U.S., China Envoys Said to See Sihanouk

Resistance forces fighting the Vietnam-installed government in Cambodia reported Saturday that the U.S. and Chinese ambassadors to Thailand have crossed into a liberated zone of Cambodia for a meeting with Prince Norodom Sihanouk, whom the resistance considers president.

The report from rebel forces loyal to Sihanouk said that U.S. Ambassador Daniel O’Donahue and Chinese Ambassador Li Shichun crossed Friday into a liberated zone of Cambodia for a general discussion with Sihanouk on the situation in his country.

Meanwhile, the Cambodian government supported a Thai proposal to close refugee camps in Thailand run by the resistance and send their occupants home or relocate them in neutral settlements controlled by the United Nations, Phnom Penh Radio said Saturday.

“The government of the State of Cambodia is ready to cooperate with the Kingdom of Thailand and various international organizations in arranging repatriation of all Cambodian refugees,” said a radio announcer quoting Premier Hun Sen.

Hun Sen said the returning refugees “will enjoy the same rights as Cambodian citizens living inside the country, namely, the right to vote and to stand for election.”

Officials of the three groups in the Cambodian resistance coalition have complained that the plan would wreck the resistance effort because it would split fighters from their families and deprive the movement of much of its popular base and source of supplies.

There are about 300,000 refugees in camps along the Thai-Cambodian border. They are run by the resistance groups under Thai supervision and supplied by the U.N.

China, which gives weapons and military supplies to all three Cambodian resistance groups, recognizes the resistance coalition, but the United States recognizes neither the coalition nor the Hun Sen government.