The Kampuchean conflict has dragged on for over five years now. It has involved four Kampuchean factions: the Vietnamese-installed regime headed by Heng Samrin, the Chinese-backed Khmer Rouge, Prince Norodom Sihanouk's FUNCINPEC (French acronym for the United National Front for Independent, Neutral, Peaceful, and Co operative Cambodia), and the KPNLF (Khmer People's National Liberation Front) led by Son Sann. The last three factions (Khmer Rouge, FUNCINPEC, and KPNLF) arc anti Vietnamese resistance movements. They have formed the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea (CGDK), which is recognized by the United Nations as the legal government of Kampuchea. Besides Vietnam, which has occupied the country with 180,000 troops, the same conflict has also involved some other countries: ASEAN, China, and the Soviet Union. ASEAN (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Singapore) has supported the CGDK. China has been more directly involved in the conflict as it has its own conflict with Vietnam and the Soviet Union, it has actively supported the Khmer Rouge and in early 1979 it mounted a punishment attack against Vietnam after the latter had invaded Kampuchea and ousted the Khmer Rouge regime. The Soviet Union is a disputing party as it has been supporting Vietnam and the other Indochinese The solution to that conflict has already been envisaged in the successive U.N. resoludons and the declaration of the International Conference on Kampuchea (ICK) held in 1981, all of which call for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Kampuchea and affirm the right of the Kampuchean people to self-determination. Vietnam and its allies in the Soviet bloc did not participate in the ICK. They have not heeded those calls either. However, the ICK expresses the hope that Vietnam will participate in the negotiating process which can lead to a peaceful solution of the Kampuchean problem and to the restorarion of peace and stability in the region of Southeast Asia. Over the last two years there have been some proposals and diplomatic moves initiated by the disputing as well as by third parties in an attempt to find a political solution to the conflict. The latest proposals were ASEAN's Appeal for Kampuchean Independence issued in September 1983 and the call in the communiqu? of the Indochinese Foreign Ministers' Conference issued in January 1984. ASEAN has proposed a number of initial steps towards a comprehensive political solution to the conflict: a phased withdrawal of Vietnamese troops which is to take place on a territorial basis starting from the westernmost part along the Thai-Kampuchean border; constitution of safe areas for uprooted Kampuchean civilians; supervision of the withdrawal and cease-fire and safe areas by a peace-keeping force/observer group; and economic assistance to the safe areas. The Indochinese Foreign Ministers have called for bilateral consultations and conversations between the two groups of ASEAN and Indochinese countries. The Viemamese-installed regime is not to take part in such talks. The communiqu? has not specified whether the Kampuchean issue is the main or the sole item on the agenda.