PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia has agreed to meet Monday with Thailand to discuss a stretch of disputed land near a historic temple, rather than take the matter to the U.N. officials from both countries said Thursday.
Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej said he talked to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and the two leaders decided to schedule a foreign ministers' meeting in the Cambodian city of Siem Reap on Monday.
They plan to discuss how best to end the crisis over land near the 11th century temple of Preah Vihear that led both countries to deploy soldiers near the site.
Cambodian Information Minister Khieu Kanharith confirmed the meeting would take place and "postpone the complaint to the Security Council."
Monday's meeting follows failed efforts earlier this week to resolve the crisis, which prompted Cambodia to take the issue to the U.N. Security Council.
Military tensions between the two countries over 1.8 square miles of land intensified earlier this month after UNESCO approved a Cambodian application to have the temple designated a World Heritage Site.
Thailand sent troops to the border July 15 after anti-government demonstrators attacked Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej's government for supporting Cambodia's application. It claims they were deployed only after 1,000 Cambodian troops were spotted in the area. The troops were protecting a demining team, which was sent there after a Thai soldier stepped on a land mine, officials said.
The announcement would seem to be a small diplomatic victory for Thailand, which had rejected Cambodian requests to involve the U.N. and the grouping of Southeast Asian nations in the matter. Thailand's U.N. ambassador, Don Pramudwinai, accused Cambodia on Wednesday of bringing the quarrel before the Security Council because "the Cambodian target is not only Preah Vihear but the entire common border."
Cambodian says some 4,000 troops from both countries are massed in the area around Preah Vihear. Thailand says it has 400 troops in the area and that Cambodia has 1,700.
Don said Cambodia was trying to force Thailand to accept a French colonial map's demarcation of the border.
Thailand relies on a different map drawn up later with American technical assistance, but accepts a ruling by the International Court of Justice that awarded the disputed temple to Cambodia in 1962.
Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej said he talked to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and the two leaders decided to schedule a foreign ministers' meeting in the Cambodian city of Siem Reap on Monday.
They plan to discuss how best to end the crisis over land near the 11th century temple of Preah Vihear that led both countries to deploy soldiers near the site.
Cambodian Information Minister Khieu Kanharith confirmed the meeting would take place and "postpone the complaint to the Security Council."
Monday's meeting follows failed efforts earlier this week to resolve the crisis, which prompted Cambodia to take the issue to the U.N. Security Council.
Military tensions between the two countries over 1.8 square miles of land intensified earlier this month after UNESCO approved a Cambodian application to have the temple designated a World Heritage Site.
Thailand sent troops to the border July 15 after anti-government demonstrators attacked Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej's government for supporting Cambodia's application. It claims they were deployed only after 1,000 Cambodian troops were spotted in the area. The troops were protecting a demining team, which was sent there after a Thai soldier stepped on a land mine, officials said.
The announcement would seem to be a small diplomatic victory for Thailand, which had rejected Cambodian requests to involve the U.N. and the grouping of Southeast Asian nations in the matter. Thailand's U.N. ambassador, Don Pramudwinai, accused Cambodia on Wednesday of bringing the quarrel before the Security Council because "the Cambodian target is not only Preah Vihear but the entire common border."
Cambodian says some 4,000 troops from both countries are massed in the area around Preah Vihear. Thailand says it has 400 troops in the area and that Cambodia has 1,700.
Don said Cambodia was trying to force Thailand to accept a French colonial map's demarcation of the border.
Thailand relies on a different map drawn up later with American technical assistance, but accepts a ruling by the International Court of Justice that awarded the disputed temple to Cambodia in 1962.
1 comment:
AH George Yeo fails to learn to from Cambodian history in the 1980! Cambodia was invaded in 1979 by the communist Vietnam with the support of the Soviet Union! Communist Vietnam has the fourth largest army in the world and it is Cambodian people who bear the brunt of the Vietnamese invasion for 10 years and nobody understand the issue of invasion more than Cambodian leaders and Cambodian people!
AH George Yeo and his ASEAN members including the Thaicong aggressor need to stop talking by showing some action now in trying to diffuse and to contain the Thaicong-Cambodian conflict as soon as possible because more talking won't lead to nowhere and the Thaicong government chose to act in defiant of international law and order!
The memory of invasion is still fresh on Cambodian people mind and Cambodian leaders will not take any invasion lightly because Cambodian leaders and Cambodian people had been through it all! So for the Thaicong-Cambodian conflict to be solved the ASEAN must change their mindset in trying to understand how the Cambodian leaders and Cambodian people perceive the world! It is no surprise that it is Cambodian leaders and Cambodian people who are the one that want to end this conflict as soon as possible that is why Cambodian urge to the third party(UN) to get involve and ended this conflict quickly before it is getting out of hand!
The are is no point of blaming Cambodia for being a victim of Thaicong aggression or even past Vietcong aggression which led to invasion of Cambodia in 1979!
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