Abstract
This paper examines the irredentist Cambodian claims over former Khmer provinces and the Khmer population living in Cochin China, as they were presented during the Franco–Indochinese negotiations of 1949–50. The aim is to assess the underlying political factors, in particular to discover why these charges and demands were made quite regularly at turning points in Cambodian history. The paper will also look at the reactions to these claims in Saigon and Paris. The paper requires an examination of the political and military struggles taking place in Cambodia at that time, and especially the roles of the different cliques. The French were about to leave Indochina, leaving behind unsolved, and perhaps insoluble conflicts, both old and new.
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