Pol Pot

==== Foreign relations ====
[[File:Nicolae Ceaușescu with Pol Pot.jpg|thumb|Pol Pot meeting with Romanian Marxist leader [[Nicolae Ceaușescu]] during the latter's visit to Cambodia in 1978]]

Outwardly, relations between Cambodia and Vietnam were warm following the establishment of Democratic Kampuchea; after Vietnam was unified in July 1976, the Cambodian government issued a message of congratulations.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=357}} Privately, relations between the two were declining. In a speech on the first anniversary of their victory in the civil war, Khieu referred to the Vietnamese as imperialists.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=356}} In May 1976, a negotiation to draw up a formal border between the two countries failed.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=356}}

On taking power, the Khmer Rouge spurned both the Western states and the Soviet Union as sources of support.{{sfn|Ciorciari|2014|p=217}} Instead, China became Cambodia's main international partner.{{sfn|Ciorciari|2014|p=215}} With Vietnam increasingly siding with the Soviet Union over China, the Chinese saw Pol Pot's government as a bulwark against Vietnamese influence in Indochina.{{sfnm|1a1=Short|1y=2004|1p=300|2a1=Ciorciari|2y=2014|2p=220}} Mao pledged $1 billion in military and economic aid to Cambodia, including an immediate $20 million grant.{{sfn|Ciorciari|2014|p=220}} Many thousands of Chinese military advisors and technicians were also sent to the country to assist in projects like the construction of the [[Kampong Chhnang (city)|Kampong Chhnang]] military airport.{{sfnm|1a1=Chandler|1y=1992|1p=110|2a1=Short|2y=2004|2p=302|3a1=Ciorciari|3y=2014|3pp=226–27, 234}} The relationship between the Chinese and Cambodian governments was nevertheless marred by mutual suspicion and China had little influence on Pol Pot's domestic policies.{{sfn|Ciorciari|2014|pp=216–17}} It had greater influence on Cambodia's foreign policy, successfully pushing the country to pursue rapprochement with Thailand and open communication with the U.S. to combat Vietnamese influence in the region.{{sfn|Ciorciari|2014|p=221}}

After Mao died in September 1976, Pol Pot praised him and Cambodia declared an official period of mourning.{{sfnm|1a1=Chandler|1y=1992|1p=128|2a1=Short|2y=2004|2p=361}} In November 1976, Pol Pot travelled secretly to Beijing, seeking to retain his country's alliance with China after the [[Gang of Four]] were arrested.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=362}} From Beijing, he was then taken on a tour of China, visiting sites associated with Mao and the Chinese Communist Party.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=363}} The Chinese were the only country allowed to retain their old Phnom Penh embassy.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=332}} All other diplomats were made to live in assigned quarters on the Boulevard Monivong. This street was barricaded off and the diplomats were not permitted to leave without escorts. Their food was brought to them and provided through the only shop that remained open in the country.{{sfn|Short|2004|pp=332–33}} Pol Pot saw the Khmer Rouge as an example that should be copied by other revolutionary movements across the world and courted Marxist leaders from Burma, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand, allowing Thai Marxists to establish bases along the Cambodian border with Thailand.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=342}} In November 1977, Burma's [[Ne Win]] was the first foreign head of government to visit Democratic Kampuchea, followed soon after by Romania's [[Nicolae Ceaușescu]].{{sfn|Short|2004|p=361}}