Quayle Ventures Near Cambodia Border

Vice President Dan Quayle journeyed to within five miles of the Cambodian border Thursday in an attempt to dramatize the continuing U.S. government interest in influencing events in Indochina.

The vice president, who drew criticism during last year’s election campaign because he did not serve in the Vietnam War, flew with an entourage of American officials in a flight of eight UH-1 Huey helicopters to a dusty refugee camp in northeastern Thailand. The camp, known as Site B, contains about 60,000 followers of Prince Norodom Sihanouk, who leads a three-party coalition opposing Cambodia’s Vietnamese-backed government.

Quayle was the first American vice president or president to go so near Indochinese territory since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975.

Throughout his two-hour visit, Quayle sought to keep attention focused on the plight of Cambodian refugees and the current political situation in Cambodia. He did not mention the Vietnam War or the 1971 U.S. invasion of Cambodia.

“These poor kids here, the sick, some of them born here, want to return to their homes, except they can’t because of the illegal occupation (by) Vietnam,” Quayle said after walking through an open-air children’s ward. “People have really missed this tragedy in our history.”

As the vice president and his wife, Marilyn, toured the camp, they were protected not only by the usual Secret Service contingent but also by U.S. Army commandos flown to Thailand from the United States. A Thai jeep in Quayle’s motorcade carried a .30-caliber machine gun.

Quayle’s visit was aimed at showing strong American support for the non-communist forces of Prince Norodom Sihanouk. The various political factions in Cambodia are trying to determine who will run the country after Vietnam withdraws its remaining 50,000 troops this fall.

“The non-communist resistance needs to be strengthened,” said Quayle. Sihanouk’s son, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, who is commander in chief of Sihanouk’s military forces, served as Quayle’s host. Ranariddh has asked the United States to provide his troops with military supplies, and President Bush has said the request is under consideration.

At one point, while Quayle was touring the refugee camp, Ranariddh quietly approached Daniel A. O’Donohue, the U.S. ambassador to Thailand, and asked, “Are you ready for September?” The ambassador didn’t answer.

The withdrawal of Vietnamese troops from Cambodia is supposed to be completed by Sept. 30. At that point, if there is no negotiated political settlement, fighting could break out as the rival factions in Cambodia struggle for power.

From 1975 through 1978, after the end of the Vietnam War, Cambodia was ruled by the Khmer Rouge, and in that period more than a million Cambodians were slain or died of disease or starvation. The current Cambodian regime headed by Premier Hun Sen was installed by Vietnam after it invaded Cambodia in late 1978 and ousted the Khmer Rouge in January, 1979.

Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev is preparing to meet Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping in a historic summit May 15, and Cambodia is expected to be one of the topics on the agenda. Quayle’s visit underscored the desire of the Bush Administration to make sure that the United States is not left out of the discussions over Cambodia’s future.

Quayle was originally supposed to visit a different, larger Cambodian refugee camp called Site 2, which is about a mile from the Cambodian border. But the plans were changed after shells from inside Cambodia began falling in Site 2 for the first time since 1986.

When Quayle arrived in the camp, he was greeted by several thousand Cambodian children. “You’re as popular as my father (Prince Sihanouk),” Ranariddh told the vice president.

In a brief speech, Quayle told the refugees, “Despite the long years of trouble, you have not been forgotten by the American people. We stand with you.”

He said the United States will continue to support Sihanouk until there is a “complete withdrawal” of Vietnamese forces from Cambodia and a political settlement on its future government.

In what appeared to be a softening of the official U.S. position on Cambodia, Quayle also said the Bush Administration is opposed to any “monopoly of power” by the current Hun Sen regime. That statement appeared to leave the door open for some sort of power-sharing arrangement in which the Sihanouk forces would join with the Hanoi-backed government in order to prevent a return to power by the Khmer Rouge.