Soviet Union woos A.S.E.A.N.

Press, 13 February 1986, Page 20

Soviet Union woos A.S.E.A.N.

By

JOHN THOMAS,

of Agence France Press, in Singapore

The Soviet Union is striving for better relations with non-com-munist South-East Asia — a move which some foreign diplomats here see as a bid to counter growing Chinese and United States influence in the region. Moscow’s push in member States of the Association of South East Asian Nations (A.S.E.A.N.) appears to be centred here, where the Soviet Embassy has been particularly active in recent weeks, inviting reporters to two press briefings to discuss Soviet initiatives and one informal meeting with the ambassador.

Singapore, an A.S.E.A.N. hardliner on the Kampuchean issue, was apparently chosen because there are a large number of foreign correspondents here responsible for coverage of SouthEast Asia, diplomatic sources said.

Moscow signalled its desire for improved ties with an initiative last month on Kampuchea, amid indications that it was also pressing its Indochinese allies to cooperate. Soviet diplomats here described the push as part of a global effort by the new Kremlin leadership to ease East-West tensions, but some Asian and Western diplomats here link it to

Moscow’s fears of being left behind China and the United States in the race for influence in the region. One Asian diplomat said the move also reflected Moscow’s concern about the political and economic cost to itself and its allies of the long Kampuchean conflict in terms of relations with A.S.E.A.N. and its member States’ budding economies. “We are patiently trying to improve relations” between Moscow and A.S.E.A.N. and “help bring about co-operation between A.S.E.A.N. and the Indochinese States — Vietnam, Laos, Kampuchea — to their mutual advantage,” a senior Soviet diplomat said. One political analyst noted that Moscow was making use of the very issue — Kampuchea — which alienated A.S.E.A.N. several years ago, to now make overtures of friendship. The Soviet Union, through its multi-million-dollar economic and military aid to Vietnam, is seen as the force behind Hanoi’s military hold on Kampuchea since Hanoi toppled the proPeking Khmer Rouge regime in early 1979. A Singaporean diplomat, while saying he remained sceptical,

observed that the new overture indicated a significant easing of the previous Moscow-Hanoi stance that the situation in Kampuchea was “irreversible.” Other diplomats noted that the present move came at a time when several A.S.E.A.N. members were looking to Eastern bloc nations to offset a fall in exports to traditional Western markets due to the recession and growing protectionist sentiment. The Soviet drive began with a Deputy Foreign Minister, Professor Mikhail Kapitsa, stating Moscow’s preference for a political settlement in Kampuchea as a scene-setter to the Vientiane meeting of Indochinese foreign ministers which proposed talks among the warring Khmer groups and a conference of interested countries. The new element, diplomatic analysts said, was a more conciliatory approach to the Khmer Rouge. Past proposals for talks failed to get off the ground because the Indochinese group rejected the pro-Peking Khmer Rouge while A.S.E.A.N. refused to recognise the pro-Hanoi Government in Phnom Penh. According to the Vientiane proposal, the Heng Samrin Government in Kampuchea had agreed to talks with representatives of the Khmer Rouge who were not linked with the leadership of Pol Pot and leng Sary

held responsible for the Khmer Rouge’s bloody rule between 1975 and 1978. This was nearer the A.S.E.A.N. proposal last year of talks between a coalition of the three Kampuchean groups — the Khmer Rouge, the Khmer People’s National Liberation Front and the Sihanoukist National Army — and a Vietnamese delegation, including Heng Samrin representatives. Diplomatic sources here said meanwhile that A.S.E.A.N. members were quietly considering face-saving options to get the talks moving. The latest A.S.E.A.N. thinking had been put to the Austrian Foreign Minister, Leopold Gratz, who is the new President of the International Conference on Kampuchea (1.C.K.) which is the United Nations body dealing with the problem, during his tour of four A.S.E.A.N. countries ahead of his visit to Hanoi which started last Thursday. A.S.E.A.N., made up of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, has always favoured a political settlement arrived at by the I.C.K. leading to the unconditional pullout of Vietnam’s 150,000170,000 troops from Kampuchea followed by United Nations-su-pervised elections in the country. A.S.E.A.N. has so far rejected

proposals for direct talks between the Kampuchean guerrilla grouping and the Heng Samrin Government for fear this would imply recognition of the Phnom Penh regime’s legitimacy; but in private, some A.S.E.A.N. members are known to take a softer line on the matter.

Western diplomatic sources say the influence of China has blocked an A.S.E.A.N. compromise that might get talks started among the Kampuchean factions. A solution to the Kampuchean problem is also of concern to A.S.E.A.N.’s main backer, the United States, which has made its first timid steps towards fence-mending with Vietnam. Moscow is counting on that factor to influence A.S.E.A.N. to ease its stance, the diplomatic sources hold. A.S.E.A.N. members are expected to meet President Reagan in April when he makes a brief stopover in Bali, and the new Moscow initiative is bound to be discussed, diplomatic sources said. Soviet diplomats meanwhile said they were looking to visits to Moscow by the Malaysian Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad, and the Indonesian President, Mr Suharto, this year following the visit of the Soviet Deputy Premier, Yakob Ryabov, to the two countries last year.