Cambodia Occupation Will End by 1990, Vietnam Says

Vietnam will end its occupation of Cambodia by 1990 and accepts the idea of indirect negotiations to resolve the Cambodian issue, the foreign ministers of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia said Friday.

The announcement came after a two-day conference in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, that also focused on American servicemen still listed as missing in action after the war in Indochina--one of the most divisive issues between Vietnam and the United States.

Meanwhile, in Washington, the State Department announced that a high-level U.S. delegation would visit Hanoi on Aug. 28-29 to discuss the fate of the MIAs.

The foreign ministers announcement represented a change from earlier Vietnamese statements. In April, Foreign Minister Nguyen Co Thach said that half of Hanoi’s troops would be withdrawn by 1987 and two-thirds by 1990.

It said that if the withdrawals are exploited by others to undermine the peace and security of Cambodia, the two governments would consult on “appropriate measures” to be taken.

Vietnam has announced four partial troop withdrawals since it invaded Cambodia in December, 1978. But Western and non-communist Southeast Asian diplomats have discounted the action as rotations of Hanoi’s 160,000 to 180,000 occupation troops.

“The Vietnamese volunteer forces will pursue their yearly gradual withdrawals from Kampuchea (Cambodia) and will conclude their total withdrawal by 1990,” said the foreign ministers’ statement, quoted by SPK, the Cambodian news agency.

In an apparent policy switch, Vietnam and its partners did not reject a proposal from the Assn. of Southeast Asian Nations for indirect peace negotiations on Cambodia, saying it “deserves examination.”

Apparent Policy Switch

ASEAN, which includes Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, has led a diplomatic offensive against Vietnam’s occupation of Cambodia. Its proposal calls for a neutral mediator shuttling between rooms containing Cambodian resistance leaders and representatives of Vietnam and the Hanoi-installed Heng Samrin regime in Phnom Penh.

SPK, said the conference welcomed progress by Laos and Vietnam in resolving the MIA issue.

“It (the conference) is convinced that high-level Vietnam-U.S. talks on the questions of MIAs and other matters of mutual interest will facilitate the restoration of peace and stability in Southeast Asia,” said SPK, monitored in Bangkok.