Cambodia: Big Puffs & Old Paper

The shame of it all! There he was in North Korea, fresh from a swinging two-week state visit to Red China and ready to head for Russia, when the Soviet ambassador rang up for an urgent interview. As Prince Norodom Sihanouk explained it to his fellow Cambodians at a rally last week, the Soviet ambassador “entered the drawing room where I was waiting, sat on a sofa with his legs crossed, lit a cigarette in a free and easy manner and started taking big puffs.” Then, continued the Prince, “he started reading to me a note on a piece of old paper.” The message: Sihanouk, stay home. The Soviet leaders were too busy to receive him on the appointed Nov. 7 date. “An absolutely inexcusable and irreparable affront,” huffed Sihanouk, threatening to sever diplomatic relations with the Soviets.

The Prince should not have been so surprised. During his Red China visit, he had yielded to the blandishments of his hosts to remark at a state banquet that “it is impossible to defeat the imperialists if one accepts compromise with them”—which in the context of the Sino-Soviet quarrel was a clear slap at Moscow. The Prince’s maneuver was Orientally scrutable: he feels that “the irresistible march forward of the Chinese people” is certain to sweep all Asia. By riding with the Chinese tiger, he hopes to avoid being gobbled up. It is likely to be quite a ride.