Word: phnom-penh
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That scenario for conquest could be risky for Hanoi. A full-scale attempt to take over Phnom-Penh might well bring Viet Nam into direct conflict with Cambodia's formidable ally, China. But some analysts doubt that Pol Pot can rely heavily on Peking. In the past month he has sent emissaries to China with pleas for supplementary military aid. Though he has received gratifying messages from Chairman Hua Kuo-feng ("We support your struggle"), no substantial increase in aid has been forthcoming. Diplomatic observers in Southeast Asia believe that if the Pol Pot regime should be toppled by Viet...
...tensions between the Vietnamese and the Cambodians mounted, the Chinese made the mistake of trying to head off a conflict while also maintaining their sponsorship of the oppressive regime of Premier Pol Pot in Phnom-Penh. But that could not work. Observes Don Tretiak, an American China watcher: "The Chinese should have been more careful about their Cambodian commitment. Supporting a weak but obstreperous ally is very bad politics." Now Peking fears that its deteriorating relations with Viet Nam will push Hanoi further into the embrace of Moscow. Worst of all, if the Vietnamese were to rout the Cambodians...
Peking has tried to persuade Hanoi and Phnom-Penh to negotiate a ceasefire. Although each side accuses the other of aggression, the Chinese have been carefully ambiguous in apportioning blame. Teng Hsiao-p'ing's most recent remark on that subject was a masterpiece of inscrutability: "Whoever provoked the conflict will come to no good...
...widow, a Long March veteran and party heroine, was chosen to lead a high-level Chinese delegation to Cambodia because of her pervasive prestige. Her mission was to persuade Premier Pol Pot to negotiate a settlement with Hanoi, but she failed. Though received with due pomp in Phnom-Penh, she was soon whisked out to view the 12th century ruins at Angkor Wat and otherwise kept occupied. After four days she reportedly cut short her visit and went home. Though her hosts may not have been paying much attention to her, she had obviously been listening to them. Back...
Last week the Soviet Union and China, which fear each other's drive for ascendancy in Southeast Asia, refrained from taking sides publicly. Using a familiar technique, however, the Soviet press extensively quoted foreign reports favorable to Hanoi or damaging to Phnom-Penh -and by extension, to Peking. The Chinese, more restrained, declared only that they hoped the situation could be resolved by negotiation. Unhappy over their inability to contain Cambodian intransigence and intent on preserving their tenuous relationship with Hanoi, Chinese leaders evenhandedly publicized reports from both sides in the conflict...