a big target for these two.
So you should wake up from your dream.
2:48AM. You meant Bush, Bhumibol's boss?
The US and the west sacrificed Cambodia to hell just to win over Communist.???
Applause 2:12AM You know so much about that matter then you joined Vietcongcommunist and China communist to kill Lon Nol and US A. so you joined communist to kill your own million people ,starve them to death this is USA fault ?
I think you fucked up you can’t find Counties to blame, because you and Sihaknuk are the same block is the RED .I did not see USA Kill Cambodian except Vietcong and Khmer rouge and people that lead Khmer rouge and created khmer rouge is Sihaknuk . Why you are so scare the international court?? Come on be a man and grow up then ask Cambodian people the whole country Who is the khmer killer almost three decades ago and come back then I can talk with you , Now you might too young or you are Sihaknuk clan communist raised.
I am personally appreciate if you take care your brain with some support Alertness short term Memory then I will talk with you again okay good debates.
3;02am. Don't bet, you will lose. What you saw was not what happened.
US has its allies Thailand and South Vietnam. US was not interested with your little shit country. Lon Nol was Sihanouk's creation, so stop fooling yourself.
Too pro US and too pro China or Russia is not good. The facts remain not being told. These Cambodians are in dark blaming each others.
The US bombed Viet Cong hiding in Cambodia only killed more Khmers.
The bottom line Cambodia had two enemies: one is Vietnamese who infiltrated too deep since before French arrived, second is Thais.
Sihanouk is not the one be blamed, but Cambodians don't trust each other from the Vietnamese elite strategies called dividing them.
3:31AM you dumb son of the gun who killed Cambodian people in Kher rouge Era ? If you are stupid not enough to know am telling you ,Vietnam(vietminh)+khmer rouge Sihaknuk creators and Chaina right Idiot ?Are they communist? So who is the Cambodian killer? Tell me ?
Or you Idiot is the one of Sihaknuk creator too,shut the fuck off I hate ah communist ,there only one brain for it whole country can't create any shit just only rice fields,living in the mud like buffalo.
Are you one of them bozo?
3:26 AM you know too well for your own ages, Your words said Sihaknuk not one to be blamed but Viet??
Why ah sdach jkout let viet hiding in khmer tertiary feed them with food ,medicine,weapons from the royal families support if I do not have the short memory there were OM Manarin(Sihaknuk brother in law)and Monique Monineat(sihaknuk wife or queen) Can you explained me? Because of Viet divide Cambodian why Cambodian king has to do those such thing to conspire with Viet and China to kill his own citizen for Viet to control Cambodia?
Answer my question you smart ass Alex I do not need hearsay ?
Isn't this beautiful how divided Khmer are? All of you who want to fight another Khmer need to set up arrangement and kill the other off. Let's fucking kill the guy you don't agree with huh?
Don't chicken out now, all the Mr. badass keyboard warriors. Let's see some blood flowing. I'm tired of all the bullshit talking. More action, motherfuckers.
Khmer the warrior blood who will fight and kill anyone, especially our own Khmer.
Your vulgar comment not acceptable,you have gone insane by your own ,if you do not understand the bad blood mother fucker Sihaknuk and your self do not confuse the others .Finally you have admitted your guilt because you do not know anything from your ass to your face. Why my Cambodia always walk behind it neighbors to me if you are so dumb like goat please experiences your self or do a lot research before you are preaching to others to gossip you and if you are retarded Like Thai king have been confuse the history to it citizen ,you know that what is the result of that stupidity?? In name of you are my born in my same nation please do not defend ah sdach pleu burn it own country for Viet to topple every one of US.This is ah sdach ontha peal fault.
629am. Why you and your pple are always walking behind others? Been rich for to long in Khmer empire, became lazy and stupid, fucking each others for power.
You are all still doing it and stupid as ever. Stop blaming only Sihanouk, blame on all of you.
Down to all Khmers. Dead to Khmer society, who CARES?
Good debate, but please mind the politeness in the way of convincing each other. Cambodia need development, many hostories are not so much clear and that is the source of debates and conflicts. Debates cand conflicts can constructive but can also be destructive, We have been gone through so many destructive conflicts and debates that led the country fall into the such miserable situation.
We have about half millions of Cambodians living in the US and other half millions living in rest of the western world. They should be much better oxposed to western value, They are much capable than those living in the Cambodia in comparing the two distinguished social values, and how Cambodian are being valued by those western societies.
If to look at the history, only looking at the stories of the politic then it is too narrow. A major development and destruction is often comprised of many factors, such as cultural differences, geographical competitiveness, religions and soforth, these ar the most difficult barriers to be overcome by human capability...
Hey Vietminh and siem not impress by your shit.
The fact still that the vietminh betray China (1975) and it's only a question of time that China will crush you (I hope your 4M soldiers will be enough).
For the siem China will not tolerate the US military base near its door step so siemland will be the next battle field.
So cut your bullshit and start thinking about your own future.
Those youn and siem fuckers are capitalizing on the KR era. That's the only thing they can come up with. True we did a mistake and cost us dearly.
We won't repeat that mistake twice, so spare us your trick.
Take a good look at your own future fuckers.
I am sorry, if I would say, many of the people given comments above are extremist. I think you don't need to blame each other as uneducated or stupid...., just consider yourself what you have said or done is highly educated or clever enough. I guess educated people are open mind, polite, reasonable and respect the other opinion and belief. If you know well about the history, why don't you tell it clearly to the people who don't know? And if the people who listen to you disagree with some points, why don't you reconsider your knowledge and use your firm reasons to protect your arguments?
Educate people do not too defensive on their arguments. Please accept that, no one know everything.
I agreed with 10:21 AM...Those people are even worst than their words. These oversea people are below uneducated people in Cambodia.
They always considerd themselves as highly educated in the west, but they are indeed educated in mob and gang society, where some hundreds of their children and relatives had been sent back by their adopted-homeland govt to spoil Cambodia...
The result of the protection of vietcong from the U.S bomb are the khmer rouge that secretly killed almost 3,oooooo cambodians in 75 - 79.and now cambodia is at very risky condition by the vietcongs.
Thailand's foreign policy, it is the ability to take advantage of the rivalries of larger powers. Skillfully avoiding occupation during various colonial enterprises, Thai foreign policy has cleverly sensed the prevailing winds and adapted accordingly. Thailand's close relationship with China – arguably one of the closest in Southeast Asia – sits alongside an alliance relationship with the United States.
Thailand's relationship with China has not always been so vital – only in 1975 did the two countries restore diplomatic links. China's support for the Communist Party of Thailand (CPT) and its insurgency from the post-war period until the 1970s was a major stumbling block. But as America decreased its commitment in South Vietnam under President Nixon's policy of forcing the Saigon government to assume more and more responsibility, Thailand reconsidered its options. Mindful that the non-communist states in Southeast Asia were in real trouble, and the strong possibility that there were limits to what Washington would do to save them, Thailand forged a relationship with China. Part of this courtship involved Thailand's toleration of Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, which Bangkok recognized. In December 1978, when Vietnam invaded Cambodia, China and Thailand formed a tight relationship that revolved around support for the armed opposition to Vietnamese rule. China and Thailand cooperated extensively in funneling provisions and materiel to the Khmer Rouge, while China ended all support for the CPT.
China and Thailand essentially formed a de facto alliance that ultimately extended to the armed forces of the two countries. China and Thailand signed a "Strategic Partnership" arrangement, which has included a regular exchange of military personnel and exercises. Since the early 1980s, Thailand has purchased armaments and military-related equipment under this partnership at "friendship prices" – much of which has effectively amounted to military gift aid. China and Thailand have announced a whole raft of measures and initiatives to mark the thirtieth anniversary of formalized relations in the year 2005. Until the expansion of ASEAN saw Burma join the ranks, Thailand could boast the closest ties to China of any ASEAN state – something that occasionally raised eyebrows in capitals like Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila and even Singapore.
In part, the relationship has stayed healthy due to some underlying factors. First of all, unlike Vietnam and the states of maritime Southeast Asia, Thailand has no overlapping territorial claims with China. The others are either joint claimants to the waters and islets of the South China Sea, or, in the case of Indonesia, out-right disputants over sea boundaries. Second, Thailand's Chinese community has been well integrated into Thai society to the extent that the ethnic Chinese are not discriminated against in any way. On the contrary, Thais of ethnic Chinese ancestry are exceedingly well represented in the political, military and economic elite of the country. Though they remain Thai nationalists, many have even re-discovering their Chinese cultural and linguistic "roots" in recent years. Meanwhile, Beijing has made a point of identifying commonalities between Sinic and Thai culture. Third, Thailand is conscious of the reality of China's emerging power in the Asia Pacific region, and is keen to adjust to the inevitability of Beijing's economic and strategic reach into the region. Thai leaders are mindful of a long relationship with China that stretches back into the days when Thai monarchs paid tribute to Imperial China. The future will, for Thailand, look much like the past.
Here Thailand's core strategic concept of "bending with the prevailing winds" comes into play. Thailand very carefully manages its foreign policy to retain close relations with both China and the United States, while also satisfying perceived demands from the Thai public. While holding on to the "Strategic Partnership" with China, Thailand never put the axe to its formal alliance structure with the United States, even if it was moribund during much of the 1970s.
The U.S.-Thai relationship, which outlived the failure of the South-East Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) alliance just prior to the end of the Vietnam War, remains in quite robust shape. President Bush conferred on Thailand the designation of Major Non-NATO Ally (MNNA) during a visit in October 2003. Despite what the name might suggest, MNNA Status does not entail the same defense guarantees to which NATO members have agreed. But the designation does indicate to Thailand its importance to the United States, particularly in light of Washington's interest in counter-terrorism, and recognition of Thai peacekeeping contributions to both Afghanistan and Iraq. MNNA gives Thailand access to preferences in advanced weaponry. Thailand is also host to the annual Cobra Gold exercises, involving significant land, sea and air components of the United States armed forces.
However, Thailand has not allowed its relationship with America to dominate its policies. Unlike the Philippines and Singapore, Bangkok refused to back America's unilateral invasion of Iraq. Skillfully hedging its bets, Thai diplomats remained mindful of their need to keep the United States somewhat at a distance, especially given public opposition to the war. While the insertion of troops after the invasion demonstrated to Washington that it was not entirely unsupportive, this allowed Thailand to maintain its balancing act.
The motivation of Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra – himself a Sino-Thai – to maintain a degree of independence in his dealings with the United States cannot be explained solely by the China factor. Thaksin is aware of the need to preserve communal relations, particularly in the Muslim South. After a brief imposition of martial law in Thailand's three southern-most provinces in January 2004, the Muslim south has spiraled into worsening violence for a combination of reasons including separatist sentiment, intra-elite violence, and criminal activity. Exacerbating existing complaints of identity loss, human rights abuses, and economic deprivation, Thai Muslims are conscious of events in the wider Muslim world. The Thaksin government is fully aware that the war in Iraq has the capacity to electrify his Muslim constituents if he is deemed to have whole heartedly sided with the United States.
This threat, emerging as Thailand's major stability question, will serve to further bring China and Thailand on to the same page. Both face the separatist question in troubled Muslim majority periphery areas – Patani in Thailand and Xinjiang in China. Clearly, the post-September 11 environment, that has seen China and the U.S. suspend a degree of harsh rhetoric in favor of confronting the perceived common enemy of terrorism, will foster more convergence between China and Thailand as well. In the past, Thailand, out of concern to maintain its special relationship with China, has offered China very clear assurances on issues of China's state cohesion. Thailand has gone further than many other states in supporting China's saber-rattling towards Taiwan. Thailand even blocked entry to the Dalai Lama at one point, and expelled members of the Falun Gong sect, which is banned in China.
There have been instances of bilateral tension since the restoration of modern Sino-Thai diplomatic links. Thai officials still feel that China has failed to aid them in stemming the flow of drugs and people out of Burma. Thailand has also been critical of China failing to restrain the Chinese-equipped Burmese army from the occasional border incursion. A burgeoning two-way trade, which grew from US$8.6 billion in 2002 to US$12 billion in 2003, is heavily weighted in China's favor and threatens to push a good deal of Thai business to the wall. China's economy will be an opportunity to some Thai investors and exporters, but a giant steamroller to others.
On balance, however, Thailand seeks to engage China and draw it into a lattice of networks and relationships. What began as a convergence of interests over Cambodia, and checking Vietnam, has altered course to account for wider strategic shifts in the Asia Pacific region. The result – a close Sino-Thai relationship – remains the same even if the circumstances evolve. Thailand, unsure of either China's ultimate reach as an emerging superpower or China's ultimate intentions toward the region, has set itself on a course where it hopes to accommodate China's rise.
Cambodge in my eyes are not ancient architectural at all but KR army, a large bulk of skulls and Killing Field.
and people there is so rude, aggressive, under developed-mind,
complaining everything.
Don't know how to use brain, but mouth
What a pity!! there
Traveler...
I agree with you 3:19PM. Just read their comments cursing their King non stop. Now we know why the French hated them and punished them by bringing up the Vietnamese to control over them.
What a barbaric noise!!!
What do you expect from these under developped mind? Just read their remarks, only barbaric noise.
whatever
IN the society there it own class #1#2#3 the ways the politicians and historian also if we teach or preach and gossip we have to watch the class to absorb our self to than environmental. Like one of famous movie producer That I have meet said, Cambodian can produces the hight qualities like Hong Kong as well but what it for? If we make that for the morning grow sellers we have to go for it market??? Is that producer correct?
It's good to know some of the negative comments from others. Hear it change it or do some thing about it. Right all you hot flying seats here? or may be you just a crazy people who got your brain traumatize by the KR's era. Just becareful yo'r!
3:19 you fuckup lucky to survive us! Next time come to Cambodia again say good buy to you whore mother!
the french are the most ignorant, useless, coward, dishonest, disloyal, unethical, sleazy, barbaric people on this earth. Just give them some dirty snails and some cheap wine and their foreign policy can be bought and sold by anyone. Wonder why their country and influence shrank down to insignificant in the world. Only the pity of the world that they keep French language at the UN. Just look at their past colonies as compared to British colonies. Don't mention anything french here. it's not worthy or credible.
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