CAMBODIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: Library of Congress
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): LOC-HAK-556-6-2-6
• Release Decision: RIPLIM
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: January 11, 2017
• Document Release Date: December 16, 2010
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: March 22, 1970
• Content Type: MEMO

No Objection to Declassification in Part 2010/12/16: LOC-HAK-556-6-2-6
1P;,i 4 . 00
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
Dire.ctorate of Intelligence
5(l Uej 1G K,UJ .22 March 1970
XNTELLI'CENCE 14ENOFANDUM
Caibodia
;'(00 b
(Situation Report as of 1640 EST)
? .3.. The Con-ununists are taking a tough line with the
new leadership. in 'hnom Penh.
2, After avoiding direct co-m ent on events in CambocU.o.
for three clays, North Vietnam labeled Ca-uuboclia's nOW loaders
as a "pro--American ultra--rightist group" in an authoritative
Nhtan Dan statement- on 22 March. irgui.ng that 5ihanouk.'s
ouster had been engineered by the US, Nhan Dan stated that
noun people fu3.'1J support" the struggle of the canthodf an
people against the US and the new leadership. This staterccnt
and a reference to "stepping up the fight" against, the US_
"lackeys" may be meant as a warning to the Lon Noi-Sir
Matak government that the Communists are prepared to fight
unless the new leaders are accommodating.
3 The Chine se Commun { w ts,. ;for their pare, appear to
be stiok.ing with Sihanouk, at least for the present. They
continue to refer to him- as chief-of--state and they have
broac1c?s~i" i h~nrin'r ` 1 c nc thv ~Snn', r?,cs3 Inc attack Can the new
regime.
-4. Sihanouk' a weekend statements in Peking suggest
that, in his present: state of mind, he is suseptihle to
whatever plans the Communists may have to overthroW the now
No Objection to Declassification in Part 2010/12/16: LOC-HAK-556-6-2-6
 No Objection to Declassification in Part 2010/12/16: LOC-HAK-556-6-2-6
Phnom Penh leader;>hip. Although counting himself out as a
ro n~ nt figure in Cambodia's future, Sihanouk states that
his "duty" was t;o aid the "s tr: uggle ... from the inside and
from the outside to erase this coup," He has stated, morn--
over, that Cormmnuni dt China and the Soviet Union have, agreed
to support him during the period he is in exile. Sihanouk
is not likely to play the r:oi.e of a Comtmunist? stooge,
however, and his statements may be partially designed to
bluff Jittery opponents in the Cambodian capital.
5. The government, meanwhile, has called on the
Geneva co-chairmen to "reconstitute" the Into national.
Control Commission to meet the threat of foreign troops on
Cz- mbodian soil. it has a1 so called for "official negotia-
tions" with the Vietnamese Communists to "demand" the
withdrawal of their i;rcops. in addition to these dipl.omatic
moves, Cambodian units on the border; are maintaining con-zr,ct.
-With the Commuinist.s although only a few light sldrniishC,-s
have been
25X1
No Objection to Declassification in Part 2010/12/16: LOC-HAK-556-6-2-6