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The Vietnam-Cambodian Conflict: Vietnam's incursion into Cambodian territory in late December and early January was almost certainly meant to halt persistent Cambodian border provocations. By mid-January, most Vietnamese military units had withdrawn from Cambodia, and Cambodian forces had infiltrated back into Vietnamese territory at several points along the border. Continuing Cambodian aggressiveness has resulted in subsequent clashes, butebruary, when the Vietnamesehree-point peace plan, hostilities have remainedelatively low level.
The plan includes provisionsive-kilometer withdrawal from the border by both sides, negotiations, and "an appropriate form of international guarantee and It has been rejected by Phnom Penh, but even without negotiations, tensions along the border could be eased if the Cambodians reduce their provocations.
conflict has intensified Chinese-Soviet competition
influence in Indochina. Chinese political support and
military aid to Cambodia has heightenedalthough Peking has tried to appear even-handed in
ID
public remarks on the current fighting. The Soviets,made gains politically in Hanoi primarily becausebeen able to supply the Vietnamese with about twiceaid that the Chinese have provided since the end of
war, hope to exploit the situation for further gains.
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effort to force the Cambodians toettlement was clearly less decisive than the Vietnamese leaders had hoped, but there are major restraints on further military action. Renewed incursions into Cambodia would undermine Hanoi's diplomatic campaign to present itself as the aggrieved party and would aggravate suspicions of Vietnam that already exist in the region. More importantly, they could compel greater Chinese support for Phnom Penh, even further setting back prospects for improving Sino-Vietnamese relations.
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