INTRIGUE BY U.S. IN CAMBODIA /2

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00001R000100020094-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 17, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 6, 2000
• Sequence Number: 94
• Publication Date: May 2, 1970
• Content Type: NSPR

CPYRGHT
from which SEATO could provide the only protcc?
and U.S military power solidy implanted in that
; 'country up to the borders of South Vietnam, SEATO
(ion of the area.
I arrived in Phnom Penh in March 1956 when Ares-
outraged the State Department by visiting Peking,
:01,, . despite warnings by the U.S. ambassador to Phnom
", '' :'}; Pcnh. Work on trc-road from Sihanoukvillc, already
pygrd o articles
Approved For Release 2000/06/13 : CIA-RDP75-
GUARDIAN
2 May 1970
By Wilfred Burchett
pal is
On March 3, 1955, Sihanouk abdicated as king in
favour of his father, Norodom Suramarit. He did so
in a typical surprise move by sending an envelope to
the Phnom Pcnh radio station, asking the program ?,
director to play the enclosed tape in place of the cus-
tomary midday newscast. It was a recorded speech of
abdication. Even to those in circles closest to him, this',
came as a complete surprise. Shortly afterwards I
asked why he had done it. He said: "I wanted to offer
proof to our young people, especially our young stu-
students that.my effortslforthe country and nation had
nothing to do with the wish to be his Majesty the
King, or to my attachcmcnt to the throne .. .
There Js no question that he chose to end the mon-
archy to play a more direct role in the country's af-
fairs, believing it was the only way of ensuring the
country's independence from American attempts to
-replace France in Indochina.(As his father had no
other heirs, the monarchy as an institution would end.
with the death of Sihanouk's parents and for all pract-'.'
ical purposes it ended with Sihanouk's abdic.ation.)in':
the same broadcast Sihanouk announced the forma;*
tion of the Sangkum, which was to becom. virtually;:
the exclusive political movement in the country.
(Sihanouk's recent announcement from Peking that
he would not seek to regain office as chief of state
reveals that he realizes once again that a whole era has
come to an end and a new one starting in which, as he
expressed it, neither the type of regime which he head-
,ed in the past nor that which had overthrown him
`would have a place. The future belonged to the people,,
but first there would have to be a struggle for real na-
tional liberation, in which Sihanouk pledged himself
to take part on the side of the people.)
By the end of 1955, pressure on Cambodia to join',
SEATO began to reach fantastic proportions. There.
Sih
k f
h
F
di
J
oster
was
rect pressure on
anou
rom
n
o
Dulles hii> d6 ie~rm *V&lGtlrfi0'(2W1 1`!
J .Allen, head dT t e A, came to Phnom Penh with....
;,# frontiers with Cambodia and started an economic
,
:4 blockade. U.S. planes officially taking part in SEA-
1 TO maneuvers were openly violating Cambodian air i
a?. ace from bases in Thailand. "Khmer Screi" irrcgu-
11nd. The U.S. ambassador recently installed in near-'
c gineered the overthrow ofthe independent Arbenz
g vernment of Guatemala..'.'
; ~..
MS. claims innocence
'I wrote a series of articles describing the situation
a ominously- reminiscent of that on the eve of the
IA-sponsored action in Guatemala. Some were V
p eked up and rebroadcast over Peking and Hanoi
r dio. John Foster Dulles took it upon himself to deny
o c of these in a letter to the Cambodian foreign min-
is ry on April 17, 1956, in which he expressed "alarm'
ti at statements from various sources are giving in-
'c easing publicity to- allegations according to which
t e U.S. tried to force Cambodia intojoining thy-'..
S ATO, pact .by, threatening.to..withdraw U,S. eco-;
n mic aid and that the U.S. had obliged independent
a d friendly nations such as Vietnam and Thailand to '.
i nose measures of economic warfare against,
C mbodia ....''i Dulles denounced the allegations as
" mplctcly false" and warned they "could damage
t friendly relations existing between our two
ses ." He further pointed out that the U.S.
a assador to Cambodia some days earlier had in- .'
fill
med the king and queen that "the U.S. has never
p blicly made any official observations concerning ,
C mbodian neutrality .. ."
Sihanouk immediately published a declaration
w osc first point stated that it was curious for Dulles
t reply to newspaper articles by a letter to the Cam-
b dian foreign ministry. He then dwelt with the mat-
te of "no public or official" U.S. observations on
C mbodian nccluttrralit , stating 66
erva J ."~ "c a T~it~ if?ons" a odds
dlrAlity, however, Prlvate American 'advit' ' and
me t.