Cambodian, Thai defense ministers to meet for easing border tension

April 23, 2009
Source: Xinhua

Tea Banh, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense, said here on Thursday that he and his Thai counterpart will hold a meeting to find a solution to the border tension between the two countries.

"I and my Thai counterpart will meet with each other in Siem Reap province on April 27 and 28 in order to find ways to ease the border tension, and avoid new armed clash near the Preah Vihear temple and other places along our border," he said.

The meeting has been delayed twice since February, and "we are waiting for the Thai side to deal with the issue peacefully and without military confrontation," he added.

Tea Banh was unsure whether the next meeting will be conducted as scheduled, as Thailand is still obsessed with internal instability.

On April 3, Thai and Cambodian troops exchanged fire near the 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple, killing two Thai soldiers.

Since July 2008, troops from both sides have stationed near the temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and two armed confrontations last year sparked brief concerns of war.

The two neighboring countries have never fully demarcated their disputed 800-km-long border, mainly due to their different interpretation of historical maps and the landmines left over from decades of civil war in Cambodia.

Cambodia, Thailand to convene special meeting for border issues

PHNOM PENH, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia and Thailand will convene a special meeting of the Cambodian-Thai Joint Border Commission on Demarcation and Land Boundary (JBC) on Nov. 10 and 11, said an official press release here on Sunday.

It will be followed by the third meeting of both sides' foreign ministries to speed up the border demarcation work in a reasonable time limit, said the release from the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

Cambodia expects that, through these successive meetings, "both sides will be committed to achieve a peaceful and just solution tothe border problem as soon as possible without any further delay," it said.

The meetings will be held in accordance with the determination that Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Thai counterpart Somchai Wongsawat made in October during the ASEM Summit in Beijing, it added.

In October, Cambodian and Thai troops exchanged fire on their disputed border area, killing two and wounding a dozen.

Prior to the clash, the ownership of the Preah Vihear Temple caused both sides to maintain military stalemate near the border for weeks.

During this period, rounds of meetings were held, but all failed to find common ground on the border issue to break the stand off.

The two countries have 790-km-long border line, but only with 73 border posts which were planted in 1907.