CONFIDENTIAL
While we certainly do not want to see the Khmer Rouge back in a dominant position in Phnom Penh - and there is inevitably a risk that a power vacuum following a Vietnamese withdrawal would produce precisely this result - I think we must continue to resist efforts to link the two processes. Perhaps the right answer, as I suggested to the Chinese Chargé, is a parallel operation without formal linkage. None of the parties involved (China, Viet Nam, Thailand, the Soviet Union, the West and not least, the Cambodian people themselves) have any interest whatever in chaos and instability. There is thus at least some measure of common ground on which perhaps we might be able to build.
5.
Finally, I am sure that it is right for us to be cautious of getting into a leading position. I think this is very much the Secretary of State's view. But in, for example, the Security Council, we may be able to act as a catalyst amongst the other parties, all of whom have a closer direct interest. Even the French have their historical legacy and a considerable number of Vietnamese resident in France.
Алистика
D H Gillmore
CONFIDENTIAL