Word: khmers
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While the Khmer Rouge have been pressing the regime of Prime Minister Hun Sen, Congress has been pressuring the White House. Lawmakers have been growing increasingly alarmed at the possibility of a return to power by the Khmer Rouge forces, which were responsible for the death of at least 1 million fellow Cambodians during their reign of terror from 1975 to 1978. Last month the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence voted against further covert aid to the tripartite coalition; the corresponding House committee was expected to follow suit. Two weeks ago, a bipartisan group of 11 Senators circulated a letter...
Congressional reaction to the policy reversal was largely positive. "This will help make it clear to one and all, at home and abroad, that the U.S. will have nothing to do with the Khmer Rouge," said Representative Stephen Solarz, a New York Democrat. It seems likely that the Senate will follow the lead of the House and approve the Administration's request for $7 million in overt aid to the two non-Khmer Rouge factions of the resistance, one headed by former Cambodian head of state Prince Norodom Sihanouk, the other by former Prime Minister Son Sann. Some officials...
Only China now backs the Khmer Rouge. Last week Beijing issued a stern rebuke to Washington for withdrawing support from the resistance coalition and vowed to continue its support. "So long as Vietnam has not withdrawn all its troops from Cambodia genuinely," said Jin Guihua, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, "China will continue to support the Cambodian people in their struggle against foreign invaders." Beijing has not softened its hostility toward Hun Sen, but there are subtle signs that China may yet shift its position. Some officials now mention that Hun Sen's grandfather was Chinese, seeming to hint...
...decision to break with the Khmer Rouge eliminates a political and diplomatic embarrassment for the Bush Administration, but U.S. officials acknowledge that peace in Cambodia is unlikely until the Chinese agree to cut off aid to the Khmer Rouge. "As long as they get whatever they want from China, they will see no reason to go from the battlefield to elections," says a congressional staffer. "They aren't going to throw in the towel just because they lost their seat in the U.N." The noncommunist resistance also sounds determined to carry on. From his residence in North Korea, Sihanouk branded...
...Bush Administration believes it is taking a political and diplomatic risk by reaching out to Hanoi at all. But the President knew he was running out of ways to prevent the Khmer Rouge from gunning their way back into power in Phnom Penh, and he no longer needs to treat Vietnam as an extension of the cold...