NVDB005_-_CH_3.001._Cambodia’s_triangular_relations_with_China_and_Vietnam_-_Amb._Julio-2

13 — DP Vol. 05

Regional Security Dilemma: Trends, Directions, and Illusion

In assessing Cambodia’s triangular relations with China and Vietnam, one cannot avoid looking back with a certain familiarity to the events which transpired in the late 1950s and 1960s, when Cambodia, under the late King Norodom Sihanouk, was formulating an independent foreign policy and a modus vivendi with its neighbors.

When Cambodia decided to recognize the People’s Republic of China in July 1958, China was completely isolated by the West and Cambodia’s decision was not welcomed. Indeed, pressure and threats were made to get Cambodia to change course. But King Norodom Sihanouk had carefully observed China and concluded that the country was going to become an economic and political power which Cambodia could count on when confronted with the actions of its rapacious neighbors. He thus decided to go ahead with establishing robust relations with China.

As far as relations with Vietnam were concerned, Sihanouk was reluctant to recognize either South or North Vietnam until both states were reunified as envisaged by the Geneva Agreements of 1954. However, he allowed for the establishment of economic ties and permitted sport teams and journalists to visit North Vietnam in an bid to show Cambodia’s willingness to live in amity with any government that was prepared to respect Cambodia and its people. 1

1 Australian Legation-Phnom Penh to External Affairs-Canberra, Memorandum 269, July 27 1956, Series A6760 Control Symbol 221/5/8 Part 1, National Archives Australia (NAA).

For the late King Father, to respect Cambodia and its people meant to respect Cambodia’s territorial integrity, its neutrality and to recognize the borders of Cambodia as they currently were. 2 At the same time, he was fully aware, as stated on many occasions, that a reunified Vietnam would present enormous challenges to Cambodia. This is why, in the mid-1960s, he began a process of engaging in friendly gestures towards North Vietnam, hoping that after the war had ended and Vietnam had been reunified, the new government would remember Cambodia had been a friend during Vietnam’s times of need. 3

Today, Cambodian relations with China are as strong as ever. The two countries upgraded their bilateral relations and signed a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of Cooperation in December 2010. Cambodia has relied on China for the construction of major infrastructure projects and the training of public servants, doctors and journalists. The bulk of Cambo- dia’s COVID vaccines also came from China, something Prime Minister Hun Sen emphasized when he stated that “without assistance from China maybe we would not have had vaccines for our people”. 4

China has also become the largest investor in Cambodia. The Cambodia-China Free Trade Agreement, which was signed in October 2020, aims to increase annual

2 Ambassador Noel Deschamps-Phnom Penh to Sir Keith Waller, Secretary of External Affairs-Canberra, Personal Letter, 9 April 1963, Series A6760 Control Symbol 221/5/8 Part 1, NAA

3 Telegram from Samdech Norodom Sihanouk to the author, No. 305/CABT, Peking 3 April 1971

4 Nikkei Asia, May 20, 2021

Ambassador Julio A. Jeldres was born in Santiago de Chile. He became interested in Cambodia’s contemporary history in 1967, following the visit of Jacqueline Kennedy to Cambodia. He began a correspondence and long-standing friendship with His Late Majesty King Norodom Sihanouk in late 1967. He served as Deputy Chief of Cabinet, Chief of the Private Secretariat and Special Assistant to His Late Majesty from 1981 to 1991 and as Official Biographer since 1993. He was granted the personal rank of Ambassador by the King Father in June 1991. Since April 2013 he has been a Counsellor to the Cabinet of His Majesty the King of Cambodia with the protocol rank of Minister of State.

He holds a BA (Asian Studies) from Swinburne University in Melbourne (1978) and a PhD in history from Monash University (2015) and is author of several books, including the best seller Royal House of Cambodia (2003 and 2017); Norodom Sihanouk and Zhou Enlai: An Extraordinary Friendship on the Fringes of the Cold War (2021); chapters of books on Cambodia’s relations with China, France, Vietnam, Laos and the two Koreas and research papers on Cambodia’s external relations, politics, the monarchy, the Royal Family and the late King Father.

He is an Adjunct Research Fellow at Monash University’s School of Historical Studies and International Relations. He is a Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace and was a Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the Sleuk Rith Institute of the Documentation Center of Cambodia from 2019 to 2021.