BANGKOK, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat said Saturday he believes negotiations with the Cambodian government aimed at settling border disputes between the two neighboring countries are now possible and that there is no need to ask ASEAN for help in mediation.
Somchai made the remarks in Thailand's northeastern province of Si Sa Ket when he visited soldiers wounded in gun fight with Cambodia on Wednesday around disputed area near Preah Vihear temple, according to the Thai News Agency.
Somchai said Thailand and Cambodia shared the same idea that differences could be settled through negotiations as the two countries are neighbors.
Negotiations are expected to be held soon, said Somchai.
Thailand's Second Army Chief Lt-Gen. Wibulsak Neepal was scheduled to lead Thai delegates for bilateral talks at Cambodia's Siem Reap province next Wednesday and Thursday.
Somchai said that Thailand has never trespassed on other countries' territories and the two countries agreed to hold talks under the agreed-upon mechanisms to settle the border disputes.
Somchai made the remarks in Thailand's northeastern province of Si Sa Ket when he visited soldiers wounded in gun fight with Cambodia on Wednesday around disputed area near Preah Vihear temple, according to the Thai News Agency.
Somchai said Thailand and Cambodia shared the same idea that differences could be settled through negotiations as the two countries are neighbors.
Negotiations are expected to be held soon, said Somchai.
Thailand's Second Army Chief Lt-Gen. Wibulsak Neepal was scheduled to lead Thai delegates for bilateral talks at Cambodia's Siem Reap province next Wednesday and Thursday.
Somchai said that Thailand has never trespassed on other countries' territories and the two countries agreed to hold talks under the agreed-upon mechanisms to settle the border disputes.
6 comments:
Do not fall traped with their sweet talk of Cambodia. Cambodia must not give in anything to this sucker. They don't want a third party like the ASEAN or United NATIONs to mediate because they know their claims will not be hornored. This greedy neighbor is good at making up their the story. The U.S must have a more balance view on this region and not blindly supporting Thailand.
My personal feeling is that in order to avoid another coup by top military officiers, the current Thai government needs to make the border clash happen at any cost. So, the Thai public would focus more on border clash than the coup itself. It will bring a bad image to the coup planners if they wish to go while border stand off still continues. It would make thing complicated for coup planners to mobilize the troops for the coup. The public would punish them. That's why Thai PM needs to get closer to the local Thai commanders. PM won't prefer clash, but just a stand off and sometimes fighting because soldiers are human and their patiece is limited. It's a political game in Thai politics. The question is do Khmers want to play the game with them or do we really need to think about the territory? The latter is to have international mediation, but Thai government won't choose it at least until the threat from coup planners is over.
Whether Khmer government wants to play the game with them or not, lives of Khmer soldiers need to be protected and treated fairly.
If a large scale conflict happens, Thais would be united, and the military will take the government completely. Somchai never wants this to happen either. It's a tough situation there. If coup fails, there is a high risk for the coup planners and those behind them.
In my opinion, Khmers should not involve with their game for the best interest of the nation. Thais ALWAYS get advantages while we were in troubles. Why not we? We should focus more on economic development and leave the works to the international communities because we have law and peace accord. Just like Singapore, the more we have strong economics and humand resources, no one would touch us. Hun Sen should really think about this.
Hun Sen is falling into Thai leaders trap again because Thai leaders will never honor any agreement base on simple bilateral talk with Cambodia. Without the third party involvement, the Thai leaders will never honor the agreement! So the third party must be called in to certify any border agreement base on any bilateral talk.
Cambodia need third parties such as the ASEAN, the UN, and the world court to make any border agreement legal otherwise Cambodia will have false sense of security and Hun Sen will only prolong the border conflict for years to come!
Agree with you 3:25 AM, We need all means to back the siams off our territorial integrity. The peak of our patience reached already. Both diplomatic and military to apply for this. It is entirely our territory, they invaded us, killed our soldiers, we have to kick them off our land. We have been too nice letting them use profits from tourists come thru their side to Preah Vihear temple till they are addicted of this free profit and invade/grabbed our border territory from us. The territory around Preah Vihear was recognised internationally since long ago, particularly at the Hague, nothing to talk with this fake map they present. The map was drawn for military purpose when they were allied of US to destroy Cambodia during the Vietnam war spread to Cambodia. If they can present this map, we also can draw our map to claim our provinces they stole from us and this would include BKK as well. Don't let them bully us any longer. Bring the issue to International Community, UN security council, and ICJ. At the same time, militarily kick them out if they dare to step in our land. Though they have more modern equipments but they have no moral to fight. I am ready to serve our country against this siam agression.
Kaun khmer
The U.S sweetened the deal when drawing the map for Thailand, because the U.S needed Thailand for their millitary base to launch attacks with Vietnam. Thailand's map with Cambodia is inaccurate and not recognized by Cambodia, the World Court and the UN. Cambodia will have a better shap bring the case back the World Court or the UN to mediate the issue.
The U.S sweetened the deal when drawing the map for Thailand, because the U.S needed Thailand for their millitary base to launch attacks with Vietnam. Thailand's map with Cambodia is inaccurate and not recognized by Cambodia, the World Court and the UN. Cambodia will have a better short by bringing the case to the World Court or the UN to mediate the issue.
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