U.S. to Shift on Cambodia, Hold Vietnam Talks

In the most far-reaching change in U.S. policy toward Indochina in over a decade, the Bush Administration is preparing to withdraw recognition from the Cambodian resistance coalition that includes the Khmer Rouge and to open a dialogue with Vietnam aimed at bringing peace to Cambodia, sources say.

The talks with Vietnam could be the first step toward normalization of relations with the government against which the United States suffered its only wartime defeat. For now, however, the talks will be limited to the subject of Cambodia and will not address the possible establishment of diplomatic relations between the United States and Vietnam.

The move suggests the United States might be ready to ease its hard-line stance against Cambodia’s Vietnamese-backed government. Some members of Congress have argued that by seeking to undermine the Phnom Penh regime, the United States is by default improving the chances of the Khmer Rouge returning to power and reinstituting its reign of terror.

Undersecretary of State Robert Kimmitt outlined the Bush Administration’s dramatic policy shift Tuesday afternoon at a private session with ambassadors from the Assn. of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), according to participants at the meeting.

Kimmitt told the Asian diplomats that the Administration will make public its new policy by Friday, when the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on U.S. policy toward Cambodia.

The Administration’s turnabout comes amid growing fears that the Khmer Rouge could return to power in Cambodia. In recent days, several prominent senators from both political parties have signed a letter being circulated by Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell (D-Me.) that calls on the Administration to reverse course in its Indochina policies.

“It looks like they (Bush Administration officials) are going to try new ways to solve the problem. This is a change from the longstanding U.S. position,” said one Asian diplomat.

Participants at the meeting said they were told the dialogue with Vietnam will be conducted in New York City, where Vietnam has a U.N. mission. Richard H. Solomon, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, will reportedly represent the United States in the talks.

Solomon, who is in Paris for a round of talks on Cambodia, could not be reached for comment. Another senior Administration official refused Tuesday night to discuss the policy changes outlined by Kimmitt.

The United States has sought to isolate Hanoi ever since its troops overran South Vietnam and forced a hasty American exodus in 1975. The U.S. policy has included both a trade embargo against Hanoi and opposition to international loans to help Vietnam’s strapped economy.

In the early days of the Jimmy Carter Administration, U.S. officials explored the possibility of normalizing relations with Vietnam, but the effort foundered when Vietnam insisted on U.S. payment of reparations stemming from the Indochina War.

At the end of 1978, Vietnam invaded Cambodia and ousted the Khmer Rouge, the Communist regime led by Pol Pot, under whose rule between 1 million and 2 million Cambodians are believed to have been murdered or died from starvation.

Vietnam then installed a regime, headed by Premier Hun Sen, that remains in power in Phnom Penh.

Throughout the past decade, the United States, its European allies, China and the Asian governments of ASEAN have joined to persuade the United Nations to deny formal recognition to Hun Sen’s government.

Instead, the U.N. seat has been routinely awarded each year to a coalition made up of three Cambodian resistance groups.

That coalition includes the Khmer Rouge and two non-Communist groups. Prince Norodom Sihanouk, the former ruler of Cambodia, is the leader of one of the two non-Communist groups, and he also serves as head of the coalition. However, the Khmer Rouge is by far its most powerful military force.

The Bush Administration has repeatedly said it is opposed to any return to power by the Khmer Rouge. However, the longstanding U.S. aid for the non-Communist resistance groups and U.S. recognition of the coalition has provoked charges that the United States is indirectly supporting the Khmer Rouge.

Early this year, a number of European governments served notice that they would no longer go along with the routine annual seating of the coalition at the U.N. General Assembly this fall. The letter being circulated in the U.S. Senate also calls on the Bush Administration to withdraw support from the coalition.

Sources said Kimmitt told the Asian ambassadors Tuesday that the United States will vote against the seating of Sihanouk’s coalition in the United Nations this fall.

China has served as the principal patron and arms supplier for the Khmer Rouge. It also has been the strongest supporter of the coalition headed by Sihanouk, who lives for part of each year in Beijing.

The members of ASEAN have also backed Sihanouk’s coalition, in large part because of their fear of Vietnamese expansion. The ASEAN nations are Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and Brunei.