(Illustration: Liu Rui )
Cambodia's relations with China have been based on mutual interests. Sihanouk hoped that China would restrain the Vietnamese and the Thai from acting to Cambodia's detriment. China acceptance of Sihanouk's overtures has been a valuable counterweight to growing Vietnamese and Thai pressure on Cambodia.
Global Times | 2012-10-21 23:00:03
By Kassie Neou
For the majority of Cambodians, the death of former king Norodom Sihanouk on October 15 was the loss of a great national father who dedicated his life for the sake of his country and his people. They revere his long dedication to his country and his legacy as a unifying national leader.
It is hoped that his legacy will allow Cambodia to advance the national healing process.
It is hoped that his legacy will allow Cambodia to advance the national healing process.
In early stages, Sihanouk's political life was developed through Southeast Asia's turbulent postwar history. In the 1940s, four of Cambodia's Northern provinces were invaded and occupied by armed forces from Thailand. Then in 1954, even after Cambodia had gained full independence from France, the Viet Minh forces infiltrated the country while its military situation remained unsettled.
Cambodia's past history of foreign subjugation and its very uncertain prospects for survival prompted the king to look for much stronger and more trustworthy allies. Cambodia's quest for security and nation-building assistance impelled the prince to search in Asia, and beyond, to accept help from all donors as long as there was no impingement upon his country's sovereignty.
China has had a historic, cultural and commercial relationship with Cambodia. China has also played a prominent role in Cambodia's foreign relations since the country attained full independence in late 1953.
Cambodia engaged China in two distinctive areas: peace and national reconciliation; and economic development.
Cambodia's relations with China have been based on mutual interests. Sihanouk hoped that China would restrain the Vietnamese and the Thai from acting to Cambodia's detriment. China acceptance of Sihanouk's overtures has been a valuable counterweight to growing Vietnamese and Thai pressure on Cambodia.
Sihanouk was able to cultivate a profound, friendly relationship with different generations of Chinese leaders. In mid-1958, the diplomatic relations between the two countries were established. This friendly relationship laid a solid foundation for the long-standing cooperation between the two nations.
Sihanouk's experience with the French, as the leader of the "royal crusade for independence," led him to conclude that the US, like France, would eventually be leaving Southeast Asia.
From this perspective, the Western presence in Indochina was only a temporary interruption of the real dynamics of the region, continued by Vietnamese, and perhaps even Thai, expansion at Cambodia's expense. Friendly ties with China during the late 1950s and the 1960s were tactics designed to counteract these dynamics.
Cambodia does have some geopolitical significance to China. China's close ties with Cambodia have also served to provide leverage against Vietnamese influence in the region. China viewed Cambodia's nonalignment as vital in preventing the encirclement of the region by other powerful countries and their allies.
Cambodia is at the heart of Southeast Asia. The centralization of China in Cambodia is meaningful to the whole region.
Cambodia is pivotal to China strategies to project greater influence in Southeast Asia, a region which is home to roughly 500 million inhabitants and is an economically relevant trade partner to the US, the EU and Japan. The region accrues a gross national product of more than $700 billion and sits atop some of the most transited sea route.
Cambodia also has an important role in maintaining the overall situation of friendly relations between China and ASEAN. Cambodia and China have closely built up bilateral ties and cooperation and friendship.
At the recent ASEAN regional Summit in Phnom Penh, despite criticism by some political observers, Cambodia rightly opted to alleviate the tension by placing the South China Sea issue off the agenda. It is a proven fact that Cambodia and China have a long and close relationship with each other in both historical and contemporary cooperation.
The author is executive director of the Cambodian Institute of Human Rights. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn
9 comments:
Oh how sw33t it is!!!
Kassie should be able to tell us as to (approx.) how many communist Chinese cadres/forces that were sent to fight Lon Nol's armed forces in Cambodia...and not just describing the sweetness of the Chinese and Sihanouk relationship!
Hopefully Kassie is not another worthless one of what's left of Sihanouk regime/era...
Cambodia should also be friend with Thailand and Laos; all can benefit from having good relationship such as national security,trade, development against Vietnam.
The last time Cambodia sided with China, she supported that psychotic pol pot to mass slaughter millions of Cambodians, literally destroyed Cambodia. If China supports pol pot 2.0 to slaughter millions of Cambodians again, don't come running to Vietnam and cry for help.
Just to point this out to all. This author is plagerizing big time. His ideas are all copied straight out from the book Cambodia: A Country Study. This is a shame at its face value.
Kassie Neou, you need to stop using another author's original ideas and pass them off as yours. This is unacceptable. If you use other's ideas, you need to give the original author's credit. All of your quotes must have reference sources. Readers are angry when they see that you are nothing but someone who pretends to be a writer, when in fact you are just a thief. The readers can actually pinpoint all of your so-called original thinking back to this book, Cambodia: A Country Study. If you are a song writer and if your lyrics are even remotedly similar you will be sued in the court of law already. In the future, you need to collect your own facts and evidence. Then through your own proper reasoning, then derive your own conclusions about your topic. Your act is very outrageous.
Burn his body over there (China). Don't bring back to Cambodia. He was a Traitor to Khmer people. The Khmer people have suffered enough by him. He did not respect even his own mother. He was an evil king . He should be alive until he can serve his punishment in the Khmer Rouge trail. Please don't forget he was the person who killed Lok Protean Sam Rainsy's father.
Pang Sokheoun, Secretary-General of SRP in Sweden.
China also benefit if Cambodia strong. This will keep Vietnam at bay, hopefully there will be more of Vietnam invasion or encroaching on Cambodia or Laos. This Vietnamese expansionist policy is the root cause of all problems for Cambodia and the foreign involvement in Cambodia.
The problem of Khmer Rouge killed Khmers is not China ordered the killing. It is the ignorant Khmer leaders especially Noun Chea and others low rank Khmer Rouge themselves who was brain washed to follow their leaders with no conscience. Khmers must think what best for our Khmer future.
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