Overview

This volume is part of a Foreign Relations subseries that documents the most important foreign policy issues of the Jimmy Carter administration. The focus of this volume is on the administration’s largely reactive policy towards the countries in Southeast Asia, as well as substantial documentation on refugee policy and narcotics trafficking, which were important regional issues.

The volume documents the Carter administration’s efforts to normalize relations with Vietnam, the Sino-Vietnamese War, and the Vietnamese invasion of Kampuchea, which led to a refugee crisis in the region; high-level meetings with officials from Australia and New Zealand, including discussions about nuclear proliferation; the establishment of U.S. relations with newly independent Pacific island nations; base negotiations with the Philippines; narcotics trafficking in the Golden Triangle; and the desire of most countries in the region to be a higher U.S. foreign policy priority than they were.