Diplomacy change in Indochina
Diplomacy change in Indochina
New and important policy shifts are underway over Cambodia and
Vietnam.
The U.S. government, it now is clear, is on an irreversible
road to establishment of full diplomatic relations with Hanoi. A
senior State Department official who visited Vietnam last weekend
said the two countries almost certainly will open 'liaison
offices' in each other's capitals shortly.
But the mission of Peter Tomsen, U.S. deputy assistant
secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, clearly
aimed higher than this modest goal.
The United States is clearly moving cautiously but steadily
toward trading ambassadors, despite the continued opposition of
Americans exercised over the long-standing dispute over missing
U.S. servicemen.
The World Bank, long prevented by the United States from aid
to Vietnam, has now switched to a generous policy. Guatam Kaji,
the bank's regional vice president for East Asia and Pacific, has
announced a loan of US$400 million to Hanoi to help upgrade
Vietnam's energy, irrigation and banking systems.
Thailand has long welcomed the ever-closer diplomatic ties
between Washington and Hanoi. It is clearly in our interest that
Vietnam feel secure and abandon all thoughts of securing its
borders through foreign military adventures.
The invasion of Cambodia in 1978 caused great upheaval inside
Vietnam and in our country as well. We can only applaud and
encourage moves by the Hanoi leadership to renounce thoughts of
use of Cambodia as some sort of buffer zone.
Our Indochina policy has been generally enlightened, worldly
and -- most importantly -- in Thailand's best interests. Clearly,
there are areas which must be improved, starting with a clear
statement of Thailand's stand on the Khmer Rouge.
This clearly remains a source of confusion to some foreign
countries. Our diplomats and spokesmen must endeavor to make
clear Thailand does not support the Pol Pot group -- or any other
in a country searching for national reconciliation.
-- The Bangkok Post