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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Laos
Index
Since 1975 Laos has maintained a special relationship
with
Vietnam, formalized with the Treaty of Friendship and
Cooperation
signed in July 1977. Article 1 of the treaty states that
"the two
parties undertake to deploy all of their efforts to
safeguard and
develop the special relationship between Laos and Vietnam,
to
reinforce their solidarity and mutual confidence, their
long-term
cooperation and mutual aid in all domains in a spirit of
proletarian internationalism." Article 4 of the treaty
stipulates
that "the two sides affirm their determination to build
the
Vietnamese-Lao border into a border of lasting friendship
and
fraternity."
The treaty is much more than its name implies, because
it gives
Vietnam almost carte blanche in the internal affairs of
Laos,
especially in the military. Vietnamese military forces
have been
continuously present in Laos since 1961, if not earlier.
The
strength of these forces has varied over the years from
30,000 to
50,000 troops in the 1975-83 period, to several hundred
advisers in
late 1987. In November 1988, the LPDR Ministry of Foreign
Affairs
formally announced that all Vietnamese troops had been
withdrawn
from Laos. Although Western intelligence sources initially
doubted
the claim of total withdrawal, later they reportedly
confirmed that
it was true. Indeed, there was no Vietnamese presence in
the two
border conflicts between Laos and Thailand in the late
1980s.
Moreover, expatriate employees of international
organizations
working in Vientiane had noticed the removal of many
Vietnamese
technical and advisory personnel from the capital. It is
likely
that a full withdrawal of Vietnamese forces and a
reduction of aid
personnel occurred in order to advance economic agreements
between
Vietnam and China.
Vietnamese troops performed a variety of functions
during their
long stay in Laos. They fought alongside Pathet Lao
insurgents in
their struggle to overthrow the RLG. They trained and,
along with
the Soviets, equipped the military. Vietnamese cadres
played a
primary role in combatting the insurgency against the
LPDR,
undertaking security tasks such as guarding access to
airport
perimeters, controlling important road junctions, and
patrolling
sensitive areas. They performed border patrol duties and
carried
out joint military maneuvers with LPA units along the
Cambodian,
Chinese, and Thai borders to demonstrate strong
Laotian-Vietnamese
military cooperation. These maneuvers were especially
evident
during periods of border tension between Vietnam or Laos
and their
neighbors. The Vietnamese also rendered valuable
engineering
services such as building roads and improving
infrastructure
damaged by years of war.
Data as of July 1994
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