ASEAN led the diplomatic campaign against Vietnam's occupation of Cambodia, which was its greatest Cold War success, though members differed.
When Vietnam invaded Cambodia in December 1978, ASEAN condemned the use of force against a sovereign state. Thailand became a frontline state, with Vietnamese troops on its border and hundreds of thousands of refugees.
ASEAN led an annual campaign at the United Nations calling for the withdrawal of foreign forces. It organised the International Conference on Kampuchea in 1981 and helped form the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea in 1982, which kept Cambodia's UN seat.
Members did not fully agree. Thailand and Singapore took a hard line. Indonesia and Malaysia feared that China, not Vietnam, was the greater long-term threat, as their 1980 Kuantan Principle showed. ASEAN kept unity by compromise.
From 1988, Indonesia hosted the Jakarta Informal Meetings, bringing the Cambodian parties together. The final settlement, the Paris Agreements of 1991, followed changes in great-power relations, but ASEAN had kept the issue alive and shaped the terms.
- UN campaign
- Annual resolutions calling for withdrawal from 1979.
- International Conference on Kampuchea
- 1981.
- CGDK
- 1982.
- Jakarta Informal Meetings
- 1988 and 1989.
Worked example: Assessing ASEAN's role in resolving the war
How constructive was ASEAN's role?
- Success: kept Vietnam isolated diplomatically; built the resistance coalition.
- Success: hosted talks through the Jakarta Informal Meetings.
- Limit: depended on China and the USA for pressure on Vietnam.
- Limit: the settlement came after Soviet and Chinese policies changed.
Watch out for this
ASEAN fought a war to remove Vietnam from Cambodia.
ASEAN used diplomacy, not force. Its tools were UN votes, conferences and support for a resistance coalition.
Check your understanding
What was the Kuantan Principle of 1980?
- A sign that Indonesia and Malaysia saw China as the greater long-term threat
- A plan for an ASEAN army
- An agreement to admit Vietnam into ASEAN