In 1979, Vietnam invaded and occupied Cambodia (at that time was ruled by the Khmer Rouge as Democratic Kampuchea) establishing the People's Republic of Kampuchea, but it was dismissed by the People's Republic of China as a "puppet state". At the time, both of the countries had disputed the claims of being the sole legitimate representative of all the Khmer people of Cambodia in the United Nations. This resulted in its seat being retained by the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea, a coalition government formed in 1982 as a government in exile and composed of the royalist FUNCINPEC party, the republican Khmer People's National Liberation Front and the Khmer Rouge-backed Party of Democratic Kampuchea.