Both sides ‘to give talks another try’

Dispute should not have been allowed to boil over into a ‘big issue’: Mr Yeo

Teo Xuanwei
xuanwei@mediacorp.com.sg
Today Online (Singapore)

NOT long after Foreign Minister George Yeo called Cambodia’s move to take its quarrel with Thailand over a disputed border area to the United Nations as “premature”, a report said that the two neighbours had decided to give bilateral talks another chance before turning to the world body.

In his round-up yesterday of four days of “eventful and fruitful” talks between regional and world leaders here, Mr Yeo, in his capacity as host of the meetings, said the Thai-Cambodian border dispute near a historic temple was one of the dominant discussion topics. But he added that it should not be allowed to boil over into a “big issue”.

Mr Yeo said the dispute should not have gone to the UN Security Council.

“It was not a problem, even a few weeks ago. It suddenly became a problem,” Mr Yeo said at a news conference following the Association of South-east Asian Nations’ (Asean) annual security meeting.

Discussions over how to end the crisis — which started earlier this month after Unesco approved Cambodia’s application to mark the ancient temple of Preah Vihear as a World Heritage Site — reached a deadlock earlier this week, leading Cambodia to ask the Security Council to intervene.

However, the Associated Press reported last evening that Cambodia had agreed to hold another round of talks with Thailand on Monday. Cambodian Information Minister Khieu Kanharith also confirmed that his country would “postpone the complaint to the Security Council.”

The border row had threatened to overshadow the Asean Ministerial Meeting and the Asean Regional Forum over the past four days.

SOME PROGRESS ON THE ASEAN FRONT

While Asean’s efforts to help Thailand and Cambodia to solve their dispute did not make much headway during the regional talks, Singapore Institute of International Affairs’ senior research fellow Dr Yeo Lay Hwee felt that the grouping had made some progress.

“That Cambodia wanted Asean to be involved in the mediation is a show of confidence in the regional grouping,” she said.

Several significant meetings held on the sidelines, such as the first ever informal meetings of the foreign ministers of the six-party talks — involving both Koreas, the United States, Russia, Japan and China — and North Korea’s signing of a non-aggression pact with Asean yesterday afternoon also showed that the grouping is now “taken more seriously by the big powers”.

But Dr Yeo noted that Asean had to heed Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s advice closely to show that it could take on a more “proactive and positive role”.

Mr Lee had stressed the importance of Asean cooperation and integration in his opening speech on Monday.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Yeo said Asean had to bear in mind three Cs as work on the Asean Charter and managing common challenges for the region continues.

Making this point as Singapore handed over the Asean chairmanship to Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister Sahas Banditkul,Mr Yeo said Asean must earn the first “C” — credibility — by ensuring that words are backed by actions and obligations are fulfilled. The test of Asean’s success is whether it enhances the competitiveness — the second “C” — of each member state, he said. The third “C” is the centrality of Asean. Its members had to make sure that political, economic and security architecture of the region takes into account the interest of Asean.

“We must take an active interest in regional and global affairs,” Mr Yeo said.

While some have asked for his views about whether the quality of Asean’s stewardship will suffer given the “domestic political difficulties” in Thailand, Mr Yeo reiterated the point that Thailand’s ability to remain independent when the rest of South-east Asia was colonialised reflected a strong and established foreign ministry with a “professional core of officers”.

He added: “We have reasons to be confident that the chair of Asean is in good hands.”