After Vietnam, Australia's regional role shifted from Cold War combatant toward peacekeeper and diplomat. Two cases — Cambodia and East Timor — show Australia working through the UN and regional forums, though not without controversy.
Cambodia
- The Khmer Rouge — emerging from the chaos of decolonisation and the Vietnam War, the regime carried out a genocide that killed roughly a quarter of Cambodia's population.
- The Vietnamese invasion (1978) — Vietnam ousted the Khmer Rouge, creating a diplomatic dilemma: should the brutal-but-deposed regime or the Vietnamese-installed government hold Cambodia's UN seat?
- Gareth Evans and the Peace Process — Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans played a leading role in the UN-brokered Cambodian Peace Process, a high point of Australian middle-power diplomacy.
East Timor
- Indonesia and Timor 1945–75 — Australia's relationship with Indonesia shaped its response; the killing of the Balibo 5 journalists (1975) and the later Timor Gap Treaty over seabed oil complicated the picture.
- Independence and INTERFET — after the 1999 vote and the violence that followed, Howard's government led the INTERFET peacekeeping force (under Peter Cosgrove) and supported the UN transitional administration, UNTAET.
Let's compare the two peacekeeping cases against shared criteria.
| Criterion | Cambodia | East Timor |
|---|---|---|
| Trigger | Khmer Rouge genocide; Vietnamese invasion | 1999 independence vote and violence |
| Key Australian leader | Gareth Evans (Peace Process) | Howard / Cosgrove (INTERFET) |
| Mechanism | UN-brokered diplomacy | UN-mandated peacekeeping force |
| Tension | UN seat dilemma | Humanitarianism vs the Timor Gap Treaty |
Discuss: do these cases show Australia acting on principle, on interest, or on both? Build a class judgement.
Q1. Who was Gareth Evans and what was his role in Cambodia?
Q2. Explain Australia's role in East Timor's transition to independence.
Q3. Explain how Australia's role as a peacekeeping nation evolved through its involvement in Cambodia and East Timor. (Practice for Task 6.)