Vietnam's withdrawal from Cambodia: regional issues and realignments

Vietnamese armed forces invaded Cambodia in December 1978. A decade of Vietnamese occupation had important political and security consequences for Cambodians, for Vietnam, for the ASEAN states, for China and the superpowers and, indirectly, for Australia. Vietnam was condemned in UN General Assembly Resolutions passed annually since 1979. Most Vietnamese armed forces have now been withdrawn from Cambodia. The significance of the withdrawal and the regional impact of the end of possibly the last major war in the Western Pacific were examined at a symposium arranged by Professor Nancy Viviani of the ANU's Department of Political Science in October 1989. These papers are a product of that symposium. Generally, there was a strong view that the governments of Vietnam and Cambodia would eventually experience a less hostile attitude from China, the US and several of the key ASEAN states as the fact of the Vietnamese withdrawal was accepted. The Hun Sen government in Phnom Penh, or some variant of it, would also probably be recognised, provided it could survive renewed attacks by an increasingly isolated Khmer Rouge and if a suitably graceful exit was found for China. An alternative more pessimistic view was that most governments would continue to defer to Beijing, that the Khmer Rouge were a potent and ruthless force and that the Hun Sen government would be fighting for its life. While there was scepticism about the viability of the Hun Sen government and doubts about China's agenda, as well as expressions of opposition to recognition of what was described as a puppet regime established by the use of force, the symposium overall leaned towards cautious optimism about Cambodia's future and, notwithstanding some uncertainties in a period of change, improvements to regional security

China's crisis: the international implications

China has always been important to countries in the Asia/Pacific region, whether as a vortex of disarray and discontent or - as it has appeared to be, particularly over the last decade - as a modernising great Asian power. In this latter context, China was increasingly accepted as a responsible participant in regional and global affairs. Although China's military capabilities and its political ambitions were regarded with residual distrust by some neighbouring countries, such misgivings were increasingly overshadowed by expectations of a new China possessing the largest potential market remaining in the world today. The Tiananmen affair, as it is now known, seemed to shatter any assumptions about China's stability, its economic potential and certainly some of the illusions about China's political system. This unique collection of papers begins with an analysis of the political situation in China, as seen from Beijing and Canberra. It provides detailed assessments of the way in which countries throughout the Asia/Pacific region, including Australia, responded or did not respond. There is an overview on Hong Kong and its governability and extensive discussion on the strategic and economic implications, if any, for China and for neighbouring and regional states, of events in Beijing in June 1989

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure

Iraq, the United Nations, and International Law. by Gary Klintworth

Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and the subsequent international response has had a great impact on the Arab world, on the industrialised world and not least on the functioning of the United Nations

A strong Australia? : Observations on the Opposition's Defence Policy. by Gary Klintworth

Recently, in A Strong Australia, the Liberal/National Opposition published its views on Australian defence policy