China denounces Khmer Rouge

President Jiang did not discuss the Khmer Rouge with Cambodian leaders

Chinese officials have moved to distance the government from support for Cambodia's Khmer Rouge past as President Jiang Zemin ended the first day of his visit to the south-east Asian country.

Policies were made by the Khmer Rouge leadership and we never supported the wrong policies

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao

Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao told reporters China had never supported certain policies of the former Khmer Rouge regime, which is blamed for the deaths of over a million Cambodians in the late 1970s.

But he said President Jiang did not discuss the issue with Cambodian leaders, describing it as an "internal affair of Cambodia".

And an attempt by students to stage a protest over the visit because of China's links to the Khmer Rouge regime of the late 1970s was blocked by police.

BBC correspondent Simon Ingram says this is a trip loaded with historical, not to mention geo-political, significance at a time when China is looking to expand its influence in South East Asia.

On Sunday, Jiang Zemin was in Laos, the first Chinese president ever to visit the country.

Flags and portraits

A stage-managed welcome on a massive scale greeted President Jiang and his entourage as they arrived in the Cambodian capital.

President Jiang, fresh from Laos, hopes to counter Vietnam's influence

Tens of thousands of schoolchildren, waving little Chinese flags and portraits of Mr Jiang and his host, King Sihanouk, lined the highway leading from the airport to the royal palace in central Phnom Penh.

And Mr Jiang went on to attend a ceremony to mark the signing of agreements giving Cambodia $12m in aid.

The current government wants this visit to reinforce the strong ties that exist between the two countries today.

The original invitation to President Jiang came from King Sihanouk whose warm personal ties with Beijing date back many years.

But our correspondent says the relationship goes much deeper than that.

Khmer Rouge supporter

China was one of the few countries to give unstinting support to Hun Sen after the 1997 coup that ousted his then co-Premier, Prince Ranariddh.

The Chinese-backed Khmer Rouge killed 1.5m people

But not everyone here is willing to overlook China's role in the late 1970s, when it was the principal supporter of the murderous Khmer Rouge regime.

Several dozen members of a student organisation, which has led demands for China to apologise and pay compensation to victims of the Khmer rouge, tried to mount a protest along the route of Mr Jiang's motorcade.

But plain-clothed and uniformed police, who have been deployed in vast numbers for the visit, quickly hustled them away.

Justice delayed

One of the protesters' concerns - and one shared by some United Nations officials - is that Beijing is exerting pressure on Prime Minister Hun Sen to block international calls for a trial of Khmer Rouge leaders.

A draft law approved by the UN, allowing the establishment of a tribunal, is currently before parliament.

But the delay in passing it has heightened suspicion that the government may be backtracking on its commitment.