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 Most Vietnamese armed forces have now been withdrawn from Cambodia.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

Le Cambodge et les grandes puissances

Cambodia and the Big Powers, by Nayan Chanda Inability of the big powers to resolve the Cambodia conflict, however, should not obscure the fact that Cambodia has served other interests of the powers. It has helped in China's emergence as a regional power ; it has given the Soviet Union a new position in Asia ; it has given Washington means of consolidating its des with China ; and the conflict has bolstered the non-communist Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to emerge as an influential group in the world scene. This paper seeks to analyse the geopolitical and strategie factors that led the big powers to get involved in the Cambodia conflict ; the effort of the powers to resolve this particular regional conflict ; and the impact of the conflict on big power relations.L'incapacité des grandes puissances à résoudre le conflit cambodgien ne doit pas cacher le fait que le Cambodge a servi d'autres intérêts des grandes puissances. Il a aidé la Chine à émerger en tant que puissance régionale ; il a fourni à l'Union soviétique l'occasion d'occuper une nouvelle position en Asie ; il a donné à Washington des moyens de consolider ses liens avec la Chine ; et le conflit a permis à l'Association non communiste des Nations du Sud-Est asiatique (ASEAN) d'émerger en tant que groupe influent sur la scène mondiale. Le présent article a pour objectif d'analyser les facteurs géopolitiques et stratégiques qui ont conduit les grandes puissances à s'impliquer dans le conflit cambodgien ; les efforts des grandes puissances pour résoudre ce conflit régional particulier ; et l'impact du conflit sur les relations des grandes puissances.Chanda Nayan. Le Cambodge et les grandes puissances. In: Politique étrangère, n°4 - 1989 - 54ᵉannée. pp. 639-653

Globalisation or Asianisation?

January 2011 Over the past three decades, supporters and critics of globalisation considered it a synonym for Americanisation. America’s “Inc.”, indicative of this American globalisation, illustrated its dominance over the world, as shown by the omnipresent golden arches of McDonalds and the bright red billboards proclaiming that “Things go better with Coke”. While the arches and Coca-cola billboards with different slogans are still there, the fizz has gone out of Amercanised globalisation. T..