NORODOM SIHANOUK’S DEEP

By Wang Fengjuan

“China will never scorn or ignore any small,weak nation’s independence or sovereignty, a consistent value that has fueled Norodom Sihanouk’s sentimental attachment to China as manifested in his original song‘Nostalgia of China’,” remarked Fu Xuezhang, former Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia and one of the first Chinese diplomats to establish personal contact with the former Cambodian king.

“Cambodian people view Sihanouk as the ‘Father of Independence’ due to his great contributions in leading the struggle to end French colonial rule over Cambodia that lasted 90 years,” Fu added. “As a true friend of China and a pioneering contributor to friendly Sino-Cambodian ties, Sihanouk actively collaborated with earlier generations of Chinese leaders to compose a symphony of friendship between the two countries.”

“I always consider China my second home, and I hope that traditional friendship between Cambodia and China will live on from generation to generation.”

‘Father of Independence’

Norodom Sihanouk was one of the longest-ruling royal national leaders in Asia.Throughout his legendary lifetime, especially in politics,the king was not only deeply loved by the Cambodian people,but also highly respected by the Chinese for his unremitting efforts to promote friendship between China and Cambodia,thus often described as “an old friend of the Chinese.”

Cambodian King Father Norodom Sihanouk.

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Cambodia. The past six decades have composed a unique history of fruitful bilateral relations between the two countries. On February 14,1956, Sihanouk first set foot on Chinese soil and received a warm welcome in Beijing. He gifted a Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Cambodia to Chairman Mao Zedong, and China promised to provide economic and technological aid to Cambodia without strings attached. In 1958, thanks to the efforts of then-Cambodian Prime Minister Sihanouk and Chinese leaders, China and Cambodia signed a joint communiqué announcing the formal establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Sihanouk developed close personal intimacy with the first-generation leaders of the People’s Republic. In his lifetime, he lived in exile twice,and both times he chose to stay in China.

On March 18, 1970, while Sihanouk was on a visit abroad,then Prime Minister Lon Nol staged a coup, marking a turning point for both Sihanouk and his country. After careful consideration, Sihanouk opted to flee to Beijing. When the E27 aircraft he boarded landed in Beijing, he received a warm greeting.

According to She Chunshu,who was accompanying Premier Zhou Enlai to greet Sihanouk at the airport as a staffer of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the first sentence the Chinese premier said to Sihanouk was: “You are still the only head of state of Cambodia we acknowledge.” Sihanouk also documented this moving scene in his memoir, declaring “The dark clouds that shrouded my life vanished immediately.”

In the five years that followed,Sihanouk lived in a quiet small compound in downtown Beijing, where many important moments of his life were chronicled as part of modern Cambodian history.

Fu Xuezhang opined toChina Report ASEANthat Norodom Sihanouk was a far-sighted head of state who handled national affairs with a broad vision and political wisdom.His governance style was free of ideological constraint and broke away from the Cold War mentality, putting the people’s interests above all else.