PEOPLE OT LAMD001a.
instead vietnam continues to violate their
fundamental rights and to endanger their culture and national
identity.
The Twelve have no intention of contributing to the
re-establishment of the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia. We share
the collective abhorrence felt by the world community at the
terrible abuses inflicted by Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge
followers in the past. But this provides no justification for
Vietnam'g illegal occupation of its smaller neighbour for
nearly eight years or its imposition of an illegitimate regime.
The Cambodian Resistance continues to challenge the Vietnamese
forces. The possibility of establishing a free and pluralist
society in Cambodia still exists.
The aim must be to achieve a negotiated settlement of the
Cambodian question, not one imposed by force of arms. For this
reason, the Twelve have supported the efforts of the countries
of the Association of South East Asian Nations and other parties
to find such a solution. It is lamentable that Vietnam has
consistently rejected the peace proposals that have been put to
it: this year, for example, Hanoi and the Government installed
in Phnom Penh turned down out of hand the eight point proposal
put forward by Prince Sihanouk in March. The Twelve have called
upon Vietnam to reconsider this position and we do so again
today. We continue to believe that the Declaration of the
International Conference on Kampuchea offers the best basis for
a settlement. But we have yet to see an indication of any
}