China supported Pol Pot, while Vietnam did not.
Many people are unaware that this dispute caused a short war between Vietnam and China in 1979.
I visited the “Killing Fields” in Cambodia and saw the monument built of human skulls and bones from the mass graves. Worst was the “Killing Tree” where they smashed the heads of the children before throwing them in the pond to drown.
China protected Pol Pot and he died of old age in 1998.
The people still eat rats, snakes, scorpians, worms, and many other odd foods, which are readily available at restaurants and street vendors.
I met with some of the survivors who survived the Pol Pot massacres by playing dead after being wounded. Also visited the prison in Phnom Penh as saw the pictures of all the executed political prisoners.
Pol Pot executed the entire family if one family member opposed him.
Hard to believe that this happened in 1975 to 1979. I have friends that were shot in Cambodia during the Vietnam War and an uncle that worked in Cambodia for the CIA in the 1950’s. I spent some time there in 2020 to better understand what happened. Traveled down the Mekong River from up near the Laos/China border by boat, sleeping in thatched huts.
Was quite an eye opening experience.
The highlight of the trip was meeting up with Thich Nhat Hanh in Vietnam, our last meeting before he died.
You are correct. China supported Pol Pot. The Soviets supported the Vietnamese communists.