Hun Sen to Attend Asean Meeting in Thailand

By Chiep Mony, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
12 January 2009

Prime Minister Hun Sen has said he will attend this year’s Asean meeting in Thailand, following numerous requests from neighboring leaders, a government spokesman said Monday.

Hun Sen had previously urged Thai officials, who are leading the rotating chairmanship of the group this year, to postpone for security concerns. He had also claimed he might not himself attend.

“After that, friends of Cambodia asked Prime Minister Hun Sen [to attend], saying that if he did not attend, many other Asean countries might not attend either,” the spokesman, Khieu Kanharith, said.

Foreign Minister Hor Namhong told reporters Sunday after meeting his Japanese counterpart, Nakasone Hirofumi, that Hun Sen would attend, which is scheduled from Feb. 27 through March 1 in Hua Hin, Thailand.

Cambodia and Thailand remain at loggerheads over disputed borderland near Preah Vihear temple, where troops from both sides have been entrenched since July.

Cambodian premier says he will attend ASEAN summit

Jan 12, 2009
DPA

Phnom Penh - Cambodia's prime minister will attend next month's summit of the Association of Sout East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in neighboring Thailand despite hinting last week he would boycott the meeting, media reports said Monday.

Prime Minister Hun Sen said last week that attending this year's series of ASEAN meetings would be too costly and time consuming, but Foreign Minister Hor Namhong told The Phnom Penh Post newspaper that the premier definitely would attend.

'I would like to confirm that Prime Minister Hun Sen will attend the ASEAN meeting in Hua Hin, Thailand, from February 27 to 28 and March 1,' Hor Namhong said.

The meeting was originally scheduled for mid-December 2008 but was postponed and relocated due to ongoing domestic political turmoil in the Thai capital, Bangkok.

Tensions between Thailand and Cambodia have been simmering since July last year when a border dispute at an ancient Hindu temple erupted into a brief military skirmish.

Hun Sen's shortlived bluff: Hua Hin, here comes Hun Sen!

Cambodian PM will join ASEAN summit: spokesman

01/11/2009
Agence France-Presse

PHNOM PENH - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen will attend a regional summit in neighboring Thailand next month despite an earlier statement that he may not go, a government spokesman said on Sunday.

Hun Sen said last week it would be costly and difficult for him to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting, recently moved from the Thai capital to the seaside town of Hua Hin.

"He (Hun Sen) did not say he would not join, but he had some difficulty. However, after discussions, he feels sure he can go," spokesman Khieu Kanharith told AFP.

The summit was originally set to be held in Bangkok in December but was moved first to the northern city of Chiang Mai, then delayed and moved again to the coast in late February as political turmoil engulfed Thailand.

Thailand currently holds the rotating chairmanship of ASEAN, which groups it with Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam.

Not only witll Hun Sen attend the ASEAN summit, he will also shut up on Preah Vihear issue: So much for Hun Sen's pitiful bluff

PM Abhisit: Cambodia won't raise temple dispute at ASEAN summit

BANGKOK, Jan 11 (TNA) – Reassuring the Thai public that Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen will attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit next month, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said he believed his Khmer counterpart will not raise the as yet unresolved Preah Vihear temple dispute at the regional meeting.

ASEAN members think of group spirit first, Mr. Abhisit said, adding that there was nothing given in exchange for confirming Premier Hun Sen's presence at the ASEAN summit to be held in Thailand's Hua Hin resort February 27-March 1.

Disputes are bound to occur when countries share a border, Mr, Abhisit said, but bilateral problems which could spoil ASEAN's mutual work will not be brought up.

"This principle has already been agreed and is implemented under the framework of the year 2000 memorandum of understanding," he said, adding that he would seek Cabinet approval so that the mechanism could continue functioning.

Responding to reports that Cambodian workers are now building a road leading to Preah Vihear temple, Mr. Abhisit said he had received the information and the issue needed to be discussed because the agreement clearly indicated that both countries must not change the environment in ways which could affect the border delineation.

Thailand had in the past protested to Cambodia several times and a new protest will have to be submitted in this case, Mr. Abhisit said.

Tensions between the two neighbours flared last July when the ancient Preah Vihear was awarded UN World Heritage status. The foreign ministers of the two countries also agreed in the same month to find a peaceful end to the diplomatic and military spat, centring on 1.8 square miles (4.6 sq. km.) of scrub near the temple.

Although the World Court ruled in 1962 that the historic Hindu temple belonged to Cambodia, the most accessible entrance is in Thailand's northeastern province of Si Sa Ket.

Cambodia's Hun Sen to attend ASEAN summit in Thailand

January 11, 2009

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 11_(Kyodo) - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen will take part in next month's summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Thailand even though he had earlier suggested skipping it, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Hor Namhong said Sunday.

PM Abhisit confident Cambodia's Hun Sen will attend ASEAN [-Was Hun Sen lying when he said that he'll not attend the summit?]

BANGKOK, Jan 10 (TNA) -- Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is confident that all the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries, including Cambodia, will attend the group's summit to be held in Thailand's Hua Hin resort late next month.

Mr. Abhisit said what his Cambodian counterpart said was probably a suggestion that the ASEAN summit should be held concurrently with the group's dialogue partners, whom the Thai government had already informed of the necessary to hold the summit first as several agreements must be jointly signed by ASEAN leaders.

The Cambodian leader has been contacted and he has confirmed that he will attend the ASEAN summit February 27-March 1 in Hua Hin.

Mr. Abhisit announced on Wednesday that his coalition government had decided to move the summit to Hua Hin, southwest of Bangkok, instead of the capital, to avoid possible disruption by anti-government protesters threatening to interfere with he summit.

Due to complications, ASEAN's meeting with its dialogue partners --China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand -- is now expected to be held in April with an as yet undetermined venue, Mr. Abhisit said.

Despite confirmation by the Thai government leader that his Cambodian counterpart will attend the summit, Cambodian government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said in Phnom Penh on Friday that Mr. Hun Sen may not attend the ASEAN summit because it would be costly and difficult for him to attend.

Also, the spokesman said talks with China, Japan and South Korea were critical because they are expected to give US$80 billion in regional aid to reduce short-term liquidity problems, in line with the so-called Chiang Mai initiatives agreed following the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

Thailand presently holds the rotating chairmanship of ASEAN, which groups it with Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam.