Hanoi called on to withdraw

Press, 25 June 1983, Page 10

Hanoi called on to withdraw

NZPA-Reuter Bangkok Foreign Ministers of the Association of South-East Asian Nations opened their annual conference yesterday with a call on Vietnam to withdraw its forces . 30km from Kampuchea’s border with Thailand as part of a total pull-out plan. The Thai Foreign Minister, Air Chief Marshal Siddhi Savetsila, told the opening session that such a move would be more meaningful and lessen the direct threat to Thailand than Hanoi’s recently announced partial troop withdrawals. “The 30km withdrawal was not a precondition for talks but was considered as a part of the total withdrawal of Vietnamese forces from

Kampuchea...,” he said. Air Marshal Siddhi said that there had been no progress in his talks with the Vietnamese Foreign

Minister, Mr Nguyen Co Thach, earlier this month. Mr Thach has said that Vietnam would consider the Thai proposal but it would not accept any preconditions. Vietnam has an estimated 180,000 soldiers in Kampuchea since its military intervention in December, 1978. The A.S.E.A.N. meeting was expected to endorse Air Marshal Siddhi’s proposal which, if accepted by Vietnam, could pave the way for a dialogue between Hanoi and A.S.E.A.N. leaders, official sources said. Air Marshal Siddhi said that the United Nationssponsored international conference on Kampuchea had

provided the best framework for a durable and comprehensive political solution to the problem. The conference, held with the full support of A.S.E.A.N. in 1981, has called for the withdrawal of Vietnamese forces from Kampuchea and the holding of United Nations-su-pervised elections there. A total Vietnamese withdrawal would also help Hanoi normalise its relations with China. China supports A.S.E.A.N.’s stand on Kampuchea and is the main supplier of arms to the Khmer Rouge, a guerrilla faction in the anti-Viet-namese tripartite coalition headed by Prince Norodom Sihanouk.