American aid to Vietnam is intended to keep the balance in Cambodia and lead to a neutral and democratic solution. Even if the problem of Cambodia is at present the main subject under discussion between the Americans and the Vietnamese, what is really at stake are the changes required by the Americans as a basis for future relations. Such relations will not be possible unless there are basic changes in Vietnamese policy. The poor situation of the Vietnamese economy is no longer tolerable. Soviet and East European aid is now negligible.
Overseas investment is still low.
Meanwhile discontent within the party and opposition outside it are growing every day. The recent hard line adopted by the authorities to stop demonstrations of discontent only puts off the day when a real solution will have to be reached. The Cambodian problem will have to be solved by the end of this year. Important political changes will have to be carried out by the end of 1991 at the latest if the future welfare of the nation is to be assured. The road to this end is not the one chosen by the Vietnamese communist party for the people of this country.