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

48. Memorandum From the Executive Secretary of the Department of State (Tarnoff) to Secretary of State Vance¹

Washington, March 29, 1979

SUBJECT

• Your Breakfast with the President Friday, March 30, 1979²

[Omitted here is discussion of the situation in Angola.]

2. Vietnam. Following the Chinese withdrawal from Vietnam,³ tensions in the area have increased rather than decreased. We have seen a total Vietnamese mobilization and deployment toward the Chinese border, expansion of area conflicts to include threats to Laos and cross-border operations into Thailand, heightened Soviet military activity and involvement in Vietnam, and polemics from the Chinese and Vietnamese which prejudice the success of negotiations if and when they start. We have been urged by a number of countries, most recently by the Finns, to talk directly to the Vietnamese.

With the foregoing in mind, you might make the following points to the President:

—I have concluded that we should try to establish a direct dialogue with the Vietnamese. I am asking Ambassador Ha Van Lau if he will meet with Bob Oakley in New York to begin such a dialogue.⁴

—Bob would discuss the implications of a growing Soviet military presence in Vietnam and review the tensions in Laos, the conflict in Kampuchea and the dangers to the region posed by a continuation of present trends. He would probe for any Vietnamese interest in de-escalating this danger and for their willingness to cooperate with the international community in regularizing the refugee outflow. He would not offer any hope that normalization is likely unless these serious concerns of ours are met.⁵

—In connection with the refugee situation, I believe that Dick Clark could usefully visit Hanoi for a face-to-face discussion of refugee matters during his Southeast Asian swing in mid-April. Dick would underline how seriously we view Vietnamese performance in this matter. Both Liz Holtzman and the Deputy UNHCR have had useful talks on the subject in Hanoi,⁶ but we need further clarification of what practical steps the Vietnamese plan to take to reduce the refugee flow and when.

[Omitted here is discussion unrelated to Vietnam.]

1. Source: Department of State, Office of the Secretariat Staff, Records of Cyrus Vance, 1977–1980, Lot 84D241, President’s Breakfast 1/1/79–4/30/79. Secret; Nodis. Vance’s initials are stamped at the bottom of the first page of the memorandum.
2. The breakfast meeting was held in the Cabinet Room at the White House, 7:32–9:07 a.m. Carter, Mondale, Vance, Brown and Brzezinski attended. (Carter Library, Presidential Materials, President’s Daily Diary) No record of the discussion has been found.
3. Chinese troops had completely withdrawn from Vietnam by March 16. A March 20 INR report on the consequences of the Chinese attack is printed in Foreign Relations, 1977–1980, vol. XIII, China, Document 231.
4. Telegram 145378 to USUN, June 6, conveyed the invitation to Lau for talks. (National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, P840148–2082)
5. See Document 53.
6. Representatives Holtzman and Evans visited Vietnam February 22–24. (Telegram 6260 from Bangkok, February 24; National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D790085–0943) Deputy UNHRC Dale de Haan visited Hanoi February 26–March 5. (Telegram 3009 from the Mission in Geneva, February 22; National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D790084–0245)