A look back at a significant development in the country with implications that continue to play out today.

This week marked the 50th anniversary of Cambodia’s 1970 coup, whereby King Norodom Sihanouk was removed from power, paving the way for Lon Nol to take control and remake Cambodia into a short-lived republic. The move is believed to have precipitated the power struggles that would eventually tear the country apart, leading to a civil war, the subsequent Khmer Rouge takeover, millions of deaths, and ten years of Vietnamese occupation.
A coup is usually defined as a violent or illegal seizure of power. The removal of Sihanouk was neither. There was no fighting in the streets, no mass executions, not a single drop of blood was shed at the time. Playing an anti-American card is pleasing for Hun Sen and his Chinese patrons," said David Chandler, preeminent historian on modern Cambodia, in a recent email.
As Cambodia’s falls deeper and deeper into China’s orbit, details like China’s direct funding of the Khmer Rouge become forgotten, cast aside in favor of flimsy conspiracy theories against the United States.

This article was written by Andrew Nachemson 

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