Editing Cambodian Genocide (section)

===The Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea [[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Khmer_Rouge_rule_of_Cambodia&action=edit&section=14 <u>edit</u>]]===
The UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly<sup class="Template-Fact" style="white-space: nowrap;">[''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed <u>citation needed</u>]'']</sup> for the KR to retain their seat at the UN. The seat was occupied by [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thiounn_Prasith&action=edit&redlink=1 <u>Thiounn Prasith</u>], an old cadre of Pol Pot and Ieng Sary from their student days in Paris and one of the 21 attendees at the 1960 KPRP Second Congress. The seat was retained under the name 'Democratic Kampuchea' until 1982 and then '[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coalition_Government_of_Democratic_Kampuchea <u>Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea</u>]' until 1993.

According to journalist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Becker <u>Elizabeth Becker</u>], former U.S. National Security Advisor [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zbigniew_Brzezinski <u>Zbigniew Brzezinski</u>] said that in 1979, "I encouraged the Chinese to support Pol Pot. Pol Pot was an abomination. We could never support him, but China could." Brzezinski has denied this, writing that the Chinese were aiding Pol Pot "without any help or encouragement from the United States."

China, the U.S., and other Western countries opposed an expansion of Vietnamese and Soviet influence in Indochina, and refused to recognize the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodia_under_Vietnamese_occupation_(1979-1989) <u>People's Republic of Kampuchea</u>] as the legitimate government of Cambodia, claiming that it was a puppet state propped up by Vietnamese forces. China funneled military aid to the Khmer Rouge, which in the 1980s proved to be the most capable insurgent force, while the U.S. publicly supported a non-Communist alternative to the PRK; in 1985, the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reagan_administration <u>Reagan administration</u>] approved $5 million in aid to the republican [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_People%27s_National_Liberation_Front <u>KPNLF</u>], led by former prime minister [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Son_Sann <u>Son Sann</u>], and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arm%C3%A9e_Nationale_Sihanoukiste&action=edit&redlink=1 <u>ANS</u>], the armed wing of the pro-Sihanouk [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FUNCINPEC <u>FUNCINPEC</u>] party.

The KPNLF, while lacking in military strength compared to the Khmer Rouge, commanded a sizable civilian following (up to 250,000) amongst refugees near the Thai-Cambodian border that had fled the KR regime. Funcinpec had the benefit of traditional peasant Khmer loyalty to the crown and Sihanouk's widespread popularity in the countryside.

In practice, the military strength of the non-KR groups within Cambodia was minimal, though their funding and civilian support was often greater than the KR. The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Thatcher <u>Thatcher</u>] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reagan_administration <u>Reagan administrations</u>] both supported the non-KR insurgents covertly, with weapons, and military advisors in the form of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Forces_(United_States_Army) <u>Green Berets</u>] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Air_Service <u>Special Air Service</u>] units, who taught sabotage techniques in camps just inside Thailand.