Southeast Asia "the Greatest Victory"

By George Russell.

The plea was addressed to the "international community," but the message was obviously intended more for Washington than anywhere else. Following a special meeting in the Thai capital of Bangkok, the foreign ministers of six non- Communist Asian nations last week issued an unprecedented appeal for "support and assistance to the Kampuchean people" in the "military struggle" to oust their country's Vietnamese occupiers. To the representatives of ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei and the Philippines), backing for Kampuchea these days means weapons. Comparing the Kampucheans with Afghan freedom fighters, Thai Foreign Minister Siddhi Savetsila declared, "How do you expect these Kampucheans to survive if they have nothing? They can't fight with their bare hands."

The reason for ASEAN's action was soon evident. Within 24 hours, more than 30,000 Vietnamese troops supported by tanks and artillery had launched the final phase of a powerful pincer assault near the Thai border with Kampuchea. Their aim: to brush aside an estimated 10,000 lightly armed Kampuchean resistance fighters and gain control of a mountainous guerrilla fastness known as Phnom Malai. Two and a half months into this year's dry-season offensive, the Vietnamese had decided to move decisively against the most resilient resistance group of all, the remnants of the Khmer Rouge, who ran Kampuchea until Viet Nam's 1978 invasion and the installation of a puppet regime in Phnom Penh, the capital.

Two days after the big push kicked off, the Vietnamese had achieved their objectives, driving the Khmer Rouge from their most important base area; Western diplomats in Bangkok called it Viet Nam's greatest victory in its six- year-old war in Kampuchea. More than 40,000 civilians normally under Khmer Rouge control spilled into Thailand, some 25 miles south of the camps holding 60,000 refugees who had fled earlier in the assault when the Vietnamese rolled over non-Communist resistance units. Khmer Rouge guerrillas who had fought around Phnom Malai began to filter in the opposite direction, deeper into Kampuchea, to join some 30,000 of their comrades who are engaging the Vietnamese in hit-and-run warfare.

The seizure of Phnom Malai cemented Vietnamese control over a key part of the frontier region, which until November provided a zone of sanctuary for the coalition of 60,000 Communist and non-Communist guerrillas who are carrying on the fight against Hanoi. The Vietnamese also dealt a sharp blow to the Chinese-backed Khmer Rouge's reputation for toughness. A mere 48 hours before the Vietnamese struck, Prince Norodom Sihanouk, the anti-Hanoi coalition's nominal head, had paid a visit to Phnom Malai to announce support from a scattering of Third World nations. During Sihanouk's visit, Khieu Samphan, one of the Khmer Rouge's top leaders, had assured newsmen that "we are safe here." Describing the Vietnamese as hard-pressed by guerrilla operations deep inside Kampuchea, he said, "They are in difficulty. We are more and more strong."

Military observers in Thailand confirm that the Khmer Rouge are active inside Kampuchea: they have been interdicting communications lines to the point where international relief workers warn against ferrying food and equipment along the two main roads connecting Kampuchea's major port, Kompong Som, with Phnom Penh. The train linking Phnom Penh and the western city of Battambang rarely runs: the guerrillas have attacked it too often.

The Vietnamese now apparently intend to establish military camps along the Thai-Kampuchean frontier in an effort to keep arms and other supplies, which filter through Thailand, from reaching the resistance fighters. Thai military observers are skeptical, however, that Hanoi will be able to maintain its hold on the area once the dry season ends in April. Said General Salya Sripen, commander of the Royal Thai army's eastern forces: "I think the Vietnamese border units will be in difficulty by the beginning of the rainy season. The Khmer Rouge will attack them from the interior."

Nonetheless, the question of providing the guerrillas with the means to continue their struggle may soon become critical. In Washington, the Reagan Administration showed little sign last week that it would alter its policy of sending only humanitarian assistance to the Kampucheans. Said a U.S. official: "Involving ourselves directly against the Vietnamese would introduce an East-West element into this, and perhaps ASEAN should take the lead."

The Phnom Malai campaign also left Thailand pondering what to do with refugees associated with the Khmer Rouge, a group that many Kampucheans still despise for their atrocities while running the country between 1975 and 1978. ; The latest refugee contingent will probably not be sent to Khao I Dang, the main Thai camp for Kampucheans, nor are the Thai authorities eager to establish a special settlement. Said a Thai army major at the border, perhaps overoptimistically: "We will keep them for a while. Then we will send them back."

With reporting by Narunart Prapanya and ! James Willwerth/Bangkok