Cambodia–Poland relations

Cambodian–Polish relations take place in the form of bilateral relations between the Kingdom of Cambodia and the Republic of Poland.

History

Wojciech Męciński, a Polish jesuit missionary, had set sailed to Cambodia at 1638 from Macau. During his journey, he had a record of Vietnam, Siam and Cambodia throughout his eyes, which made him the first Pole to travel to Southeast Asia. They would not have any diplomatic relationship until 1956, when the Polish People's Republic established relationship with Cambodia, then Poland was still a communist country. However, prior to that, a Polish-French General, Antoni Kłobukowski, was appointed as Colonial Governor of Cambodia when France took the nation at 1863.

Modern relations

Their modern relationship started at 1956 and Poland did have an embassy in Phnom Penh. Prior to 1970, Poland and Cambodia maintained a close and cordial relations. After the military coup by Lon Nol at 1970 and the establishment of Khmer Republic, relationship between two nations deteriorated. At 1979, after the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia, relationship continued to deteriorate and Poland didn't have diplomatic relations with Cambodia until late 1990s.

Amidst the end of Vietnamese occupation and Vietnam's withdrawal from Cambodia, an UN mission was deployed to Cambodia, which Poland was one of the main participants. Under the UN mission, Poland had played a vital role on the reconstruction of Cambodia and disarming rebel armies.

Today

Before 2005, Polish interests in Cambodia were served through the Polish embassy in Bangkok. Poland reopened their embassy in Cambodia at 2005, and appointed Europę Środkowo-Wschodnią as the first ambassador of Poland to Cambodia. However, both two countries closed their embassies in 2008 and 2009, respectively, due to financial reasons.