Officials from Asean and the United States share a common concern about a unilateral Vietnamese withdrawal from Cambodia.
The talks on Cambodia are to focus on the method of international supervision of the Vietnamese withdrawal and of elections that would follow, the diplomat said.
But the United States said that the unilateral Vietnamese withdrawal was not sufficient, and that normalization could only come after a comprehensive settlement in Cambodia.
But as things now stand, the main consequence of a Vietnamese withdrawal could be a new Khmer Rouge coup.
In the last month, we've seen substantial progress toward a Vietnamese withdrawal from Cambodia and tentative moves toward reconciliation on the Korean peninsula.
But the Vietnamese withdrawal and the diplomatic breakdown in Paris demolish any such justification.
U.S. Stand Reiterated The second part of the discussion centered on a Vietnamese withdrawal from Cambodia.
The United States maintains that "international verification of the Vietnamese withdrawal must be part of a comprehensive settlement."
But they are also pursuing a Vietnamese withdrawal from Cambodia, and that also implies better relations with Hanoi.
In recent statements from Beijing, Prince Sihanouk has derided the Vietnamese withdrawal as farcical and fraudulent.