Thai Cambodia Border tensions loom again

April 6, 2011
Posted by Michael Vatikiotis
Asia Security Initiative
MacArthur Foundation

A landmark agreement among ASEAN Foreign Ministers in February effectively defused a dangerous stand-off between Thai and Cambodian forces along their common border by agreeing on the deployment of Indonesian monitors on either side of the border and also the convening of bilateral talks between the two sides in Indonesia.

However, since then, little has moved on either of these fronts. Indonesia has not yet managed to deploy the observers – now set at 15 on each side of the border. More worryingly, Thai military officials have said they do not want to join bilateral talks on the border dispute in a third country. Cambodia, for its part insists on the talks taking place in Indonesia. The talks are set to start on April 7th in Bogor, a city outside Jakarta where ironically the first round of the Cambodian peace process meetings was convened in 1988.

Should the agreement unravel there is the threat of renewed fighting along the border. This could then lead to further international diplomatic maneuvering that could see the issue return to the floor of the UN Security Council in New York. 

ASEAN stands to lose a lot of diplomatic face. The 22nd February agreement among ASEAN Foreign Ministers boosted the regional organization’s conflict management credentials and lent impetus to further development of ASEAN’s mediation role. It would be a particular blow for Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, whose personal diplomatic intervention, involving visits to Thailand, Cambodia and the United Nations in New York, helped broker the deal that reduced tensions.

Indonesia is chairman of ASEAN for the year and is hoping that the reinforcement of ASEAN’s role in preserving regional security will be a crowning achievement for the year. The ASEAN Political-Security Community Blueprint, formally adopted at the 14th ASEAN Summit in 2009, calls for the strengthening of existing mechanisms for the settlement of disputes. It also urges the development of ASEAN modalities for good offices, conciliation and mediation.

So how can the situation be fixed? Thai officials are hoping to persuade their military colleagues that the bilateral meetings with Cambodia can be held in Indonesia. The diplomats can go ahead and meet under the auspices of the civilian-run Joint Border Committee, whilst the military is involved in a separate general Border Committee. They will insist that Indonesian officials stay out of the meetings and hope that Cambodia accepts this too.

Meanwhile, Indonesia’s defence attaches are in the process of visiting the border areas of both countries to prepare for the monitoring mission. Given the extreme sensitivities, it is hardly surprising that the process is taking some time.

Privately, Thai officials say it is important for the Indonesian monitors to steer clear of the disputed zone in the immediate vicinity of the disputed Hindu temple.

But more importantly it is now time for other agencies such as UNESCO, which helped spark renewed tensions along the border after considering an application for listing the disputed temple as a world heritage site, to contribute to a de-escalation of the conflict. This might be possible. It has been suggested that UNESCO consider a multiple listing of other ancient sites that litter the long Thai-Cambodian border – thereby taking the heat of the disputed Preah Vihear temple.

It would of course also help a great deal if politicians on both sides of the border stopped stoking the border dispute for their own selfish reasons.

Nationalism is one of the crudest but also the most lethal of weapons, as it turns differences of opinion into war.