Obstacles to a political settlement in Indochina

In: Pacific affairs, Band 58, Heft 4, S. 626-636

Abstract

The author believes that the prime obstacle to a political settlement in Indochina is a fundamental conflict of security priorities expressed with reference to the appropriate political identity and external affiliations of Kampuchea. The conflict in this country engaged above all the competing interests of Thailand and Vietnam, which ante-date colonial intervention in Indochina. An unprecedented condition of political polarization created within South East Asia by the Kampuchean conflict. A peace formula for this conflict would have to reconcile, at least, the conflicting interests of Thailand and Vietnam and those of Vietnam and China. (DÜI-Sen)