South-East Asian Situation
Q.
A little further away from us, though still very close to us, Vietnam has emerged. During your tenure of office, after the end of the tragic war India promised support for the reconstruction of the nation. Would you like to give your views on the present situation in South Asia, Vietnam, Kampuchea and other countries?
A.
Unfortunately Vietnam was not given the opportunity to concentrate on reconstruction. It had gone through the horrible experience of a war for a generation. It must have been a very agonising experience for the valiant people of Vietnam, but they ultimately succeeded in their struggle against a very big power. Their major problem remains, that is peace for the reconstruction of their economy and the life of the people. China does not seem to be thinking in the same way. The relations between Kampuchea and Vietnam have deteriorated and it has resulted in armed conflicts in the border areas. As a matter of fact, to begin with we welcomed the emergence of socialist Kampuchea and the Vietnamese success, and hoped that the socialist regimes in south east Asia will prepare a good base of peace and co-operation in this region.
The Kampuchean regime even then seemed to have been taking a very adventurous line in their reconstruction schemes. I remember to have had a long discussion with the Kampuchean Foreign Minister in Colombo. I had my own misgivings about the rather drastic methods they were employing in dealing with their socio-economic problems. I did try to find out from them what is the model that they were following. They had abolished currency and evacuated the whole city, their capital Phnom Penh. He tried to tell me that they were having their own problems and they were following their own methods. But I had my misgivings. One got the impression from other developments. For instance they were not keen to have embassies opened in Phnom Penh even by friendly countries. When we tried to make enquiries at the earliest stage about opening our own embassy, they said, "Certainly, we will allow you, but not yet." We have so far no embassy because they were trying to keep themselves completely in isolation from the rest of the world, except perhaps China. There was a clear indication that they were doing so under the influence of China and were trying to follow some sort of Chinese model. It is a very small country which was already struggling under the civil war. I think this sort of isolation was not in their interest. They should have sought the co-operation and help of many other countries. Regarding the present development, personally my sympathies are with the new regime.
