Brothers in Arms: Chinese Aid to the Khmer Rouge, 1975-1979
"A marvelous book.Brothers in Armsexplores the vexed relationship between China and the Khmer Rouge regime between 1975 and 1979, when China, for better or worse, was Cambodia's most generous friend. Andrew Mertha talked to dozens of Cambodians and Chinese who worked together in the Khmer Rouge era. He has buttressed this research with forays into unexploited archival collections. The outcome—a judicious, vividly written analysis of the Sino-Khmer encounter—is deft, path-breaking, and persuasive."—David Chandler, Monash University, author ofA History of Cambodia"Nobody gets into the plumbing of policy implementation like Andrew Mertha. Here, he probes the bureaucracies of China and Democratic Kampuchea to understand their aid relationship and how the DK was sometimes able to parry Chinese pressures but got pulled into the Chinese orbit at other times. Bureaucratic politics has long been understood to be critical in domestic policy; now Mertha extends this approach into foreign policy. All those examining China's burgeoning relations with Latin America, Africa, and other places will want to absorb the lessons of this book."—Joseph Fewsmith, Boston University