ABSTRACT
Ever since the Vietnam-backed Heng Samrin government was established in 1979, ASEAN made a plethora of diplomatic moves to find a viable solution leading to the establishment of “a peaceful, independent and non-aligned Cambodia”. 1 But the result was disappointing because their moves hardly answered the security concerns of either Thailand, the frontline state of ASEAN, or Vietnam, the avowed adversary of the Khmer Rouge. The persisting Cambodian stalemate was perceived differently by different powers, namely, for ASEAN it was a threat to regional peace and security and for China and the Soviet Union it was a convenient pretext to spread their power and influence in Southeast Asia. In any case, undeterred by its unsuccessful attempts at peace, ASEAN persisted in its moves to end the Cambodian imbroglio. The following pages of this chapter will throw light on the various diplomatic initiatives taken by ASEAN since 1982 when the CGDK was formed and parallel peace endeavours were made by Indonesian civil and military wings and the cordiality began to grow between Jakarta and Hanoi, a development which did not go unnoticed by ASEAN that prudently decided upon encashing this cordiality by designating Indonesia as “interlocutor” between ASEAN and Vietnam. Thus the ongoing peace drive acquired a new dimension. Therefore, the ‘Cocktail Party’, a significant move by Indonesia as “interlocutor”, deserves discussion at some length.
