SJS7-Friendship of Norodom Sihanouk and Zhou Enlai

Source: 

Jeldres, Julio. "A Personal Reflection on Norodom Sihanouk and Zhou Enlai: An Extraordinary Friendship on the Fringes of the Cold War." Cross-Currents: East Asian History and Culture Review 4 (2012): 52-64. Directory of Open Access Journals. Web. 18 May 2016.

Author Credentials: 

Julio Jeldres is qualified to write about this subject because he served as the private secretary to Norodom Sihanouk during 1980s. This gave Jeldres primary knowledge on the private life of Sihanouk. This close relationship with Sihanouk makes Jeldres susceptible to holding a positive bias towards him. In addition, Jeldres taught at Monash University in the Department of History and Philosophy. This proves that Jeldres is knowledgeable on historical affairs and is qualified to reflect on them. 

Summary:

Jeldres argues that the friendship of Norodom Sihanouk and Zhou Enlai was surprising but also genuine. To begin, Jeldres provides examples of how close Sihanouk and Enlai’s friendship was. He explains that Enlai was extremely respectful of Sihanouk’s father’s death and that Enlai allowed Sihanouk to reside in Beijing as a privileged guest from 1970 to 1975. In addition, Jeldres examines cultural context of the unexpected nature of the friendship. Due to Sihanouk being a Buddhist king and Enlai being the prime minister of a communist state, it seems that these two would not get along. Moreover, Jeldres continues to explain that despite differences Sihanouk believed the friendship was genuine and they had mutual respect for each other’s cultures. Lastly, the article relates to our present and previous studies because it talks about the friend’s relationship during the Cultural Revolution in China and the Cambodian Civil War. To illustrate this, Jeldres discusses how during the Chinese Cultural Revolution their friendship nearly terminated because the Chinese embassy in Phnom Penh was usurped by Red Guard supporters who promoted Maoism in Cambodia.

Analysis: 

Jeldres writes in an informative, yet narrative style that allows his viewpoint to be presented in an efficient and interesting way. Jeldres supports his argument that the friendship was genuine through many examples. As Jeldres discusses their friendship throughout different time periods he tells of kind gestures that each did. For example, when Sihanouk was exiled from Cambodia, Enlai treated him with utmost respect. In addition, Jeldres is personally reflecting on the relationship between Sihanouk and Enlai. This makes his separation of fact and opinion poor. Overall, the article is his opinion on the relationship; however, he does include facts about the historical context in the article. It can be hard to decipher between the fact and opinion because they often flawlessly run together and the historical facts normally support an opinion. Lastly, Jeldres is a reliable source. Being the private secretary to Sihanouk makes him more than qualified to reflect on the relationship between Sihanouk and Enlai. However, due to this close relationship with Sihanouk, it is possible that Jeldres only portrays Sihanouk in a positive light.