Group says bilateral talks must find answer
Wednesday July 23, 2008
THANIDA TANSUBHAPOL & ACHARA ASHAYAGACHAT
Bangkok Post
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) yesterday shot down a call by Cambodia for the regional grouping to intervene and help end its dispute with Thailand over their overlapping border area.
Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo, the current chairman of Asean, told Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong in a letter of the need to end the tension through bilateral talks.
The letter dated yesterday was a reply to Hor Namhong's proposal sent from Phnom Penh on Monday asking the 10-member bloc to set up a contact group to mediate the problem. The letter said Thai military forces were building up at the border.
Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam and Laos were named by the Cambodian government to form an ad hoc panel.
But Mr Yeo argued the two countries should give the bilateral process a chance to end their spat.
''The proposal for an Asean Contact Group found favour with a number of foreign ministers, but there was also a general view that the bilateral process should be allowed to continue, and there is still no consensus for the formation of such a group,'' the letter said.
The Cambodian call for Asean intervention follows a complaint to the United Nations Security Council on Thursday that Thai troops had intruded on its soil near the Preah Vihear temple.
The Thai government countered that the area belonged to Thailand.
Both referred to the disputed 4.6-square-kilometre area between Kantharalak district in Si Sa Ket province and Cambodia's Preah Vihear province.
Cambodia cited a map drawn in 1908 as the basis of its claim to ownership of the contested area. The map was used by the International Court of Justice when it ruled in 1962 that Thailand should hand the temple to Cambodia.
But Foreign Ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat said yesterday the international court did not decide the borderline between the two countries in that area.
The first meeting, led by Supreme Commander Gen Boonsrang Niempradit and Cambodian Defence Minister Tea Banh on Monday in Sa Kaeo's Aranyaprathet district, could not find a solution to the row. But both promised military restraint and that no more troops would be sent to the area.
They agreed to hold another meeting of the General Border Committee next month after the Cambodian general election on Sunday.
The Cambodian Foreign Ministry said yesterday that ''in order to avoid armed confrontation'', Phnom Penh would ask for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to find a solution.
''We need a third party to solve this problem,'' Cambodian government spokesman Khieu Kanharith told AFP.
But Asean members were fretting about taking the issue to the council, saying it could harm attempts to resolve the problem, according to Mr Yeo.
''They [Asean foreign ministers] also emphasised to me that if the parties concerned are too quick to resort to the UN Security Council, this would do harm to Asean's standing and may actually make the resolution of this issue more difficult,'' he said in the letter.
Although the Security Council has not made any move since the Cambodian complaint, the Foreign Ministry had officials ready to send to the UN to help Thai diplomats if the council wants explanations from Thailand, a senior ministry official said.
Thai ambassador to the UN Don Pramudwinai on Monday handed a letter to Vietnam, current chairman of the Security Council, and 14 other members confirming Thailand's intention to resolve the dispute through bilateral talks.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed concern yesterday over the rising tension, calling on both sides to peacefully resolve the situation.
In Singapore, Cambodian Deputy Foreign Minister Kao Kim Hourn took the border issue to talks with China, Japan and South Korea, which hold meetings with Asean, prompting Deputy Prime Minister Sahas Bunditkul to clarify the matters with those countries.
Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo, the current chairman of Asean, told Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong in a letter of the need to end the tension through bilateral talks.
The letter dated yesterday was a reply to Hor Namhong's proposal sent from Phnom Penh on Monday asking the 10-member bloc to set up a contact group to mediate the problem. The letter said Thai military forces were building up at the border.
Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam and Laos were named by the Cambodian government to form an ad hoc panel.
But Mr Yeo argued the two countries should give the bilateral process a chance to end their spat.
''The proposal for an Asean Contact Group found favour with a number of foreign ministers, but there was also a general view that the bilateral process should be allowed to continue, and there is still no consensus for the formation of such a group,'' the letter said.
The Cambodian call for Asean intervention follows a complaint to the United Nations Security Council on Thursday that Thai troops had intruded on its soil near the Preah Vihear temple.
The Thai government countered that the area belonged to Thailand.
Both referred to the disputed 4.6-square-kilometre area between Kantharalak district in Si Sa Ket province and Cambodia's Preah Vihear province.
Cambodia cited a map drawn in 1908 as the basis of its claim to ownership of the contested area. The map was used by the International Court of Justice when it ruled in 1962 that Thailand should hand the temple to Cambodia.
But Foreign Ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat said yesterday the international court did not decide the borderline between the two countries in that area.
The first meeting, led by Supreme Commander Gen Boonsrang Niempradit and Cambodian Defence Minister Tea Banh on Monday in Sa Kaeo's Aranyaprathet district, could not find a solution to the row. But both promised military restraint and that no more troops would be sent to the area.
They agreed to hold another meeting of the General Border Committee next month after the Cambodian general election on Sunday.
The Cambodian Foreign Ministry said yesterday that ''in order to avoid armed confrontation'', Phnom Penh would ask for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to find a solution.
''We need a third party to solve this problem,'' Cambodian government spokesman Khieu Kanharith told AFP.
But Asean members were fretting about taking the issue to the council, saying it could harm attempts to resolve the problem, according to Mr Yeo.
''They [Asean foreign ministers] also emphasised to me that if the parties concerned are too quick to resort to the UN Security Council, this would do harm to Asean's standing and may actually make the resolution of this issue more difficult,'' he said in the letter.
Although the Security Council has not made any move since the Cambodian complaint, the Foreign Ministry had officials ready to send to the UN to help Thai diplomats if the council wants explanations from Thailand, a senior ministry official said.
Thai ambassador to the UN Don Pramudwinai on Monday handed a letter to Vietnam, current chairman of the Security Council, and 14 other members confirming Thailand's intention to resolve the dispute through bilateral talks.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed concern yesterday over the rising tension, calling on both sides to peacefully resolve the situation.
In Singapore, Cambodian Deputy Foreign Minister Kao Kim Hourn took the border issue to talks with China, Japan and South Korea, which hold meetings with Asean, prompting Deputy Prime Minister Sahas Bunditkul to clarify the matters with those countries.
9 comments:
Fuck bilateral talks with the fucken Thaicong aggressor! When the fucken Thaicong up in arm and move their fucken troop into Cambodia already and what is the use for bilateral talks?
If the fucken Thaicong are so interest in bilateral talks and they would have done since day one and why do they have to use their military in the first place to intimidate Cambodian leaders into submission to take all the bullshit from the Thaicong terrorist mother fuckers?
The fucken Thaicong is a terrorist country and don't blame Cambodia for killing the fucken Thaicong terrorists for violating Cambodian sovereignty!
The fucken ASEAN can go to hell!
This George Yeo is stupid. He just said that Asean Charter will be implemented and with HQ in Jakarta, all Asean members are to send an ambassador to Asean HQ, and now he is saying that Asean will not interfere.(Cambodia/Thailand conflict)
I know,the Asean Charter is just accepted, and ASEAN (like a mini UN) still in in infant stage, but George Yeo must be seen to try to get Asean to be interested in resolving the conflict.
By saying that aSEAn will not interefere, what the hack is the Charter for.
I know that in future when member states can contribute troops to the ASEAN secretariat, then only asean can interefere, but becasue the Charter is now just newly formulated and implemented, George Yeo must be seen to be working towards it. ortherwise the whole Asean is useless.
I know the thai government do not scare or afraid of khmers. They scare and afraid the vietname invader of cambodia and laos. The thai government is doing this right now, war with cambodia, because they want to test their neighbor to see how the vietname invader in both countries react to them. The thai will has no choice either going to war with cambodia right now or later. There are different between war now and later. War now mean better position for thai because there so many people in both cambodia and laos don't like the occupied vietnames invader. But if they wait, they are going to lose the war. The solution to this is there should be a condition and laws that prohibit to have any occpied force among their neighbor. The way it's now there will be war unavoidable call the 4th Indichina war. At this time Thailand will shut vietnam mouth and let vietnam standing still just like vietnam did to Thailand during the vietnam invaded cambodia in 1979. Vietnam need crops from cambodia in order to survive their 88 million vietnamese. So, the 4th indochina war will profit vietnam as a principal of asean. When the Thailand-Cambodia war end the big profit will fall into vietnamese hands and they will boost to the highest economic in the region.
Means vietnam will control economic in the region.
If all else fail,and THAI still occupy our soil, completely in violation on our sovereignty then Cambodia should withdraw our ambassador from THAILAND and cut off diplomatic relation altogether.Cambodia has no choice but prepare for inevitability that's war.This is a lesson that we should remind the next younger leadership generation to strengthen our military at all time to be the best FIGHTING FORCE IN in ASIA.
the goal of Thai is to carry out a quite genocide of Khmer people. They will force the Khmer people of Thailand to fight a war with the Khmer people of Cambodia to eliminate the Khmer threats to their cultural falsification to the world. As long as these Khmer exist, then there will always be contention on the origin of Thai culture, boxing, temples etc. By this quite genocide Thailand will eliminate all possible contest of the Khmer minority.
this is War Crime against humanity in the making!
Yeah, but all that need not to happen. Just give back the temple to Khmer People in Issan province. It doesn't belong to you, and you know it.
This is the craziest dream of Dr..... DEAN of...Uni. How can he became a dean of one Uni.? It makes me laugh when i read his win-win method. And Cambodian Government agrees to share profit with Thai on this issue, I think This government will be much more stupid than that dean!
We have no reason to share profit these thai people, they think that they can use their forces to threat us to agree what they want. Haha How clever u foolish Thaicong!!
Actually i never like this current cambodian gov. of the way they treat cambodian people. They dont care about their own people. But this time i totally support this Gov. to ask a judgment from International court or UN and Let see who are the owner of this temple and surrounding area.
I think everyone in this world why thai dont want UN or international court intervene(even thai them self). Becos they know they lose again.
So then, what you are saying if your brother married to a Thai woman, it will be stupid for you to share your parent inheritances with him. Is that what you are telling us here?
Cambodia will not be another Kuwait! Not even a million Thaicong can conquer Cambodia!
The Thaicong will be defeated!
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