2020 IB Extended Essays

10

Gaddis who states that the financial aid was simply due to shared ideologies between the

CCP and the Khmer Rouge.

The first possible reasoning for as to why China would provide that aid is believed to be

based on the geopolitical and strategic analysis. This suggests that China’s Cambodia policy

was a by-product of the Sino-Soviet border clash, and to counter the close ties between

North Vietnam and Russia. Historian Zhai Qiang believes that ‘China’s handling of the

Cambodian conflict from 1970 to 1975 was conditioned primarily by its competition with the

Soviet Union and North Vietnam in Indochina’

The second possible reason is that the relationship between China and Cambodia is due to

ideological affinity. Many studies have shown that the Khmer Rouge used many of the

radical ideas in the Chinese revolution, including the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural

revolution. These ideas were partially implemented in the Khmer Rouges attempt to return

Cambodia to an agrarian society 23 . Mao Zedong and Pol Pot both created a little red book,

which outlined their goals in their respective countries. Pol Pot, much like Mao sought to

create a new culture. He sought to create a “Kampucheanized” Marxism-Lennism, similar to

Mao’s “Sinified” Marxism 24 .

While it remains unknown as to where exactly the financial aid that China provided for the

Khmer Rouge was invested, it is safe to assume that any financial aid would be extremely

beneficial for the party. China’s attempts at gaining political allies in the south through

Cambodia was not very successful as the reign of the Cambodian Communist party was

23 Wang, C 2018, The Chinese Communist Party’s Relationship with the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s: an Ideological Victory and a Strategic Failure, Wilson Center, viewed 11 April 2020, < https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/the-chinese- communist-partys-relationship-the-khmer-rouge-the-1970s-ideological-victory > 24 Galway, M 2017, Cross-Currents: East Asian History and Culture Review, vol. 24, University of British Columbia, British Columbia