Khmer-Singapore Confederation

Khmer-Singapore Confederation

Immediately following the Khmer Rouge victory in 1975, there were skirmishes between their troops and Vietnamese forces. The Khmer Rouge immediately began supporting South Vietnam, which would have fallen by the end of April had it not been for the aid. Saigon fell under joint Khmer/South Vietnamese administration as troops from Non-Aligned nations began sending their own aid to assist in the struggle. Nationalism in both entities was an issue, but survival trumped resentment toward one another. Eventually the Khmer Rouge pushed the NVA forces back up to the old border between North and South Vietnam. A ceasefire was signed between the two and both sides entered a state of armed peace. Democratic Kampucha aligned itself with the west, although nominally remained neutral.

Kampucha also pledged its support to Singapore, inherited from a joint agreement between Singpore and South Vietnam that was instated when the 1964 Race Riots occurred.

In 1987, when the Singaporean government launched Operation Spectrum to uproot a supposed “Marxist Conspiracy,” Kampucha and the Singaporean government sought to use this conspiracy as a pretext to “unite against revisionist communism”. The Khmer-Singapore Confederation was declared January 1, 1988. Singapore's economic model was exported to Kampucha and over the 1990's would boost the struggling economy. In return, the military protection offered by Kampucha helped protect Singapore against potential aggressors.

As it developed as a regional power during the 90's, the US would embrace the KSC and offered an open and mutually benefitial foreign policy in exchange for liberalization governmentally, something the KSC abided by.