Phnom Penh - China defended its support of the genocidal Khmer Rouge yesterday as President Jiang Zemin began a state visit to Cambodia amid tight security.
China was the main supporter of the Khmer Rouge during its 1970s reign - during which 1.7 million died of starvation, execution, overwork and disease - and in the 1980s when Khmer Rouge guerrillas battled a Vietnamese army of occupation.
"During the Khmer Rouge period, the policies were made by the Khmer Rouge leadership and we never supported the wrong policies, the incorrect policies, that were made by the Khmer Rouge leadership," the foreign ministry spokesman, Mr Zhu Bangzoa, said at a news conference in Phnom Penh.