Foreign Relations of the United States, 1977–1980, Volume XXII, Southeast Asia and the Pacific

75. Summary of Conclusions of a Special Coordination Committee Meeting¹

Washington, December 10, 1979, 10–11 a.m.

SUBJECT

• Thailand-Cambodia Situation

PARTICIPANTS

• Vice President Mondale

• State

  • Warren Christopher
  • Richard Holbrooke
  • Victor Palmieri

• OSD

  • W. Graham Claytor, Jr.
  • Michael Armacost

• JCS

  • Lt. Gen. John Pustay

• DCI

  • Frank Carlucci
  • Amb. John Holdridge

• OMB

  • John White

• White House

  • Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski
  • David Aaron

• NSC

  • Nicholas Platt
  • Maj. Gen. Jasper Welch
  • Don Gregg

SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS

The SCC met on December 10, 1979 to discuss U.S. policy in the light of possible Thai-Vietnamese hostilities on the Cambodian border. (C)

The meeting reached the following conclusions:

—A Vietnamese clash with Thai military units is quite likely in the coming weeks, given Hanoi’s determination to end resistance in Cambodia, the movement of Khmer resistance forces to seek food and sanctuary across the Thai border, and Thai assistance to those forces both in Thailand and Cambodia. (S)

—If a clash occurs, Prime Minister Kriangsak, whose political situation is threatened, will turn to the U.S. and China. (S)

—The U.S. is committed under the Manila Pact and the Rusk-Thanat Agreement² to meet the danger to Thailand in accordance with our constitutional procedures. (S)

—Deterrence of Vietnam and particularly the Soviet Union may depend more on the prospect of a second Chinese attack on Vietnam than the prospect of U.S. involvement under the Manila Pact. The U.S. might need to explore ways of signaling to the Soviets how closely identified our security interests are with the Chinese. (S)

—The more food getting into Cambodia the less the danger of mass influxes of refugees pouring into Thailand and causing further instability. The U.S. is having relatively little success getting supplies directly into Cambodia; is moving considerable amounts of food through Thailand to Cambodia; and has helped Thailand prepare for a mass influx of refugees. More must be done to get food to the Cambodians through all routes, and to dramatize and publicize both those efforts and Vietnamese/Cambodian poor performance in distributing food. A unilateral U.S. air drop of food into Cambodia remains an option if other measures fail, and the Thai approve the operation staged from their soil. (S)

—The U.S. should seek ways to enhance the safety of the large and growing concentrations of refugees straddling the Thai-Cambodian border, if possible through unilateral declarations by members of the international community that these camps are safehavens, and through the establishment of international presences in the camps. (S)

—The following papers were requested for transmittal to the President:

• A study of the ways of enhancing the safehaven status of refugee camps on the Thai-Cambodian border by unilateral international action.³ (S)

• A report on the capacity of current programs and arrangements to supply food to Cambodia.⁴ (S)

• A plan for significant increases in food supplies to Cambodia via Thailand and ways of dramatizing these increases.⁵ (S)

• A Presidential message to Brezhnev on Thai security.⁶ (S)

• A study of ways the U.S. can respond to requests for assistance from Thailand.⁷ (S)

—A small interagency working group will be formed under General Welch and Donald Gregg to monitor intelligence, coordinate military-related options, and develop policy guidance for use in contingencies. (S)

—The SCC agreed to meet again in a week.⁸ (C)

1. Source: Carter Library, National Security Council, Institutional Files, 1977–1980, Box 106, SCC 223, Thailand-Cambodia, 12/10/79. Secret. The meeting took place in the White House Situation Room. Carter signed his initial “C” in the upper right-hand corner of the first page of the summary.
2. The Rusk-Thanat joint statement, signed March 6, 1962, pledged U.S. support for Thailand’s defense. See Department of State Bulletin, March 26, 1962, pp. 498–499.
3. An undated paper entitled “Safehavens” is in Carter Library, National Security Council, Institutional Files, 1977–1980, Box 107, SCC 236, Thailand/Cambodia, 12/22/79.
4. Not found.
5. An undated paper entitled “Increasing International Food Supplies to Kampuchea” is in Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Staff Material, Office, Meeting File, Box 18, SCC Meeting #236 Held 12/22/1979, 12/79.
6. See Foreign Relations, 1977–1980, vol. VI, Soviet Union, Document 238.
7. Not found.
8. The SCC meeting originally scheduled for December 18 was rescheduled for December 22. See Document 78.