New Zealand Journal of History, 33,2 (1999)
The Devil You Know: NEW ZEALAND’S RECOGNITION POLICY TOWARDS CAMBODIA FROM 1978-1990
by ANTHONY SMITH
THIS ARTICLE looks at New Zealand’s policy of recognition towards Cambodia (or Kampuchea) between 1978 and 1990. New Zealand policymakers had to make the difficult decision as to which political entity to recognize, if any at all, after the Vietnamese invaded and installed a puppet government in Kampuchea in 1978. The Vietnamese army’s removal of the genocidal Khmer Rouge, or Democratic Kampuchea (DK), led by Pol Pot, provoked mixed reactions from the international community. There was universal relief at Pol Pot’s removal, but the Association of South East AsianNations (ASEAN), China and the United States expressed the concern that a Soviet-sponsored Vietnam was attempting to achieve sub-regional hegemony. These nations all supported the anti-Vietnamese resistance forces. Controversially, New Zealand also opted to give diplomatic recognition to the ousted Khmer Rouge regime-in-exile as the legitimate representatives of the Cambodian people.
What emerges about New Zealand foreign-policy decision-making over this issue is that it contained a great deal of ambivalence. ……
Read the rest of this apologetic and biased, but revealing, article HERE…
http://www.nzjh.auckland.ac.nz/docs/1999/NZJH_33_2_05.pdf
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