Shultz Supports Indirect Hanoi, Cambodia Talks

Secretary of State George P. Shultz gave unexpected support Thursday to the proposal of the Assn. of Southeast Asian Nations for “indirect talks” between Cambodian rebel factions and Vietnam to end Hanoi’s occupation of Cambodia.

According to a senior State Department official, Shultz remains “seriously concerned” that the proposal should not give implicit recognition to the Hanoi-installed Heng Samrin regime in Phnom Penh.

But as now formulated, the proposal would permit the Heng Samrin government to attend the talks only as part of Hanoi’s delegation. Shultz is satisfied that Heng Samrin would clearly be seen as a “puppet of Vietnam” if the talks should ever take place, the official said.

Shultz was also persuaded by representatives of the ASEAN states that the group must maintain the diplomatic initiative--by moves such as this proposal--and press for withdrawal of Hanoi’s estimated 150,000-man occupation force from Cambodia.

Rejected by Vietnam

Vietnam has already rejected the proposal through its official news agency. But U.S. officials said the language of the ASEAN offer must be precise nonetheless because Hanoi may later accept it and capitalize on any loose wording. Indeed, according to local press reports here, the Vietnamese on Thursday night asked for clarification of the proposal.

In his meeting with the six ASEAN members--Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore and Brunei--Shultz was “generally supportive” of the proposal, the senior official said. But Shultz also counseled that the ASEAN states generally, and Thailand in particular, should recognize that they have security stakes of their own in any Cambodian settlement, even if they are not a party to the negotiations, the official said.

And in a speech prepared for delivery this morning, Shultz said, “Vietnam will have to agree to a settlement in Cambodia acceptable to ASEAN, which includes the negotiated withdrawal of its forces.”

Vietnamese troops entered Cambodia late in 1978 and drove from power the Communist Khmer Rouge, whose brutal rule took the lives of at least 1 million Cambodians. The Khmer Rouge and two non-Communist resistance groups have been fighting the Vietnamese and the Phnom Penh government from bases along the Thai-Cambodian border.