Weekly Summary

Approved for Release: 2023/03/28 C03154550
FAR EAST
The Thieu government in Saigon finds itself so overloaded with prob-
lems of political discontent that it is unable to deal effectively with all of
them at once. Various opposition leaders and groups are acting boldly in the
face of the government’s hesitancy to take more repressive measures. A
number of top officials are weighing in with gloomy prognostications, the
police forces have been unable to cope with the daily pace of demonstra-
tions, some violent, and the government has had to return several battalions
of regular troops to Saigon, both because of the political turmoil and
because of an increasing threat of Viet Cong terrorism in the capital.
Off-balance because key lines of authority are not working, the Thieu
government may be facing a real crisis.
On the military front, activity reached substantially higher levels last
week in I and IV Corps, perhaps indicating the beginningof the second phase
of the Communists’ spring offensive, but also possibly representing a Com-
munist effort to divert allied attention away from sweep operations inside
Cambodia.
The allied operations aimed at Communist- sanctuaries in Cambodia
have so far not encountered sizable numbers of enemy forces, but have
uncovered large quantities of supplies. Communist military headquarters
elements have apparently been able to relocate fairly rapidly to avoid the
allied sweeps.
Deeper inside Cambodia, the Communists continue to press hard on the
Cambodian Army. Two provincial capitals were reportedly captured late in
the week, and the Communists are still blocking several major transportation
routes between Phnom Penh and the eastern and southern borders of the
country.
On the international scene, Hanoi reacted to US military thrusts into
Cambodia and bombing of certain targets in North Vietnam by boycotting
the session of the Paris talks scheduled for 6 May. Peking’s denunciation of
the US moves did not imply any larger role for China in Indochina, but did
contain a sharp personal attack on President Nixon. Communist China also
announced the formal severance of relations with Cambodia and in the same
breath recognized the newly formed Cambodian government in exile. Siha-
nouk’s first major step toward an attempt to re-establish himself in Cam-
bodia.
The Indonesian-initiated Asian conference on Cambodia now is sched-
uled for 16-l7 May in Djakarta; 1.2 nations (all non-Communist) of the 21
invited have agreed to attend. Although there is little prospect that the
conference will have any practical effect on the over-all Cambodian situa-
tion, it probably will generate a degree of international political support to
Phnom Penh and some bilateral aid. l
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Page 1 WEEKLY SUMMARY 8 May 70
Approved for Release: 2023/03/28 C03154550