ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews efforts to reach a Cambodian peace agreement, assesses the positions and interests of the contending parties, and examines US policy dilemmas and possible options. It also reviews developments since 1975 and assesses competing US policy approaches. Most notably, the United States wants to help push back Vietnamese expansion in Indochina and to support the positions of its treaty ally Thailand and other friends in Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). It worked with the members of ASEAN to condemn and contain the Vietnamese expansion and to cope with the influx of refugees from Indochina. More broadly, US politicians appear hesitant to revive the emotional feelings and possibly antagonistic debate that could be associated with a more assertive US role in policy toward Cambodia and Vietnam. The United States was particularly concerned with helping to support Thailand, a US ally and the country most seriously affected by the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia.
