Bangkok Plot

A 1950s conspiracy to topple Norodom Sihanouk

United States involvement in
regime change

19th century

* 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom

20th century

* 1901 dissolution of the First Philippine Republic
* 1903 separation of Panama from Colombia
* 1906–1909 occupation of Cuba
* 1912–1933 occupation of Nicaragua
* 1914 occupation of Veracruz
* 1915–1934 occupation of Haiti
* 1916–1924 occupation of the Dominican Republic
* 1945–1952 occupation of Japan
* 1945–1948 occupation of Korea
* 1953 Iranian coup d'état
* 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état
* 1956–57 regime change attempts in Syria
* 1958 failed coup attempt in Indonesia
* 1960–1965 involvement in the Congo Crisis
* 1960 Laotian counter-coup by Phoumi Nosavan
* 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion
* 1961 Operation Mongoose in Cuba
* 1963 South Vietnamese coup d'état
* 1964 Brazilian coup d'état
* 1964 ousting of Cheddi Jagan in British Guiana
* 1965–1966 occupation of the Dominican Republic
* 1965–66 transition to the New Order in Indonesia
* 1971 Bolivian coup d'état
* 1973 Chilean coup d'état
* 1975–1992 support for UNITA in Angola
* 1979–1992 support for the Afghan mujahideen in Afghanistan
* 1981–1990 support for the Contras in Nicaragua
* 1983 invasion of Grenada
* 1989 invasion of Panama
* 1994–1995 occupation of Haiti
* 1990s Iraq, failed coup d'état

21st century

* 2001 invasion of Afghanistan
* 2003 invasion of Iraq

* v
* t
* e

|  | This article is part of a series
about
Norodom Sihanouk

|

* Sihanoukism
* Honours
* Filmography
* Ancestry

* * *

* Japanese puppet state
* French protectorate of Cambodia

* * *

Sangkum era

* Sangkum
* New Khmer Architecture
* Preah Sihanouk province
* Sihanoukville
* Samlaut Uprising
* Cambodian Civil War
* Bangkok Plot
* Sihanouk Trail
* Operation Menu
* 1970 coup d'état

* * *

Later political career

* FUNK
* GRUNK
* Khmer Rouge
* MOULINAKA
* FUNCINPEC
* KR coalition government

* * *

* Death and funeral
* Memorial

* * *

* Gallery
* Category
* Quotes

* v
* t
* e

The Bangkok Plot, also known as the Dap Chhuon Plot, was a late 1950s international conspiracy to topple Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia. It was allegedly initiated by the right-wing politicians Sam Sary and Son Ngoc Thanh, the regional Cambodian warlord and governor Dap Chhuon, and the governments of Thailand and South Vietnam with possible involvement of US intelligence services.[1] The Bangkok Plot and its politics still influence Cambodian politics.[2]

## Plot

[edit]

According to the account later given by Sihanouk, the coup was to be carried out by Thanh's Khmer Serai irregulars, largely from the Khmer Krom minority of southern Vietnam. The Khmer Serai were massed in the southern border areas. Chhuon, who had for a few years been a trusted associate of Sihanouk, was to start an uprising in the north-east. In early February 1959, Admiral Harry Felt, General Lawton Collins and Colonel Edward Lansdale all visited Chhuon's base in Siem Reap.[3]

Sihanouk's intelligence services discovered details of the plot and on February 21, 1959, they dispatched a battalion of troops to arrest Chhuon.[4] A US citizen and alleged CIA radio operator Victor Matsui was captured. Chhuon who had fled, was later apprehended, interrogated, and died "of injuries" in somewhat murky circumstances before he could be properly interviewed. Sihanouk later alleged that Defence Minister Lon Nol had Chhuon shot to prevent him from being implicated in the coup.[3]

Sihanouk arranged for pictures of Chhuon's corpse to be posted on a main Phnom Penh thoroughfare. Of the other main plotters, Sary disappeared in 1962, and Thanh went on to have involvement in Lon Nol's post-1970 government before leaving for Vietnam. Chhuon's brother Slat Peou, a member of Sihanouk's delegation at the United Nations and a friend of Matsui, was executed for treason.

Sihanouk, an amateur film director, later used the plot as the basis for his film Ombre sur Angkor ("Shadow over Angkor") from 1968.[5][6] He regarded it as conclusive evidence that the US intended to destabilise his regime, which had established relations with Communist China.

## See also

[edit]

* 2000 Cambodian coup d'état attempt

## Literature

[edit]

* William J. Rust (2016). Eisenhower & Cambodia: Diplomacy, Covert Action, and the Origins of the Second Indochina War. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 9780813167428.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Prados, J. Lost crusader: the secret wars of CIA director William Colby, Oxford University Press, 2003, p.67
2. ^ David Hutt (16 August 2018). "Hun Sen's power grab guided by Cambodian history". Asia Times. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
3. ^ a b Norodom Sihanouk, My War with the CIA, Pelican, p.108
4. ^ Prados, p.68
5. ^ "Ombre sur Angkor". IMDb. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
6. ^ Sihanouk, p.111

## External links

[edit]

* "Shadow Over Angkor". YouTube. Public link to Sihanouk's film.

* v
* t
* e

Plots and conspiracies (List)

Before the 16th century|

* Ancient Egypt
* 1155 BC
* Roman Republic (63 BC)
* Roman Empire (65)
* Holy Roman Empire (1062)
* Mamluk Sultanate (1386)
* England (1415)
* Florence (1478)

16th century|

* Italy (1502)
* France (1560)
* France (1567)
* Sweden (1569)
* Sweden (1574)
* Sweden (1576)
* England (1586)
* Philippines (1587)

17th century|

* England (1603)
* Bye Plot
* Main Plot
* England (1605)
* England (1641)
* Hungary (1670)

18th century|

* Naples (1701)
* France (1718)
* Great Britain (1721)
* Malta (1749)
* Sweden (1756)
* Chile (1781)
* United States (1783)
* Goa (1787)
* Sweden (1788)
* Sweden (1789)
* Sweden (1793)
* Venezuela (1797)
* Mexico (1799)

19th century|

* France (1800)
* France (1804)
* United States (1807)
* United Kingdom (1820)
* France (1820)
* Colombia (1828)
* Philippines (1828)
* Georgia (1832)

20th century|

* Venezuela (1907)
* India (1912)
* India (1914)
* Russia (1917)
* Ukraine (1919)
* United States (1933)
* Germany (1938)
* Germany (1944)
* Pakistan (1951)
* Abu Dhabi (1955)
* Cambodia (1959)
* United Kingdom (1968)
* Libya (1970)
* China (1971)
* Morocco (1973)
* Spain (1978)
* Zimbabwe (1980)
* Peru (1992)
* Pakistan (1995)

21st century|

* Laos (2007)
* Zimbabwe (2007)
* United Arab Emirates (2011)
* Ivory Coast (2012)
* Comoros (2013)
* Montenegro (2016)
* United States (2020)
* Armenia (2021)
* Ukraine (2021)
* Democratic Republic of the Congo (2022)
* Ukraine (2022)
* Germany (2022)
* Brazil (2022)
* Armenia (2023)
* September
* November
* Moldova (2023)
* Sierra Leone (2023)
* Ukraine (2024)
* Armenia (2024)
* Tigray (2024)
* Armenia (2025)

See also:  Coup d'état

This Cambodia-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

|

* v
* t
* e

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template