 |
| China claims the highlighted portion of the South China Sea. Many other governments also claim all or part of the South China Sea. (Photo: Courtesy of University of Southern California) |
Monday, 26 March 2012
Say Mony, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh
“If you become a leader, or a member of the [Security Council], what would you do, because when you had the chair of Asean, you didn’t do anything."
Political analysts say Cambodia should take advantage of its chairmanship of Asean this year in disputes over the South China Sea, but the country is reluctant to do so for fear of a damaging its relationship with China.
Arata Mahapatra, the director of the Center for Asian Strategic Studies in India, told VOA Khmer Thursday that playing the role of neutral mediator would help raise Cambodia’s international prestige at a time when it is seeking a non-permanent seat at the UN Security Council.
“Half of Asean’s members are involved in the South China Sea conflict,” he said. “If Cambodia wants to ignore that, OK,” he said, but “it’s not good for Cambodia’s interests because other members will not be happy.”
Cambodia is preparing to host an Asean summit in Phnom Penh later this week, but it has said the South China Sea will not be on the agenda.
Maritime ownership over portions of the sea are contested by several Asean nations and Taiwan, while the entire sea is claimed by China, making it a complicated regional issue.
Fishing rights, access to waterways, ship movement and two archipelagos, the Spratlys and the Paracels, believed rich in oil and gas, are all at issue and a source of fear of escalated, armed conflict.
Although Cambodia is not a claimant to the sea, a strong leadership role as head of Asean could help it down the road, Mahapatra said.
“If you become a leader, or a member of the [Security Council], what would you do, because when you had the chair of Asean, you didn’t do anything,” he said.
However, Chea Vannath, an independent political analyst, said there have not been requests from Asean nations for it to mediate disputes over the sea, so Cambodia need not get involved. On the other hand, she said, if it were able to improve the situation there, it would help its Security Council bid.
“Other countries will watch Cambodia as Asean chair to see how mature its foreign affairs are and whether the country is suitable for any position in the region or in the United Nations,” she said.
Cheam Yiep, a ruling party lawmaker, said Cambodia does not want to raise its profile “by disappointing other countries, including China.” Cambodia will push for an Asean-China working group on the matter, he said.
China is one of Cambodia’s largest benefactors, but it has demonstrated a firm position on the South China Sea.
“So, if we raise the topic of the South China Sea on the agenda of the meeting, it could affect the relationship between Cambodia and China, as well as Asean,” said Chheang Vannarith, executive director of the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace.
Mahapatra said Cambodia should consider its long-term interests, but he warned: “If Cambodia gets too close to China or listens too much to China, then other countries will [move] away from Cambodia.”
5 comments:
forget it, viet/youn will never be a big and powerful country like china, ok! and don't forget that koh tral island is always a khmer island, not viet/youn island, ok!
So this proves, once for all, that Cambodia and Hun Sen are not taking orders from Yuon, ok! So don't blame Yuon on everything from now on because Hun Sen has a new boss in China! He is taking China's side against VN on the issue of the South Sea.
I am waiting to hear your PM lay claim to Koh Tral!
When he does that, then I will believe you, Mr. ok!
Your PM can't even move the Vietnamese floating villages out of Tonle Sap.
Why don't you write to Hun Sen and ask him to lay claim to Koh Tral now and move the floating villages out of Tonle Sap? Can you do that?
I strongly doubt it!
7:14 AM,
You are so young and quite naive having no clue on the concept of geopolitics!
China is strong, but it is far away and won't risk its people's lives for Cambodia.
Did it help the KR in 1979 war? Yes it did. Did it stay in the war long enough for the VN forces to go back to Vietnam and help fight the war? No.
In fact, go and read the book and you shall find out that most of the fighting forces in Vietnam at that time were only the militia and ordinary soldiers because the elite forces were in Cambodia.
These regular soldiers were able to inflict serious casualties on the Chinese forces.
Keep hoping for the Chinese to defend you and you will be disappointed again. China turned around dropping Pol Pot for Hun Sen when it knew that your PM could serve her intersts better.
Arata Mahapatra, the director of the Center for Asian Strategic Studies in India.“If Cambodia gets too close to China or listens too much to China, then other countries will [move] away from Cambodia.”
=This is funny political analysis by Indian expert! I wish that some of the countries mentioned by Arata Mahapatra could move away from Cambodia as soon as possible such as Thailand and Vietnam !
If Arata Mahapatra wants Cambodian leaders to perform miracle between ASEAN and China regarding the disputes over the South China Sea is a dirty tactic to embarrass Cambodian leaders as if Cambodian leaders don’t know how to approach things and to put Cambodia on the spot is uncalled-for! The disputes over the South China Sea are long term conflict that is why the previous ASEAN leaders couldn't even solve the conflict either! And Cambodia has its own ongoing conflict with Thailand and what have previous ASEAN leaders done for Cambodia? None! And that is why Cambodia went to war against Thailand! So please don’t expect Cambodia to do too much for ASEAN when ASEAN leaders done so little for Cambodian peace and stability!
At this point Cambodian leaders can only promote peaceful dialogue between ASEAN leaders and Chinese leaders regarding the disputes over the South China Sea! It takes two to produce a baby! It takes two to make war! It takes two to agree to peace! So what is stopping the ASEAN leaders and the Chinese leaders from having peace? So Cambodian leaders alone can’t bring about peace between ASEAN and China and only ASEAN and China can bring about peace!
Post a Comment