Communist Indochina and the Big Powers

Archive Report

Continuing Indochina Conflict

Growing Concern Over Recent Developments

Some problems simply refuse to go away. After the communist takeovers of South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia in April 1975, most Americans were willing to forget about Indochina and repress their concern about the non-communist “dominoes” throughout Asia.1 The flood of refugees from the region and the simmering feud between Vietnam, allied with the Soviet Union, and Cambodia, backed by China, made total oblivion impossible. But it was the capture of the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh on Jan. 7 by Vietnamese troops and the Vietnamese-created and supported Cambodian United Front for National Salvation that intensified U.S. interest in the area.

State Department spokesman John F. Cannon emphasized American concern immediately after the fall of Phnom Penh and much ...

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