7 - Cambodia's Relations with China: A Steadfast Friendship

Summary

On 14 November 1991, a Chinese VIP Boeing 707 left Beijing airport carrying the former Cambodian King and Head of State, Norodom Sihanouk, back to his homeland after more than twelve years of exile in China. Also making a return to Cambodia was China's newly-appointed Permanent Representative to the Supreme National Council of Cambodia (SNC), Ambassador Fu Xuezhang. Widely recognized as one of China's foremost Cambodia specialists, Fu had been appointed Special Counsellor to the Chinese Embassy when it re-opened in Phnom Penh in May 1975, a month after the victory of the Khmer Rouge. Fu's return trip to Cambodia, after an absence of almost thirteen years, was emotional for him, as he had been forced to evacuate the Chinese Embassy in Phnom Penh in January 1979, following the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia. Fu had assisted Ambassador Sun Hao in moving the Chinese mission to the Cardamom Mountains at the request of the about-to-be overthrown Democratic Kampuchea regime. The embassy became “a mobile embassy” until 11 April 1979, when the Chinese Foreign Ministry had ordered the Chinese diplomats to withdraw to Thailand.

The Chinese embassy in Cambodia had been the first fully functioning embassy to re-open in Phnom Penh after the Khmer Rouge's victory. China was given that special honour because it was the strongest foreign ally of Democratic Kampuchea.

Fu Xuezhang was now returning to Phnom Penh in his new role as China's principal representative in Cambodia. His instructions were to quickly recover the ground lost during China's absence from Phnom Penh. The Chinese diplomats dispatched to Phnom Penh to take care of the re-opening of the embassy immediately made their presence felt. They moved into their old embassy compound, which had been used as a guesthouse by the Cambodian Ministry of Defence, rather than staying at a hotel.

CHINA AS PROTECTOR AND FRIEND OF CAMBODIA

Since Cambodia gained its independence in 1953, Cambodia's relations with China had been based on the long-held premise by Cambodian leaders that China could act as a protector and friend of Cambodia, when the latter faced its rapacious neighbours, Thailand and Vietnam. Norodom Sihanouk initiated Cambodia's modern relationship with China in July 1958 when it recognized Beijing against the advice of the Western world.