Re: NORODOM SIHANOUK

Juan Jose Morales wrote: 
Why didn't the Khmer Rouge kill Prince Sihanouk? I don't suppose it was
because of any reverence for the monarchy.

En el Nombre de DIOS Arriba Nosotros.

Sihanouk formed an uneasy alliance with the Khmer Rouge after the 1970 Lon Nol coup which unseated him, and he did so at the urging of China, and in particular Chou En Lai. (Sihanouk was on an overseas tour at the time, and got news of his ouster in Moscow. He flew on the next day to Beijing.) After the Khmer Rouge victory in 1975, Sihanouk eventually returned to Phnom Penh and lived in a building in the grounds of the Palace. He was initially used as a propaganda tool by the Khmer Rouge who knew the respect in which he was held by the general population. However, eventually his value even in this regard ran out. The Khmer Rouge in the mean time killed a number of members of the Royal Family. But Chou En Lai insisted that Sihanouk not be killed. As China relied heavily on Chinese support, this request was respect and he was kept a prisoner for the remainder of the Khmer Rouge regime. After their ouster by Vietnam at the end of 1978, Sihanouk managed to escape, and spent the years until the advent of the UN Peace Plan in residences in Beijing and Pyongyang. It amused the Chinese to give him the old French residence in Beijing as his 'palace'. (I have indeed drunk French champagne with him there -- Pol Roger, but as he said on another occasion, "au moins ce n'est pas Pol Pot" [at least it's not Pol Pot].) Sihanouk is also very interested in making movies, and while in Pyongyang, produced one with the unlikely title of 'The Countess from Pyongyang'!

--
Ken Berry
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