CONFIDENTIAL
043757
MDLIAN 1906
RESPONSIBLE FOR THE TROUBLES IN CAMBODIA AND HAD FINISHED BY MAKING IT EQUALLY CLEAR THAT THEY COULD NOT POSSIBLY LEAVE UNTIL FIRM ARRANGEMENTS HAD BEEN MADE TO PREVENT A RETURN TO POWER OF THE KHMER ROUGE. INTERESTINGLY, SIHANOUK HAD SUGGESTED THAT THE WAY FORWARD AT THE JIM MIGHT BE FOR THE INITIAL SESSION AT BOGOR TO FOLLOW A TWO PLUS TWO PLUS TWO FORMULA: TWO CAMBODIAN FACTIONS (SIHANOUK AND HUN SEN) TWO INDO CHINESE COUNTRIES (VIETNAM AND LAOS) AND TWO ASEAN COUNTRIES (INDONEISA AND THAILAND). THIS COULD BE FOLLOWED BY LARGER SESSIONS INVOLVING THE OTHER TWO CAMBODIAN FACTIONS AND OTHER ASEAN COUNTRIES. SIHANOUK STRESSED HOW IMPORTANT AN INTERNATIONAL PEACE-KEEPING FORCE WAS: THE KHMER ROUGE HAD 30,000 WELL-ARMED GUERRILLAS BUT SUFFICIENT ARMS IN CACHES TO KEEP AN ARMY OF 150,000 GOING FOR THE NEXT FEW YEARS.
8.
COMMENT.
THE ABOVE REPORT REPRESENTS A PURELY PERSONAL VIEW BY CHEYSSON OF THE ASEAN PMC, BUT IT SEEMS TO REFLECT GENERALLY WHAT WE HAVE HEARD FROM OTHER SOURCES. THE AMERICANS HAVE TOLD US THAT THEY WERE WELL SATISFIED WITH THE RESULTS OF THE CONFERENCE, WHICH PRIMARILY FOCUSED ON CAMBODIA. JAPANESE FOREIGN
MINISTER UNO SAID THAT JAPAN 'WILL ACTIVELY CONSIDER EXTENDING FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTION TO THE COSTS INVOLVED
IN THE ACTIVITIES OF THE INTERNATIONAL PEACE-
KEEPING FORCE AS WELL AS DESPATCHING PERSONNEL FOR INTERNATIONAL SUPERVISORY TEAM AT THE TIME OF FREE ELECTIONS AND PROVIDING NECESSARY NON-MILITARY MATERIAL
ASEAN PRESSED THE NEED
·
•
FOR AN IPKF: SHULTZ TOOK THE VIEW THAT CLOSE CONSULTATION SHOULD BE THE PREDOMINANT AVENUE, ADDING THAT ''MAYBE THE CAMBODIAN SITUATION HAS REACHED A MORE FLUID STAGE'' (LIKE MOTHERHOOD, THE DIALOGUE PARTNERS ARE UNANIMOUS THAT INTERNATIONAL SUPERVISION IS A SPLENDID IDEA, BUT THERE IS UNDERSTANDABLE RELUCTANCE TO MAKE A COMMITMENT AT THIS STAGE).
9.
AT A FAREWELL PRESS CONFERENCE ON SATURDAY 9 JULY, SHULTZ SAID THAT HE WOULD BE DISCUSSING THE KHMER ROUGE ISSUE WITH CHINESE LEADERS DURING HIS VISIT THERE 14-16 JULY.
HE ACKNOWLEDGED THAT HE HAD CALLED FOR 'SAFEGUARDS TO PREVENT THE KHMER ROUGE RETURNING TO POWER, BUT WHEN ASKED TO ELABORATE, SAID THAT THE US CANNOT YET BE TOO SPECIFIC ABOUT THEM. ACCORDING TO THE BANGKOK NATION SHULTZ POINTED OUT THAT THE PRESENCE OF AN INTERNATIONAL PEACE-KEEPING FORCE AND CONTINUED US SUPPORT FOR SIHANOUK WERE PART OF AN ON-GOING PROCESS TO SETTLE THE CAMBODIAN PROBLEM. SHULTZ ADDED THAT CHINA WAS A
3
PAGE CONFIDENTIAL