front, particularly in his contacts with his main negotiating partner, Qiao. Bush had the advantage
that secret diplomacy carried on with the Red Chinese regime during those days was subject to verylittle public scrutiny. The summaries of Bush's dealings with the Red Chinese now await the
liberation of the files of the Foreign Ministry in Beijing or of the State Department in Washington,
whichever comes first. Bush's involvement on the Cambodian question has been established by later
interviews with Prince Sihanouk's chef de cabinet, Pung Peng Cheng, as well as with French and
US officials knowledgeable about Bush's activities in Beijing during that time. What we have hereis admittedly the tip of the iceberg, the merest hints of the monstrous iniquity yet to be unearthed.
[fn 11]
The Khmer Rouge launched a dry-season offensive against Phnom Penh in early 1974, which fells
short of its goal. They tried again the following year with a dry season offensive launched onJanuary 1, 1975. Soon supplies to Phnom Penh were cut off, both on the land and along the Mekong (^)
River. Units of Lon Nol's forces fought the battle of the Phnom Penh perimeter through March. On
April 1, 1975, President Lon Nol resigned and fled the country under the pressure of the US
Embassy, who wanted him out as quickly as possible as part of the program to appease Beijing. [fn
12]
When Lon Nol had left the country, Kissinger became concerned that the open conquest of Phnom
Penh by the Khmer Rouge communist guerillas would create public relations and political problems
for the shakey Ford regime in the United States. Kissinger accordingly became interested in having
Prince Sihanouk, the titular head of the insurgent coalition of which the Khmer Rougeleading part, travel from Beijing to Phnom Penh so that the new government in Cambodia could be were the (^)
portrayed more as a neutralist-nationalist, and less as a frankly communist, regime. This turns out to
be the episode of the Cambodian tragedy in which George Bush's personal involvement is most
readily demonstrated.
Prince Sihanouk had repeatedly sought direct contacts with Kissinger. At the end of March, 1975 he
tried again to open a channel to Washington, this time with the help of the French Embassy in
Beijing. Sihanouk's chef de cabinet Pung Peng Chen requested a meeting with John Holdridge,
Bush's deputy chief of station. This meeting was held at the French Embassy. Pung told Holdridge
that Prince Sihanouk ha"in [ Sihanouk's ] old home in Phnom Penh were copies of the films of Cambodia he had made ind a favor to ask of President Ford:
the sixties when he had been an enthusiastic cineaste. They constituted a unique cultural record of a
Cambodia that was gone forever: would the Americans please rescue them? Kissinger ordered Dean
[ the US Ambassador in Cambodia ] to find the films and also instructed Bush to seek a meeting
with Sihanouk. TPhnom Penh tightened, he continued his public tirades" against the US and its Cambodian puppehe Prince refused, and during the first ten days of April, as the noose around (^) ts.
[fn 13]
On the same day, April 11, Ford announced that he would not request any further aid for Cambodia
from the US Congrehad originally been asking for $333 mss, since any aid for Caillion to save the government of Cambodia. Several days latermbodia approved now would be "too late" anyway. Ford
Ford would reverse himself and renew his request for the aid, but by that time it was really too late.
On April 11 the US Embassy was preparing a dramatic evacuation, but the embassy was being kept
open as part of Kissinger's effort to bring Prince Sihanouk ba"It was now, on April 11, 1975, as Dean was telling government leaders he might soon be leaving,ck to Phnom Penh.
that Kissinger decided that Sihanouk should be brought back to Cambodia. In Peking, George Bush
was ordered to seek another meeting; that afternoon John Holdridge met once more with Pung Peng
Cheng at the French Embassy. The American diplomat explained that Dr. Kissinger and President
Ford were now convinced that only the Prince could end the crisis. Would he please ask the Chinese