THE PRESS THURSDAY, JUNE 17, 1982. Vietnam’s offer to A.S.E.A.N.

Press, 17 June 1982, Page 16

THE PRESS THURSDAY, JUNE 17, 1982. Vietnam’s offer to A.S.E.A.N.

The offer by Vietnam to send Mr Nguyen Co Thach, the country's Foreign Minister, to visit at least three of the five countries in the Association of South-east Asian Nations has interested the annual meeting of A.S.E.A.N. It may not do much more. Probably none of the A.S.E.A.N. countries — Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines — believes that Mr Thach will make a tour bearing the gift of Vietnamese withdrawal from Kampuchea; but they are still interested in talking and perhaps in negotiating. All of them consider that the Vietnamese invasion of Kampuchea in the last days of 1978 and the first few days of 1979 and the continued occupation of Kampuchea by 200,000 Vietnamese ’troops is the most serious strategic and political problem in the region.

Thailand's position with about 400,000 refugees on its border, is worst. The refugees, who are mostly Khmers and Vietnamese, have been a drain on the economy of Thailand and their presence there has meant that Thais have had to move away from the border and have needed Government help to do so. All this may get even worse because, the United Nations has been unable to get pledges of enough money to care for the refugees. Thailand cannot view the prospect of looking after them by its own efforts alone with anything but trepidation. One of the more hopeful signs is that some of the refugees in the border camps have been returning to their homes in Kampuchea. Possibly this is one of the subjects that Mr Thach will talk about with A.S.E.A.N. leaders, though there seems to be no suggestion that Thailand is among the countries that he plans to visit. The A.S.E.A.N. foreign ministers seem prepared to put aside the question of the Vietnamese occupation of Kampuchea this year. This is not because they have been reassured by the proposed visit of Mr Thach but because their efforts to get the three Kampuchean factions — the Khmer Rouge (the Pol Pot forces), the Khmer Peoples’ National Liberation Front, and the forces of Prince Sihanouk — to form a coalition: The advantage of this coalition to the A.S.E.A.N. countries is that it will give some respectability to the group that the A.S.E.A.N. group want to see represented in the United Nations. It is politically embarrassing to A.S.E.A.N. to support the ousted Democratic Kampuchean Government; which was headed by Pol Pot. The association hopes that some of the heinous deeds of the Pol Pot Government

will be lost sight of in a coalition. The factions are reluctant to unite. Apart from that, China, which is supporting Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge, has recently been reluctant to worry about the coalition at all. China simply wants to support the Khmer Rouge to go on fighting the Vietnamese so that this brings about the over-all Chinese aim of “bleeding Vietnam.”

Kampuchea will certainly be one of the main subjects discussed in the “five plus six” meetings which will, be held in Singapore and the “five plus one” meetings which will occur later. The other six are Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States, and the European Economic Community. The New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Cooper, is attending his first A.S.E.A.N. meeting. He will take part in the “five plus- six” meeting and then discuss New Zealand’s concerns with A.S.E.A.N. foreign ministers alone.

One of the issues certain to be raised by the foreign ministers is how New Zealand will vote in the United Nations on the Kampuchean seat later this year. Last year New Zealand supported Democratic Kampuchea. It seems improbable that there will be a change this year. New Zealand’s last formal statement on the issue was delivered by the then Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Brian Taiboys, in February, 1981, after Australia had ceased to recognise Democratic Kampuchea. The A.S.E.A.N. aim is to stop international recognition of the Heng Samrin Government in Kampuchea, which was installed by Vietnam.

The other important issue to be discussed is probably trade. Of the five A.S.E.A.N. countries, only Indonesia and Singapore have a balance of trade in their favour with New Zealand. In the instance of these two countries the favourable balance is attributable to the sale of oil. Last year New Zealand imports from Indonesia were worth $260 million and 90 per cent of this was for oil. Singapore refines much of the oil that New Zealand buys. The countries may want further reassurances that the proposed Closer Economic Relations with Australia will not lead to the closing of a market to them in this part of the world. They should be able to get such reassurance because Australia is determined to sell more to A.S.E.A.N. Because of this, A.S.E.A.N. will be able to negotiate to export more to Australia. New Zealand will be included, to some extent as an after-thought.