The Third Indochina War

 Regional Responses to the Vietnamese invasion This chapter revisits the efforts, mostly spearheaded by ASEAN – fighting and talking – which took up much of the 1980s, to bring the Third Indochina War to an end. Recalling the Third Indochina War, Jusuf Wanandi noted that ‘remaining in Cambodia was not an option of Vietnam. A political solution needed to be reached. It was clear that, a little over a decade after its creation, this would be ASEAN’s first real test.’ We must begin our narrative with Thailand given that it was the front-line state of ASEAN. Of the five ASEAN member states, Thailand had the most complex relations with both Vietnam and Cambodia. Without going too far back, Bangkok had a difficult relationship with Cambodia (even when it was under Sihanouk). At the end of the Vietnam War, Thailand made efforts to reorientate its foreign policy towards China, Vietnam, and Cambodia. Indeed, as early as 1973, Bangkok, in its capacity as ASEAN (rotating) Chair   "e...

The Sino-Vietnamese war ( February 1979 )  This chapter describes the immediate aftermath of the Vietnamese invasion. Apart from the ongoing war in Cambodia, the immediate and violent response to the Vietnamese invasion was the February 1979 Sino-Vietnamese war. We described the deterioration of Sino-Vietnamese relations in Chapters 1-2, but a brief recap here is perhaps useful. China suspended all aid to Vietnam at the end of May 1978 and recalled all their specialists in Vietnam on 3 July. Vietnam finally joined COMECON on 29 June. Finally, at the fourth session of the VWP Central Committee meeting in July 1978, a resolution was passed which identified China as Vietnam’s primary enemy. Meanwhile, by April 1978, Sino-Vietnamese talks on the border issue had broken down. Private and public comments from Chinese leaders through 1978 indicated that Beijing was ‘broadly prepared’ for the   Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia. They were, however, surprised by the speed of the Vie...