Hanoi man to tout plan

Press, 16 July 1982, Page 6

Hanoi man to tout plan

NZPA Hanoi The Vietnamese Foreign Minister (Mr Nguyen Co Thach) will begin a tour of four South-East Asian countries on Sunday to promote what Western diplomats in Hanoi, say is a serious Vietnamese plan on the Kampuchean problem. They said that the idea of an international conference in Kampuchea was the most important of three Vietnamese proposals announced last week after a meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Vietnam, Laos, and Kampuchea in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon). “This offer should be taken seriously as an indication that Hanoi wants to talk

about Kampuchea," one diplomat said. “It is Vietnam's most important overture yet." The proposed conference, which would include China, the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union, as well as countries in the region, could be very significant, depending on what gVietnam allowed on the agenda, the diplomats said. Mr Thach's tour, which will take him to Singapore, Burma. Malaysia, and Thailand this month, was expected to make clear whether Hanoi was prepared to discuss in an international forum such crucial Kampuchean issues as the presence

of about 180.000 Vietnamese troops in the country, they said. Vietnam's other proposals were to-withdraw a "significant number" of troops from Kampuchea and to set up a “safety zone" on the ThaiKampuchean border, policed by the Thai Army on one side and Kampuchean troops on the other. Initial reaction in Southeast Asia to the Vietnamese initiative was outwardly unenthusiastic. Singapore, where Mr Thach will hold talks with the Foreign Minister (Mr Suppiah Dhanabalan) from. July 18 to 20, dismissed it as cosmetic.