Cambodia Reds Say They’d Accept ‘Capitalist’ Regime : Cambodia Reds Offer to Accept ‘Capitalism’

Communist Khmer Rouge rebels, in a major policy shift, said today that they would accept the creation of a “capitalist” government in Cambodia and expressed a willingness to sign a peace treaty with Vietnam.

The guerrilla group, which has been fighting Vietnam since Hanoi’s troops invaded Cambodia in late 1978, said in a radio broadcast that they would welcome the participation of the Hanoi-installed Heng Samrin regime in a new government.

There was no immediate response from Vietnam to the proposals, which the broadcast said were drafted at a meeting July 5-6 at an undisclosed location in Cambodia.

The Chinese-backed Khmer Rouge, with an estimated 40,000 guerrillas under arms, is the largest and best-equipped faction in a U.N.-recognized Cambodian rebel coalition led by Prince Norodom Sihanouk. Two non-communist rebel factions are also part of the government-in-exile.

Reign of Radical Terror

Under the leadership of Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge was blamed for the deaths of more than 1.5 million Cambodians during a reign of radical terror between 1975 and early 1979, when Vietnam overran Phnom Penh and occupied the country.

In the broadcast, Khmer Rouge officials said they envisioned “the regime of Cambodia in the future as a liberal, capitalist regime in economy and a parliamentary regime in politics. . . . We welcome other Cambodians, including Heng Samrin and his group.”

The seven-point policy statement also appeared to accept, for the first time, the possibility that the Khmer Rouge might be excluded from the government after Hanoi withdraws its estimated 160,000 troops from Cambodia.

The Khmer Rouge “through elections may or may not be able to participate in the responsibilities of the national government,” the statement said.

Diplomatic Activity

The policy shift followed a flurry of diplomatic activity by members of the Assn. of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, aimed at ending Hanoi’s 6-year-old occupation of Cambodia.

At a meeting last week in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur, ASEAN foreign ministers renewed a call for talks between Sihanouk’s coalition and Vietnam. Hanoi rejected the ASEAN appeal.