ABSTRACT
Issues which have remained constant fixtures in the international politics of Southeast Asia for the past decade continued to bedevil the region in 1989. Among those left unsolved in previous years, the Kampuchean conflict still held centre stage although attention was also focused on other region-wide problems such as the Indochinese refugees and the conflicting claims of several states to the Spratley Islands. One major development was Vietnam’s announcement in early January that it would be pulling out its remaining troops from Kampuchea by September 1989 if “an overall political solution on the Cambodian problem could be reached by that time” whereas in previous statements, Hanoi had stated that it would withdraw only at the end of 1990. Vietnam had hoped that in the aftermath of its pull-out, there would be an improvement in its relations with those countries which had long opposed its military presence in Kampuchea.
