agreement was signed, along with a ten-year Treaty of Friendship and
Mutual Non-Aggression. The agreement was generous in that Burma
received most of the area under dispute. It was also the first such treaty
China signed, and served as an example of Beijing’s magnanimity. It
was also proof that China’s insistence that new treaties be signed to
replace those forced upon it by imperialist powers was not an excuse to
pursue irredentist claims.
Another positive outcome of the Bandung Conference, from
China’s point of view, came from Zhou Enlai’s meeting with Prince
Sihanouk of Cambodia. This led, in 1956, to trade and aid agreements
and a visit from Zhou. It was friction with South Vietnam, however,
that finally led Phnom Penh to establish diplomatic relations with
Beijing in July 1958. Cambodia thus became the fourth country in
Southeast Asia to recognise the PRC. It did so despite security con-
cerns over communist influence among its Chinese community.
Nothing marked Cambodia’s international relations culture so
deeply as its own history. Modern Cambodia drew upon the heritage of
the Khmer empire, which had spread from southern Vietnam to the
Malay peninsula. After the thirteenth century, the empire contracted
under pressure, first from the Thai to the west, and then from the Viet-
namese to the east. In the 1830s Vietnam attempted to annex and
assimilate Cambodia. Thai intervention forced Vietnam to accept
joint suzerainty exercised by Bangkok and Hue. Only protection by
France preserved Cambodia’s territorial integrity, a point the French
never tired of making. After independence, Cambodians still saw their
country, even their race, as still under threat of extinction at the hands
of their traditional enemies. Like the Thai, therefore, they sought a
powerful protector. And since Thailand and Vietnam were both allies
of the United States, where else was there to turn but to China?
Beijing responded sympathetically. Zhou Enlai assured
Sihanouk on his second visit in May 1960 that China would come to
Cambodia’s assistance if it were externally threatened. A Treaty of
Friendship and Mutual Non-Aggression was signed with Cambodia
Communism and the Cold War