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p I. Ivkov

p New Times, No. 5, 1979

p Commentators the world over are now reviewing the developments in Kampuchea, voicing varying views as regards their character, and making contradictory forecasts as to the impact these revolutionary events will have on the situation in South-East Asia and the whole world.

p The more objective political observers regard the lightning operation that culminated in the Kampuchean patriots’ brilliant victory as the result of the sharp aggravation of the internal contradictions by the genocidal Pol Pot regime. It mainly involved large-scale uprisings and protest actions by the oppressed and downtrodden population, merging in a great revolutionary upheaval.

p First of all, it is self-evident that the former Pnom Penh leaders, who sought to turn the country into a stronghold of Maoism outside China, suffered a shattering defeat. The Kampuchean experiment not only discredited the Pol Pot clique, but was a blow to Maoism as such, demonstrating its bankruptcy and revealing the utter falsity and sheer adventurism of the Chinese “road to socialism".

p The tragedy of Kampuchea under Pol Pot will unquestionably have a sobering effect on those political forces in the developing countries that still entertain illusions as regards the Chinese experience, and the internal and foreign policy of the Peking leaders.

p A conclusion of no less import that can be drawn from the Kampuchean events is that the resounding victory of the Kampuchea United Front for National Salvation, which rallies all the national patriotic forces of the country, opened the way to the building of socialism in Kampuchea on a scientific basis.

p The total collapse of the pro-Maoist clique that had entrenched itself in Pnom Penh once again confirmed that, today, people cannot be driven into barrack-room communes, deprived of all rights and human dignity, and turned into a herd of obedient animals of burden. The Kampuchean people who, in spite of the terror and repression, rose to 145 overthrow the bloody tyranny, are entitled to count on the support and solidarity of progressives the world over, and of all peace-loving nations.

p Consequently, the moral and political support given by other countries to the long-suffering Kampuchean people is a dictate of justice and humanity, the performance by these countries of their internationalist duty to a nation overtaken by misfortune. Moreover, this support accords with the UN Charter and the norms of international law. The slander campaign mounted by Peking and the imperialist powers against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and other countries has, therefore, misfired. It merely exposes those who imposed the bloody regime on the Kampuchean people and are now making desperate efforts to whitewash it and have the peoples of the world forget the millions of human lives on the conscience of the overthrown Kampuchean butchers and their foreign backers.

p After toppling the fascist tyrants, the Kampuchean People’s Revolutionary Council made its intentions clear in a programme for building a new society. This set out the realistic, scientifically substantiated aims and tasks of the Kampuchean revolution, defining the ways and means for the socialist reconstruction of the country, and outlining the basic objectives of the foreign policy of the People’s Republic of Kampuchea, geared to building friendship and co-operation with all countries and peoples and establishing lasting peace and security in Asia.

p The Kampuchean patriots’ victory introduced far-reaching changes on the South-East Asian political scene, had a salutary effect on the situation in the region, and improved the conditions for strengthening peace and international cooperation. The peoples of Asia, and not only of Asia, welcome the proclamation of the People’s Republic of Kampuchea, seeing it as a new opportunity for building good-neighbourly relations, trust and mutual understanding among the countries of the region on the principles of peaceful coexistence.

p One cannot but agree with Bhupesh Gupta, leader of the parliamentary group of the Communist Party of India, who 146 said that “the victory of the patriots of Kampuchea is a positive factor for peace and stability in South-East Asia.” The same view was also voiced by the Japanese Akahata, which stressed that the orientation of the Kampuchea United Front for National Salvation on genuine independence, nonalignment, neutrality and friendship with all countries constituted a “contribution to friendship and peace among the peoples of the Asian countries".

p Contrary to the expectations of Peking and Washington that the victory of the Kampuchean rebels would cause alarm and even panic in neighbouring South-East Asian countries, especially members of ASEAN, nothing of the kind has actually happened. Nearly all the countries of Asia took a calm view of the change of power in Pnom Penh. Moreover, they have assessed the collapse of the pro-Peking Pol Pot regime which abetted Chinese expansionism in South-East Asia, as a factor providing new opportunities for stepping up the struggle against Maoist subversive activities in the region.

p The government of Thailand, for instance, despite the heavy pressure brought to bear on it by Washington and Peking, declared that it would not allow foreign powers to use the country’s territory for interfering in the internal affairs of the People’s Republic of Kampuchea. Thai ruling quarters were particularly disquieted by Norodom Sihanouk’s assumption of the shameful role of advocate for the Pol Pot regime in the United Nations. Sihanouk’s statement that the former Pnom Penh rulers proposed to organise a guerilla movement and expected Peking to supply the enemies of the People’s Republic of Kampuchea with everything they needed through the territory of Thailand was strongly criticised by the Thai government as a provocative move designed to aggravate relations between Bangkok and its neighbours in Indochina.

p A similar stand was taken by the ruling quarters of Indonesia, which know from experience the danger posed by Chinese interference into the independence and sovereignty of their country. It is no accident, therefore, that the Indonesian delegate, the prominent public leader and statesman 147 Dr. Abdulgani, took an active part in the Seventh Session of the Presidential Committee of the Afro-Asian Peoples’ Solidarity Organisation held in Hanoi and endorsed the message sent to UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim asking for full support for the People’s Revolutionary Council.

p The Philippines and Malaysia, which are also members of ASEAN, likewise spoke up for a neutral attitude to the events in Kampuchea and expressed their readiness to help normalise the situation in the country and the surrounding region.

p Once the Pol Pot regime was overthrown, the situation on the Indochina Peninsula gradually began to stabilise. A radical change has taken place on the Vietnam-Kampuchea frontier, where Peking and its Pnom Penh stooges sought to whip up tension for years. As the Manifesto of the Kampuchean People’s Revolutionary Council points out, “our glorious victory put an end to the unjust war unleashed by the Pol Pot-Ieng Sary clique at the instigation and with the support of a foreign state, a war that was waged contrary to our national interests and undermined the traditional friendship between the Kampuchean and Vietnamese peoples".

p Political analysts in many countries concede that the Kampuchean events are irreversible. Peking alone, with the support of Washington, is trying to prevent the consolidation of Kampuchea’s new people’s revolutionary governing bodies and the further normalisation of the situation on the Indochina Peninsula. The Chinese leaders are engineering provocations against Vietnam and Kampuchea, concentrating troops on the Vietnamese-Chinese border, sending large military forces on incursions into Vietnam, and killing civilians.

p The Peking leaders are doing their utmost to slander the foreign policy of Vietnam and accusing it of interfering in the internal affairs of Kampuchea and being involved in the overthrow of the Pol Pot-Ieng Sary regime. The Chinese chauvinists pinned their hopes, in particular, on the UN Security Council imposing against Vietnam the sanction on which they so stubbornly insisted. Yet all their efforts were in vain.

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p The US Administration, too, has found itself in an unenviable position. It is not so long ago that President Garter said the Pol Pot regime was guilty of the worst violations of human rights in the world. Yet in the Security Council, Washington came to the defence of the regime, thereby demonstrating to the whole world the true worth of its hypocritical “defence of human rights" campaign, that it is a selective campaign designed as an instrument for interfering in the internal affairs of the socialist countries and other states with regimes that do not suit the US monopolies.

p The People’s Revolutionary Council, a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of Kampuchea says, heartily welcomes the stand taken by the USSR in the Security Council. In order to protect Kampuchea against possible imperialist and hegemonistic interference in its internal affairs, the Soviet Union voted against the draft resolution submitted by certain delegations. The Soviet stand fully accords with the UN Charter, the Foreign Ministry statement says.

p Following the failure of their intrigues in the Security Council, in order to frighten the Asian peoples, the Chinese leaders and their overseas backers resurrected the notorious “domino theory”, according to which Thailand, then Malaysia and Singapore, and after them the Philippines and Indonesia would become victims of a “communist conspiracy”. The countries of Asia do not believe this fabrication, however, and are quite aware that the danger to them emanates from the imperialist monopolies and from Peking, which is hatching far-reaching plans for establishing its domination over the peoples of this vast region. The fact that Peking was given a resolute rebuff in both Vietnam and Kampuchea, far from causing concern in other Asian countries, actually gives them confidence that Chinese expansion can be stopped by the joint efforts of all the continent’s countries.

p The Maoist provocations are powerless to prevent the people of Kampuchea from forging ahead in the direction they have chosen. Life in the country is returning to normal. The People’s Revolutionary Council has annulled the draconic 149 laws and ordinances of the defunct Pol Pot regime. Throughout liberated Kampuchea local authorities in the form of people’s self-administration committees made of workers, peasants and intellectuals are being set up. Things are being put in order in the capital, and the electric power and communications systems and other public utilities are being restored.

p The people of Kampuchea are determined to uphold the gains of the revolution and to repair the damage done to the country by the Pol Pot-Ieng Sary clique of traitors as soon as possible. No internal or external forces will be able to divert these heroic people from their chosen course of building an independent, neutral, democratic Kampuchea moving towards socialism.

The Soviet Union stands solidly on the side of the just cause of the Kampuchean people. A telegram sent by Heng Samrin, Chairman of the People’s Revolutionary Council and of the Central Committee of the Kampuchea United Front for National Salvation, in reply to a message from the Soviet leaders points out that the powerful support of the Soviet Union is a source of strength and inspiration for the Kampuchean people on their chosen course.