Cambodia not to boycott ASEAN Summit in Thailand

PHNOM PENH, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- The bilateral armed clash at the border area in October will not stop Cambodia from attending the upcoming ASEAN Summit in Thailand, Chinese-language newspaper the Jian Hua Daily on Wednesday quoted an official as saying.

"We will not boycott the summit in December, even as we have border dispute," Phay Siphan, secretary of state of the Cambodian Council of Ministers told a seminar here on Tuesday.

The clash in October killed two Cambodian soldiers and wounded two others, after Thai troops entered the disputed area over sovereignty claim.

"We want to keep the friendship and cooperative ties with our neighbor countries," said Phay Siphan.

The official said both Cambodia and Thailand currently need to realize their border demarcation in accordance with the conventionally recognized maps 100 years ago by the French colonialist.

The map was made with the agreement of the Thai authority then, he added.

There are now 73 demarcation posts along the 805-km border between Cambodia and Thailand, 50 percent of which are recognized by the Thai side. Cambodia still plans to plant hundreds more posts there in order to specify the border line.

Thai PM says Thailand ready to host ASEAN summit

BANGKOK, Nov. 6 (PNA/VNA)-– Thailand’s Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat insisted on Wednesday that Thailand is ready to host the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in December, the Thai news agency (TNA) reported.

The summit will be as originally planned, the prime minister said, adding that this change is “held in the northern province of Chiang Mai instead of Bangkokdue to differences of ideas in politics” and that Chiang Mai province is ready in terms of traveling, accommodation and security assurance.

The Chinese prime minister and the president of the Republic of Korea will use this opportunity to make official visits to Thailand, the prime minister added.

The ASEAN summit is scheduled to take place from 15-18 December. ASEAN consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Burma, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Cambodia confirms ASEAN meeting moved from Bangkok

Sun, 26 Oct 2008
DPA

Phnom Penh - Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong Sunday confirmed reports that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting set for Bangkok in December has been moved to the northern city of Chiang Mai amid political unrest. Hor Namhong was the first non-Thai ASEAN official to officially confirm the move, returning from talks with Thai officials on the sidelines of the two-day Asia-Europe Meeting in Beijing with a delegation headed by Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Continued political disturbances in Bangkok have seen the nation's government house overrun. Chiang Mai is a major city with an international airport about 700 kilometres north of Bangkok.

Hor Namhong was speaking at a press conference at Phnom Penh International Airport.

The 10-member ASEAN bloc comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam and has forged strong diplomatic and trade links with India, South Korea, Japan and China.

The summit is scheduled for December 15-18, and Thailand has invited UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and the heads of the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, despite its internal woes.

Last month, Cambodia expressed doubt that the meeting could be held in Bangkok by Thailand, which currently chairs ASEAN in an annually rotated post. Hun Sen said Thailand's current political turmoil reflected badly on ASEAN, drawing fury from some Thai groups.

Thailand and Cambodia are currently engaged in a protracted border dispute which has several times threatened to turn into all-out military conflict since July, when an ancient Cambodian temple was named a World Heritage site by UNESCO over Thai objections.