In addition to their continuing internal challenges,
Southeast Asian states have been hampered by serious
tensions among themselves. Some of these tensions were
a consequence of historical rivalries and territorial disputes
that had been submerged during the long era of
colonial rule. Cambodia, for example, has bickered with
both of its neighbors, Thailand and Vietnam, over mutual
frontiers drawn up originally by the French for their
own convenience.
After the reunification of Vietnam under Communist
rule in 1975, the lingering border dispute between Cambodia
and Vietnam erupted again. In April 1975, a brutal
revolutionary regime under the leadership of the Khmer
Rouge dictator Pol Pot came to power in Cambodia and
proceeded to carry out the massacre of more than one
million Cambodians. Then, claiming that vast territories
in the Mekong delta had been seized from Cambodia by
the Vietnamese in previous centuries, the Khmer Rouge
regime launched attacks across the common border. In
response, Vietnamese forces invaded Cambodia in December
1978 and installed a pro-Hanoi regime in Phnom
Penh. Fearful of Vietnam’s increasing power in the region,
China launched a brief attack on Vietnam to demonstrate
its displeasure.
The outbreak of war among the erstwhile Communist
allies aroused the concern of other countries in the neighborhood.
In 1967, several non-Communist countries had
established the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN). Composed of Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand,
Singapore, and the Philippines, ASEAN at first concentrated
on cooperative social and economic endeavors,
but after the end of the Vietnam War, it cooperated with
other states in an effort to force the Vietnamese to withdraw.
In 1991, the Vietnamese finally withdrew, and a
new government was formed in Phnom Penh.
The growth of ASEAN from a weak collection of diverse
states into a stronger organization whose members
cooperate militarily and politically has helped provide
the nations of Southeast Asia with a more cohesive voice
to represent their interests on the world stage. They will
need it, for disagreements with Western countries over
global economic issues and the rising power of China will
present major challenges in coming years. That Vietnam
was admitted into ASEAN in 1996 should provide both
Hanoi and its neighbors with greater leverage in dealing
with their powerful neighbor to the north.
World History
