20.-
to Washington last February that the United States supports
the integrity of Thailand as a stable, secure and peaceful
nation in Southeast Asia.
In concluding, Mr. Chairman, I would like to stress that.
the United States is committed to a stable, peaceful system of
nation states in Southeast Asia, communist or non-communist.
We seek improved relations with former adversaries in this
context and in pursuit of this objective. We will also continue
to support, in this context, the security and peaceful develop-
ment of our ASEAN friends, particularly that of Thailand.
!
The suspicions of the ASEAN states over the ultimate inten-
tions of the Communist powers in the region, including the
Soviet Union, have been amplified by the current conflicts.
As a case in point, the recent overtures made by Vietnamese
Prime Minister Pham Van Dong through a third party suggesting
non-aggression pacts between Vietnam and the ASEAN countries
were greeted with a substantial degree of skepticism and the
agreement on refugees between Hanoi and the UNHCR is greeted
with equal skepticism in light of its irrelevance to the main
refugee problem.
Vietnam is a country rich in natural resources, with a
talented and productive population. If the Vietnamese people
were able to turn their energies to developing their economic
potential, instead of serving policies that bring instability
and warfare to their neighbors and provide a foothold for
1