American Strategic Deception Bureau

　Therefore, the black-robed monks of the Hoa Hao sect said that although they wanted to establish a Buddhist kingdom on earth on Phu Quoc Island, they would never engage in harsh religious persecution. They would allow the Mazu temple where they were holding the meeting and the Catholic church on the island to be preserved, so Dr. Kissinger could rest assured.

　And until a provisional government could be organized, they wanted Dr. Kissinger

　As the US special envoy, he temporarily took charge of Phu Quoc Island.

　- Apart from the Americans, who else can help them speak out internationally and seek various kinds of assistance to overcome the difficulties?

　The Buddha Shakyamuni and the ascended leader Huang Fuchu could not transform into rice, medicine and tents to provide emergency relief to their suffering believers!

　Then, just as they were discussing the organizational form of the Phu Quoc Island government, the constitutional outline, and other contents, someone came from outside to report that an envoy delegation from the Kingdom of Cambodia had just arrived in Phu Quoc Island by speedboat and demanded to have a dialogue with the people in charge on the island!

　What are the Cambodians doing here? Could it be that Prince Sihanouk is so kind as to offer his help in solving the refugee problem on the island?

　So, Dr. Kissinger went out to meet the Cambodian envoy, full of suspicion. An hour later, he came back with a grim expression.

　"A mystery has been solved! Now I finally understand why the Kingdom of Cambodia allowed the North Vietnamese regular army to land in Sihanoukville and then pass through Cambodian territory to attack Ha Tien Port, the last stronghold of the Hoa Hao sect on the mainland..."

　Dr. Kissinger sighed and passed a document around to everyone, "Because the Viet Cong ceded Phu Quoc Island to Cambodia!"

　Author's Note: PS: I just found out that after the Sino-Vietnamese fallout, China actually supported the remnants of South Vietnam. They even allowed them to build a base on Hainan Island to prepare for a restoration of the country, under the name Project CM-12. However, because the remnants of South Vietnam were so hopelessly weak, the plan ultimately failed in the late 1980s.

　In other words, if the remnants of South Vietnam had been more powerful, our country would have really helped Nguyen Van Thieu to fight Le Duan (laughs).

　What a magical scene this is! What if the remnants of South Vietnam, with our country's support, fight back to Saigon and successfully restore their country, how should our country publicize it internally?

　Wouldn’t all the soldiers who fought against the US and aided Vietnam become criminals?

　Speaking of which, after all those years of aiding Vietnam, didn't a large pro-Vietnam interest group form in China? Why did the war eventually break out?

　Chapter 257: The Ambition of the Khmer People (Additional Updates, Please Vote)

　Since its independence from French colonial rule, the Kingdom of Cambodia has been in territorial disputes with Vietnam.

　This is actually a very reasonable thing to do.

　In fact, the Kingdom of Cambodia has territorial disputes with all of its neighboring countries.

　The Funan Kingdom and the Khmer Empire, the predecessors of Cambodia, were both "Old Rulers" who dominated Indochina. Even the later Chenla Kingdom was far larger than it is today. In addition to the entirety of present-day Cambodia, it also encompassed eastern Thailand, southern Laos, and southern Vietnam.

　It was just bad luck. When other modern countries in Indochina rose one after another, Cambodians continued to decline. First, they split into "Land Chenla" in the north and "Water Chenla" in the south. Then the royal nobles engaged in a long-term civil war, which almost brought the country to collapse.

　As a result, Siam (Thailand) in the west and Vietnam (Quang Nam) in the east took the opportunity to attack Cambodia from both sides, constantly encroaching on the traditional territory of the Khmer people, and beating Cambodia back and forth like a ball of velvet. With every attack, Cambodia's territory would become smaller.

　Saigon, the current capital of South Vietnam, and all the provinces south of Saigon were cut off from Cambodia's traditional territory!

　When the French colonists invaded Indochina, other ethnic groups viewed them as enemies, but the Cambodians saw them as saviors.

　In Prince Sihanouk’s own words, if the French had not arrived in time, Cambodia would only have its capital, Phnom Penh!

　——This is not a self-deprecating joke, but the cruel history condensed with blood and tears of the Khmer people!

　In the mid-19th century, the Nguyen Dynasty of Vietnam, east of Cambodia, had pushed its border to the outskirts of Phnom Penh, occupied the entire Mekong Delta, and massacred the local Khmer people, driving them into the river and drowning them in large numbers, creating a "cage-changing" ethnic composition change.

　This is also why there are only 800,000 Khmer people left in modern Vietnam.

　To put it bluntly, the hatred between the Khmers and the Vietnamese is much deeper than the hatred between the Greeks and the Turks!

　Meanwhile, by the mid-19th century, Thailand, to the west of Cambodia, had successfully penetrated the heartland of Cambodia and controlled the vast fertile land around Tonle Sap Lake. The later-famous Angkor Wat was no longer part of Cambodian territory, but was instead under Thai rule.

　——Can you imagine what it would be like if the pyramids were not in Egypt, Athens was not part of Greece, and Mount Fuji was not in Japan?

　There are also mountainous areas in northern Cambodia, which have long stopped obeying the orders of the king in Phnom Penh, and are no different from rebels and independent states.

　During that most desperate time, the Kingdom of Cambodia was almost like the Byzantine Empire 1400 years later, and it was just waiting to die.

　Fortunately, at this time, the French arrived, and the Khmer people had a way to survive, and there was hope for survival.

　The French colonists who arrived in the East first severely defeated the Nguyen Dynasty of Vietnam, making the Vietnamese people's expansion efforts for thousands of years come to nothing, and in the adjustment of colonial administrative divisions, a considerable portion of the land that had been occupied by Vietnam was ceded to Cambodia.

　Then, the Franco-Thai War broke out. The French launched a barrage of firepower at Thailand, and the army marched straight into Bangkok, forcing Thailand to give up the large tracts of land it had seized from Cambodia, and allowing Angkor Wat to return to Cambodia's territory - for the Khmer people

　For the tribe, this is simply a grace of rebirth!

　In addition, the remote and independent mountain strongholds in northern Cambodia were also drawn back into the territory of the Kingdom of Cambodia by the French, at least on the map.

　Therefore, although Cambodia became a protectorate and semi-colony of France, it escaped the crisis of national extinction and regained a large amount of territory.

　No matter how heavy the exploitation by the colonial authorities was, compared with the destruction of the nation and the genocide, it was still a good thing for the Khmer people.

　But the problem was that shortly after the end of World War II, the French Indochina Federation collapsed, and Cambodia, Laos, and North and South Vietnam gained independence.

　Subsequently, Cambodia, which had freed itself from colonial oppression but also lost French protection, had territorial disputes with its neighboring countries.

　Before withdrawing from Indochina, the French oversaw the demarcation of the land border between Cambodia and Vietnam. However, the demarcation was crude, leading to a dispute over the ownership of the Parrot's Beak area. Furthermore, the French had no time to carefully determine the ownership of the islands, leaving Phu Quoc Island in question.

　Therefore, since the mid-1950s, there have been constant conflicts between Prince Sihanouk, who ruled Cambodia, and Ngo Dinh Diem, who ruled South Vietnam.

　Because the disputed territories were occupied by South Vietnam, Prince Sihanouk protested to Saigon many times about these territorial issues. In addition, he had similar disputes with Laos and Thailand, but all of them made no progress and ended in nothing.

　There was no way around it. On the one hand, Cambodia was too weak. On the other, against the backdrop of a global confrontation between two major blocs, Prince Sihanouk was trying to have it both ways, seeking US aid while also flirting with the Soviet Union. Cambodia's neighbors, South Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos, were all US allies. How could the US possibly harm the interests of its allies by supporting a fence-sitter like Cambodia on a territorial issue?

　Prince Sihanouk, who was ambitious but incompetent, turned his attention to North Vietnam, hoping that the Hanoi authorities would support his territorial claims against South Vietnam. In order to win Sihanouk's support for its war of unification, North Vietnam generously agreed to Cambodia's demands.

　——Anyway, the territories Cambodia requested were all under the rule of the South Vietnamese regime, so even if North Vietnam agreed, it would be nothing more than a blank check.

　However, Prince Sihanouk took this empty promise seriously, believing that his territorial claims had been agreed to by the Vietnamese and that they would be fulfilled as long as North Vietnam won the war. Therefore, he stood more firmly on the side of North Vietnam, even taking many extremely risky actions to achieve this.

　This year, with the sudden death of Ngo Dinh Diem, the old South Vietnamese regime collapsed in a crazy civil war, and the Viet Cong guerrillas raised their red flag in Saigon.

　Although a few remnants, such as the Central Highlands Federation and the Quang Nam Kingdom, still clung to life in the ruins left by the collapse of White South Vietnam, thanks to the support of the US imperial army, the South Vietnamese border with Cambodia, especially the once disputed areas, had now fallen into the hands of the Viet Cong.

　Therefore, Prince Sihanouk, who believed that he had done a great favor to the Vietnamese Communist Party, demanded that the Vietnamese Communist Party fulfill its previous promise and return the disputed territory to Cambodia.

　Ahaha? A bad check is about to be cashed?

　Ho Chi Minh was not very willing to do this. After all, Prince Sihanouk was asking for important places, so he wanted to delay the matter.

　The nationalists in North Vietnam were even more excited, believing that Cambodia was committing heinous crimes and going against morality - because in their eyes, the Khmers were much like the Indians in the eyes of white Americans. They thought it was good enough to spare the life of a former chieftain, so how could they demand land from him?

　If the French hadn't come, Cambodia would have been left with only Phnom Penh! Thanks to the French colonial power, the Vietnamese have already reluctantly returned 20% of the Mekong Delta to you, a bunch of weaklings. How can you still be so arrogant?

　However, as the most radical nationalist leader, Le Duan unexpectedly suppressed his opposition and demanded that the land be returned in full.

　——This is certainly not because he has changed his personality, but because what Le Duan cares about is not a few hundred square kilometers of border land, but he wants to complete the unfinished business of the former Nguyen Dynasty emperors under the banner of establishing the "Indochina Federation" and completely swallow up the entire country of the Kingdom of Cambodia!

　Le Duan understood the principle of "give first if you want to take".

　Besides, he could have handed over the returned land to the Khmer Rouge (actually the predecessor of the Cambodian Communist Party), which is currently supported and controlled by the Viet Cong.

　More importantly, in addition to several disputed lands on land, Phu Quoc Island and the To Chu Archipelago are still in the hands of the remnants of the reactionary army. However, relying on the blockade of the US Navy, the Viet Cong, without a navy, has no way to deal with these islands. Even if they were to capture them, they would not be able to hold on to them.

　In this case, let’s just throw these bones to Cambodia and let Prince Sihanouk engage in verbal battles with the Americans!

　This will also somewhat alleviate the military pressure that our comrades in the south will soon face.

　Anyway, when Cambodia is annexed in the future, these temporarily ceded lands can be taken back.

　Of course, Prince Sihanouk, who was already blinded by greed at this time, certainly did not expect how greedy the true face of North Vietnam was.

　You are plotting to take over his borders, but he wants to take over your entire country!

　Therefore, after receiving the official document from Hanoi authorities to return the disputed land, and boasting about it in Cambodia to improve his reputation and merit, Prince Sihanouk also sent envoys to Phu Quoc Island to negotiate the return of the island.

　The issue of ownership.

　After all, Phu Quoc Island’s geographical location is too important. It blocks Cambodia’s access to the sea, making it a thorn in Cambodia’s throat since its independence!

　To give an example, Phu Quoc Island is to Cambodia what Chongming Island is to Shanghai Port!

　It’s no wonder that Prince Sihanouk was a little blinded by greed.

　"What was Prince Sihanouk thinking? Did he really think he could wrest Phu Quoc Island from the Vietcong with just a piece of Ho Chi Minh's handwritten order? And what about the 300,000 refugees already on the island? Would he tell them to commit suicide by jumping into the sea?"

　Fili flicked through the notification letter and treaty copy sent by the Kingdom of Cambodia and asked Dr. Kissinger, "What's more, American troops are already stationed on Phu Quoc Island! How dare the Cambodians claim this island? What gave them such courage? Ho Chi Minh?"

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　Chapter 258: Phu Quoc Autonomous Region of the Kingdom of Cambodia (Part 1)

　“It’s a shame, Colonel Jin, that Sihanouk really has the confidence to take back Phu Quoc Island.

　Can you imagine? Among the Cambodian delegation that visited the island was a counselor from the U.S. Embassy in Cambodia, who brought a secret letter from Secretary of State Rusk stating that Washington also supported the ceding of Phu Quoc Island to Cambodia. Well, at least according to the map.

　Therefore, the independence work on Phu Quoc Island has been temporarily abandoned."

　Dr. Kissinger sighed and said to Phiri, "Alas, I, as ambassador, have not even officially taken office, and I'm about to be demoted to consul..."

　——Although Phu Quoc Island was handed over to Cambodia by the Viet Cong, the United States had no suitable excuse to prevent the transfer of territory.

　What excuse could be used to stop it? To protect the territorial integrity of an American ally?

　However, the Republic of Vietnam that Ngo Dinh Diem founded no longer exists. Whose territorial integrity is the US imperial army trying to protect?

　After the collapse of the South Vietnamese regime, legally speaking, Phu Quoc Island should be considered a no-man's land.

　It is not really right for the Hoa Hao believers to come here from the Mekong Delta to occupy the nest and establish their own country.

　The Kingdom of Cambodia holds the Viet Cong's territorial cession documents and has historical claims, so it is really difficult to refute them.

　Of course, if the United States insists on supporting an independent country on Phu Quoc Island, it is not impossible. After all, Cambodia has no ability to seize the island.

　But the problem is that neither the Pentagon, the White House, nor Capitol Hill thinks it is worth it because Phu Quoc Island is too useless.

　It's about the same size as Singapore, but it doesn't control key shipping lanes like the Strait of Malacca. Its biggest use is to block Cambodia's access to the sea—but does the United States need to block Cambodia's access to the sea? There's no such need, right?

　As for using Phu Quoc Island as a springboard to attack the Viet Cong?

　Theoretically, it is possible, but in practice it is not necessary.

　This is not the Pacific War. The US military needs to slowly approach the Japanese archipelago through a series of island landings.

　Currently, hundreds of thousands of US troops are stationed along the Danang and Nha Trang lines, firmly controlling Quang Nam. The US Army could simply launch an offensive from Nha Trang and charge along the highway into Saigon. Why bother launching another amphibious landing from Phu Quoc Island into the Mekong Delta?

　Or, are they going to use the airport on Phu Quoc Island to bomb "Red South Vietnam"?

　This is also unnecessary - the US military currently has Da Nang and Nha Trang airports in the north, and U-Tapao Airport in Thailand in the south. Any of these airports are better equipped than the shabby little airport on Phu Quoc Island, and are more suitable for stationing aircraft and maintaining operational operations.

　If Ha Tien Port had not fallen, it could have served as a nail in the Vietcong's territory, much like Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, causing them no peace. But now that Ha Tien Port has fallen, with only Phu Quoc Island across the sea remaining, this significance is much less.

　In addition, Secretary Rusk also believed that if the United States forcibly stopped the Kingdom of Cambodia and did not allow them to recover their former inherent territories, then the United States would become the public enemy of the three political forces of the left, center and right within the Kingdom of Cambodia and completely lose its influence in Cambodia.

　However, in Cambodia in recent years, despite the fact that the United States and Prince Sihanouk were at odds, the United States has been trying to win over Cambodian right-wing military and political strongmen such as Lon Nol and San Ngoc Thanh, and vigorously cultivating pro-American figures, and it can be said that it has been very effective.

　However, if the United States were to go against Cambodia on the territorial issue, all previous efforts would instantly come to nothing.

　——For an ancient country that has been declining and losing territory for thousands of years, any piece of land recovered is precious.

　For example, if the United States forces Greece to cede all of its Aegean islands to Türkiye, will there still be pro-American people in Greece?

　Moreover, for the current Kingdom of Cambodia, the importance of Phu Quoc Island is even greater than this!

　You know, more than a hundred years ago, when Thailand and Vietnam were "sandwiching" Cambodia, Cambodia even became a completely landlocked country without an inch of coastline.

　The coastline was regained by Cambodia thanks to French colonists.

　So, just as the Russians have a crazy obsession with sea outlets, the Kingdom of Cambodia also attached great importance to sea outlets after its independence.

　But just outside Cambodia's tiny coastline lies the massive Phu Quoc Island, putting all of Cambodia's ports, especially the port with the largest throughput, under the watchful eye of their arch-enemy, Vietnam.

　In this way, regaining Phu Quoc Island is not just Prince Sihanouk's personal ambition, but the obsession of the entire Cambodian ruling class!

　Coupled with the instigation of Cambodian nationalists, anyone who wants to prevent the Khmer people from taking back their old land will become an enemy of the Khmer nation!

　Of course, as a world leader, the United States will certainly not be afraid of the resentment of a small country like Cambodia.

　But the question is, is it worth it?

　Phu Quoc Island will not become a US territory or colony, and the US has no need to build a military base here.

　Is it necessary for the United States to go to this extent with Cambodia just to promote the Hoa Hao religious militia group?

　You have to know that the deceased Ngo Dinh Diem was the dog that the United States kept in Vietnam. The monks of the Hohhot religion had no friendship with the Americans.

　On the contrary, at the beginning of Ngo Dinh Diem's ​​rise, the United States supported Ngo Dinh Diem and the South Vietnamese army to suppress the armed resistance of the Hoa Hao, Cao Dai and Binh Xuyen factions of warlords - but Saigon did not kill them at that time and finally made peace with the Hoa Hao.

　For the United States, the religious armed group of Hoa Hao is neither a lackey supported by the United States nor a heretic of Buddhism. They do not even have the same faith in God as the United States. Why should they become a mortal enemy with the Kingdom of Cambodia for the sake of Hoa Hao?

　In short, on the one hand, both Hoa Hao and Phu Quoc are useless to the United States, with little value and little friendship.

　On the other hand, in order to win over Cambodia's right-wing forces, the United States had to give due consideration to the self-esteem and historical sentiments of the Khmer people.

　So, after comprehensive consideration, the White House decided to accept the Viet Cong's territorial cession treaty and agreed to allow Phu Quoc Island to be incorporated into Cambodia on the map, becoming an autonomous region of the Kingdom of Cambodia. Dr. Kissinger, who had originally been appointed ambassador, was now relegated to consul of Phu Quoc Island.

　"If you think about it carefully, this is not entirely a bad thing. At least, Cambodia has an obligation to resolve some of the refugee backlog on the island."

　Dr. Kissinger smiled grimly at Phiri and said, "Please stay here for a few days. I'll go to Phnom Penh and discuss with Prince Sihanouk a solution to the Phu Quoc refugee problem! If it doesn't work out, let them all go to Cambodia and eat at the rich man's table!"