The Untied States and Vietnam: 1975-1987
Abstract
Analyses of US policy toward Vietnam since the fall of Baigan have centered on the influence of three factors: residual bitterness: the 'China card and the Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia. Important in varying degrees as these factors have been. However, they need to be considered in the broader context or major changes in the American perspective on East and Southeast Asia beginning in the late sixties well before the Communist victory in Indochina. Of these changes as they related specifically to Southeast Asia, one was a much diminished concern with the region as the source of major strategic threats to US interests. A second, coming a good deal later was the substitution of ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) for Vietnam as the focus of American policy interest in the region. It is the changed perspective that provides the rationale for the very limited role the United States has played in the Third Indochina War a role that has constricted US leverage but otherwise has thus far served American interests well.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1987
- Accession Number
- ADA184558
Entities
People
- Evelyn Colbert
Organizations
- foreign affairs ministry