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Vietnam Thailand
As the ASEAN member most vulnerable to a Vietnamese attack,
Thailand was foremost among the ASEAN partners opposing Vietnam's
1978 invasion of Cambodia. Thailand's suspicion of Vietnamese
long-term objectives and fear of Vietnamese support for an
internal Thai communist insurgency movement led the Thai
government to support United States objectives in South Vietnam
during the Second Indochina War. In 1979, after Vietnam's
military occupation of Cambodia had raised these same concerns
again, Bangkok was compelled once again to ally with, an
adversary of Vietnam and looked to Beijing for security
assistance. In both instances, Thailand's actions hardened
Hanoi's attitude toward Bangkok.
In 1973 a new civilian government in Thailand created a
chance for some degree of reconciliation with Vietnam, when it
proposed to remove United States military forces from Thai soil
and adopt a more neutralist stance. The Vietnamese responded by
sending a delegation to Bangkok, but talks broke down before any
progress in improving relations could be made. Discussions
resumed in August 1976. They resulted in a call for an exchange
of ambassadors and for an opening of negotiations on trade and
economic cooperation, but a military coup in October 1976 ushered
in a new Thai government that was less sympathetic to the
Vietnamese. Contact was resumed briefly in May 1977, when
Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos held a conference to discuss resuming
work on the Mekong Development Project, a major cooperative
effort that had been halted by the Second Indochina War.
Beginning in December 1978, however, the conflict in Cambodia
dominated diplomatic exchanges, and seasonal Vietnamese military
offensives that included incursions across the Thai border and
numerous Thai casualties particularly strained the relationship.
Data as of December 1987
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