A Coup With No Winners

Star-crossed Cambodia has been yanked back onto the front page by resurging violence, a fate its beleaguered people do not deserve.

Ghosts of the 1970s and ‘80s stalk reports from Phnom Penh, the sprawling capital on the Mekong River. The genocidal Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot is reported to be a captive of his own cruel men somewhere near the Thai border. Hun Sen, put in power by the Vietnamese and crowned “second prime minister” by the United Nations-conducted elections of 1993, stages a coup against Norodom Ranariddh, the “first prime minister” and son of King Norodom Sihanouk, the titular head of state, who lives in Beijing. Ranariddh, who fled to Paris 24 hours before the coup commenced, heads for the United States for urgent talks.

In Washington, the State Department announces it is pulling out 40 diplomats and their dependents, leaving 20 Americans at the Phnom Penh embassy. The 1,000 or more American civilians working in Cambodia head for the airport and flights to Bangkok. This sounds like a rerun of the dramatic days of 1975, when U.S. Ambassador John Gunther Dean left Phnom Penh with the American flag in his arms.

The Cambodians are on stage here, but a number of international players in the wings must make an immediate entrance if another catastrophe in this once placid country is to be averted. Coup maker Hun Sen owes his clout to the Vietnamese. Hanoi should not think it can stand by and let Indochina explode again without damage to its relations with the United States and others. China can use its considerable influence with Sihanouk and his son, who have international clout and many die-hard loyalists.

Cambodia is no Southeast Asian economic force like the countries it separates, Thailand and Vietnam, but war in Phnom Penh could burn neighboring lands. There will be no winners in this coup.