Cambodia-China: Chinese President Jaing Zemin Arrives In Phnom Penh To Begin State Visit

Record ID: 4243

  • Title: Cambodia-China: Chinese President Jaing Zemin Arrives In Phnom Penh To Begin State Visit
  • Date: 13th November 2000
  • Summary: Chinese President Jiang Zemin has begun a state visit to Cambodia where tight security prevented a planned protest against China's past support for the genocidal Khmer Rouge. The 10-kilometre (six-mile) route was lined with thousands of schoolchildren waving Chinese and Cambodian flags and holding up pictures of Jiang Zemin, his wife Wang Yeping, and Cambodia's King Norodom Sihanouk and Queen Monineath. King Sihanouk and Queen Monineath welcomed Jiang and his wife who arrived on board an Air China plane at Phnom Penh International airport on November 13. Also on hand to greet Jiang were Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Senate President Chea Sim and National Assembly President Prince Norodom Ranariddh. Cambodian officials say at least 6,000 municipal and military police will be on hand to provide security during Jiang's visit. Jiang's visit to Cambodia comes after a visit to Laos, the first ever visit of a Chinese President to the small and landlocked country. The Democracy Front for Khmer Students and Intellectuals said last week it would call for an official apology and compensation for China's backing of the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime, whose "killing fields" reign left some 1. 7 million Cambodians dead. China has ruled out any apology, and police kept protesters at bay while Jiang's official motorcade made its way from Phnom Penh's Pochentong Airport to the Royal Palace in the heart of the capital. Although about 40 protestors gathered at a school along the route, they were not visible from the street and dispersed soon after the motorcade passed. There was a brief scuffle as police prevented the protesters from gathering. "China has to apologise to the Cambodian people for their support to the Khmer Rouge regime. And secondly, China has to pay compensation to the families of those who died during the reign of the Khmer Rouge. And thirdly, China should not interfere in Cambodia's internal affairs and not put a new Communist regime in Cambodia. I cannot accept this," said protester Pok Leakrasey. But Cambodian foreign minister Hor Namhong told reporters at the airport that the Khmer Rouge would not be discussed during the Chinese president's two-day visit. China was the main supporter of the Khmer Rouge during its murderous 1970s reign and in the 1980s when Khmer Rouge guerrillas battled a Vietnamese army of occupation.
  • Embargoed:
  • Keywords:
  • Access Restrictions:This media cannot be downloaded as there may be copyright restrictions. Please contact us for more information
  • Location: CAMBODIA
  • Reuters ID: LDL0012E3VTXJ
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text:
  • Copyright Holder: Reuters Archive
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
Register