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In our timeline, the kingdom of Cambodia is in a sad state as it's one of the poorest countries in the would this is mostly due to the Khmer Rouge. About 1.7 to 3 million people were killed during the genocide including minority(Vietnamese, Chinese etc.) and Cambodia most educated. The effect was devastating for Cambodia, this deeply destabilizes to the country. Due to the stability of the country the first application to join the association of Southeast Asian countries was ultimately rejected, it was only till 1999 did ASEAN accept Cambodia into the organization. Today despite the strong economic growth of Cambodia in recent year it still remains one the poorest countries with corruption being a major problem.

This is a timeline where the republic of Cambodia was able to prevent the Khmer Rouge from taking over and the country eventually evolve into a develop country.

After the coup of 1970 against prime sisowath sirik matak the future of the Khmer people looks bleak as the country is poor surrounded by countries that are at war in the east and north(Laos, Vietnam) that threaten to spill into Cambodia and its arch nemesis Thailand. Cheng Heng the first president of the republic and Lon Nol the prime minister was determined to bring the prosperity of the great Khmer empire back to Cambodia. His first order of business of is to rid the republic of communist and communist sympathizer as well as win over the people. This lead to what historian today label the event of as the Cambodian period of reform which last 3 years between 1970 to 1973. During this time Cheng Heng and his regime waged war against communist rebel and their supporter. He also implements several propaganda plans to strengthen his grip over the country. These propagandas include glorifying the republic and its western allies especially the U.S. The plan also instill deep fear and hatred of communism into the mind of the people. However, the most controversial part of this period were the brutality of the regime against monarchist loyalist and communist fighting force. Many was killed during the battle with the regime with the remaining killed immediately in harsh ways instead of going to prison with some being lucky enough to be killed immediately. A leftist leader pol pot was brutally torture and killed by a group of soldier seizing the last communist base, the government however, denied any involvement with the group saying it was a unit gone rogue. During this time, the republic request aid from its allies in order to develop the countries economically and militarily, with most of the aid coming from the U.S and France. The regime during this time also used much of the aid to fund the military so to keep communist regime from other countries such as Vietnam and Laos from coming into the territory because of fear of the country stability as well as request from the U.S in exchange for aid and no western force into the country unless it is absolutely necessary.
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