Border talks on oil and gas [on so-called "overlapping" borders with Thailand]

Sunday March 09, 2008
Bangkok Post

Thailand and Cambodia plan to set up Joint Development Areas (JDA) covering 26,000 square kilometres of overlapping border areas to facilitate the exploration of natural gas and crude oil, Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama said yesterday. Mr Noppadon said the Thai and Cambodian foreign ministries will hold talks on the establishment of the JDA to manage the overlapping border areas which are rich in natural gas and crude oil.

The value of the natural resources is expected to be about 3.5 billion baht for natural gas and 1.5 billion baht for crude oil. If successful, Thailand will enjoy greater energy security essential to electricity generation and the development of the petrochemical industry, said Mr Noppadon.

He added that the Foreign Ministry will join the Energy Ministry in talks with Cambodia as soon as possible on the issue, which is regarded as very important.

Thailand: 26,000-square-km of overlapping (sea?) borders under dispute with Cambodia

Thailand to talk with Cambodia over JDA project

March 9, 2008
The Nation (Thailand)

Foreign Minister Noppadol Pattama said Saturday that the Thai Foreign Ministry and Energy Ministry would negotiate with Cambodian to launch a project of joint development areas.

Noppadol said Thailand and Cambodia have some 26,000 square kilometres of overlapping areas along the border and the areas were rich with natural gas and oil resources.

He said it was estimated that the areas had natural gas worth Bt3.5 trillion and oil worth Bt1.5 trillion so the two country should jointly develop the areas.

He said talks would be held how to divide benefits from the project between the two countries.

Hun Sen farewells Samak on homeward trip

Tuesday, March 03, 2008

Phnom Penh (dpa) - Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej flew out of Cambodia Tuesday, seen off by his Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen after a two-day visit that touched upon sea borders and a disputed border temple.

Newly-elected Samak sought to strengthen bilateral ties with neighbouring Cambodia during his visit, but instead found talks on growing anger over allegations that Thai border patrols use undue force in controlling Cambodian immigrant workers to Thailand, resulting in at least a dozen shooting deaths a year.

Cambodia is looking to make its claims on disputed sea borders legal before expected rich offshore oil reserves are tapped within two years. Hun Sen urged Thailand to be more flexible, allowing a "win-win situation between our two nations."

The disputed Preah Vihear border temple and Cambodia's move to have it listed as a Unesco World Heritage site will be discussed in more detail when Deputy Prime Minister Sok An visits Thailand later this year.

Visits to neighbouring nations have become a tradition for new leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which both countries are members.

Cambodia-Thai meeting focuses on border killings

Mar 3, 2008
DPA

Phnom Penh - It was expected to be a showdown about a disputed border temple, but the meeting between new Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej instead focused on growing anger over killings of Cambodian immigrant workers, a spokesman said Monday.

Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith told reporters at a press conference that Samak's two-day visit at Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's invitation had been cordial - but issues of disputed sea borders and border killings of itinerant Cambodians had come up.

So too had the Preah Vihear temple problem, he said, but Thailand and Cambodia had spoken reasonably on the controversial move to make the temple perched on the two nations' border a UNESCO World Heritage site for Cambodia - a proposal Thailand has objected to.

As a newly-elected leader, Samak's visit to neighbouring nations has become a tradition for new leaders of the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations, of which both countries are members.

Kanharith said talks focused on the disputed sea borders between both nations instead, with Cambodia looking to make its claims to territory legal before expected rich offshore oil reserves are tapped within two years.

Also on the table were Cambodian allegations that Thailand uses undue force in controlling Cambodian immigrant workers to Thailand, which results in at least a dozen shooting deaths at the hands of Thai border patrols per year, according to border police.

'Please, do not use unnecessary violence (on the borders) because it could disturb the Cambodian people,' Kanharith warned. 'Thailand has full rights to control illegal immigrants, but Thailand should also respect human rights.'

He said although the Preah Vihear temple had been discussed, Cambodia stood firm that the northern border temple belonged to it and it was Cambodia's right to ask for World Heritage rights.

The issue is a controversial one in both nations. On Monday, the nationalistic Student Movement for Democracy issued a statement demanding Hun Sen refuse to speak with Samak regarding Preah Vihear, citing the 1962 ruling by the International Court of Justice in the Hague that Preah Vihear temple belongs to Cambodia.

That movement's leader, Kein Sara, was briefly imprisoned in 2003 for his alleged role in the anti-Thai riots in Phnom Penh. Angry mobs had burned the Thai embassy and Thai businesses after a Thai actress was said to have claimed another cultural icon, the Angkor Wat temple complex, was Thai. Sara was quickly released.

Although allies, tensions between the neighbouring nations go back centuries. However issues including cultural ownership, Cambodia's possible impending new oil wealth and other border issues have strained relations.

On Monday Kanharith said the oil field border dispute had been discussed extensively by Hun Sen and Samat, and Thailand had been urged to be less inflexible, allowing a 'win-win situation between our two nations'.

Cambodia prickly for Samak, temple off agenda [-Samak may talk on disputed Cambodian sea borders also]

Mon, 03 Mar 2008

Phnom Penh (dpa) - Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej began an official visit to Cambodia on Monday aimed at strengthening bilateral ties but which has raised old animosities amongst some Cambodians regarding a disputed border temple.

Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said Samak's visit was a tradition for new leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which both countries are members.

Hor Namhong said Samak and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen will address issues including the Thai-funded repairs of a number of Cambodian border roads, but there would be no signing ceremony.

"But Hun Sen will not talk about the Preah Vihear Temple," he said. Cambodia has sought to register the ancient temple on the far northern border as a World Heritage site, but Thailand has objected.

Instead, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An would visit Thailand and hold specific talks with the Thai side about the temple in the near future, he said.

Some local groups have been angered by Thailand's obstruction of Cambodia's request to have the disputed temple listed.

Also on Monday, the nationalistic Student Movement for Democracy issued a statement demanding Hun Sen refuse to speak with Samak on the issue, citing the 1962 ruling by the International Court of Justice in the Hague that Preah Vihear temple belongs to Cambodia.

The movement's leader, Kein Sara, was briefly imprisoned in 2003 for his alleged role in the anti-Thai riots in Phnom Penh. Angry mobs had burned the Thai embassy and Thai businesses after a Thai actress was said to have claimed another cultural icon, the Angkor Wat temple complex, was Thai. Sara was quickly released.

Although allies, tensions between the neighbouring nations go back for centuries. In 2003, some Cambodian firefighters showed their tacit approval of the riots by reportedly taking water to put out the Thai embassy fires from the city's sewers instead of fire hydrants.

These tensions have not been helped by Thailand's refusal to agree on sea borders as Cambodia looks to exploit potentially rich offshore oil reserves within two years, another issue expected to be on Samak's agenda.