Suthep: Thailand didn't send ASEAN head to talk with Cambodia on Preah Vihear dispute

BANGKOK, Aug 17 (MCOT online News) - Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban on Tuesday denied that Thailand had anything to do with dispatching Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to talk with Cambodia on the Preah Vihear dispute, saying the border row should not be raised in regional level.

Mr Suthep said Thailand has made it clear that its position on the issue is to resolve the problem at the bilateral level and that it will not be raised in ASEAN.

He made his remarks a day after the Agence France Presse (AFP) news agency reported the ASEAN chief said on Monday after meeting Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Numhong in Phnom Penh that he must wait for a decision by ASEAN foreign ministers before responding to Cambodia's request for regional help in resolving the row.

Cambodia earlier had written to the Vietnamese foreign minister, in his capacity as ASEAN chair this year, seeking the bloc's intervention to help solve the border dispute, as well as seeking a United Nations' role in the matter to avoid possible "bloodshed" caused by the dispute.

Meanwhile, activists of the Thailand Patriot Network led by Chaiwat Sinsuwong on Tuesday rallied at Parliament during the current joint parliamentary session, asking that it not consider any documents concerning the border agreements reached by the Thai-Cambodia Joint Border Committee (JBC) on its agenda.

Mr Chaiwat said his group demanded that Thailand revoke the Memorandum of Understanding made with Cambodia in 2000 and to remove all agenda items concerning Thailand-Cambodia border dispute from the parliamentary session.

The activist said the protest will end only if the issue is withdrawn from the agenda of the joint parliamentary session.

Mr Suthep reaffirmed that the negotiation framework in demarcating the land boundary under JBC will not be discussed on Tuesday session, but he refused to explain the reason.

House Speaker Chai Chidchob added no new agenda on JBC has been proposed for discussion today, except the pending case since 2008 in which the House committee has already completed its consideration.

The International Court of Justice in 1962 ruled that the 11th century temple belongs to Cambodia. UNESCO accorded its status as a World Heritage site in 2008 after Cambodia applied for the privilege while the dispute on the contested 4.6 sq km area of land near the cliff-top temple by Thailand and Cambodia remains unsolved.

Tension flared up when Bangkok objected to Phnom Penh submitting a management plan for the temple which required map of the area late last month to UNESCO's World Heritage Commission (WHC). The agency decided on July 29 to defer the decision until it meets next year.

Hun Sen, ASEAN Secretary General stress on need of peaceful resolution of Cambodia-Thai border conflict

PHNOM PENH, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen and ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan on Monday stressed that friendly relations and cooperation must be maintained and any move that escalates the tension shall not be attached, a Cambodian official said.

After a two-hour meeting in Phnom Penh between Hun Sen and Surin Pitsuwan, Sry Thamarong, minister attached to the prime minister, told reporters that both leaders had exchanged frank discussions on the border conflict between Cambodia and Thailand.

Sry Thamarong said during the discussion, Hun Sen and Surin had shared views on the need of patience, an avoidance of further armed clashes, refraining from war of words, and to resolve the problem peacefully.

Earlier in the day, Surin Pitsuwan met with Hor Namhong, Cambodia's deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation. Soon after the meeting, he told reporters that he hoped the border dispute will "end peacefully".

Surin is leading a 30-member delegation to Cambodia for strengthening relations and to attend an ASEAN forum on disaster management, while at the same time, he takes the opportunities to meet with Cambodian leaders, according to Koy Kuong, spokesman of foreign ministry.

Surin arrived in Cambodia on Sunday and will leave the country on Tuesday.

Sacrava's Political Cartoon: Dr Surin

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

"You must make a correction... The rockets did not hit your head": Hun Xen to Surin Pitsuwan

Cambodian PM lambasts ASEAN secretary general

PHNOM PENH (AFP) - Cambodian premier Hun Sen on Monday said the head of Southeast Asia's regional body was unsuitable for the job, accusing him of "crazy work" for reportedly questioning a recent rocket drill.

Hun Sen was responding to comments printed in local newspapers attributed to Surin Pitsuwan, the secretary-general of the 10-member Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN) and a citizen of Thailand, with which Cambodia has tense relations.

"I think that his excellency Surin Pitsuwan is not suitable as ASEAN secretary general," Hun Said said during a speech on national radio, adding: "if you are stupid, don't do it".

Cambodian newspapers carried reports by Malaysia's Bernama news agency quoting Surin as saying that

"Cambodia might have signaled as though the region was unstable" by firing rockets last week during a border dispute with Thailand.

But Hun Sen said Cambodian troops were merely testing equipment when they fired some 200 rockets last Thursday at an airfield 180 kilometres (about 110 miles) from the Thai border.

His speech to disabled Cambodian military veterans in southern Kampot province went on to accuse Surin of "crazy work" interfering in Cambodian affairs.

The premier pointed out that leaders of other Southeast Asian countries, including Thailand, showed no concerns about the test, and called for Surin to retract his statement or face a confrontation when leaders meet next month in Hanoi.

"If he doesn't make a correction I will attack this secretary general during the ASEAN meeting," Hun Sen said.

Addressing Surin directly in the speech, he added: "You must make a correction... The rockets did not hit your head."

Hun Sen has recently made a number of fiery speeches railing against Thai "invaders" and "thieves" in disputed territory around an 11th century temple on their border, where there have been deadly clashes in the past two years.

Cambodia and Thailand have been locked in nationalist tensions and a troop standoff at their disputed border since July 2008, when Cambodia's Preah Vihear temple was granted UNESCO World Heritage status.

Four soldiers were killed in clashes in the temple area in 2008 and three more in a gunbattle last April. Smaller flare-ups continue to be reported between troops in the area.

Dr. Hun Xen blasts Dr. Surin Pitsuwan

08 March 2010
DAP-news
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

On Monday, PM Hun Xen expressed strong reactions to the statement made Surin Pitsuwan, ASEAN Secretary-general, saying that the Cambodian Army’s military exercise is a threat to stability in the region. Hun Xen said that Surin Pitsuwan should not be the ASEAN secretary-general.

During a meeting with disabled veterans in the development village for disabled veterans in Ta Ken commune, Kampot province Hun Xen said that Cambodia’s military exercise was conducted far from the borders with its three neighbors, and he said that he will raise this criticism issue at the next ASEAN meeting. Hun Xen reminded that during past Thailand’s military exercise, three rocket shells fell into Cambodian territories, yet, this Thai secretary-general never raised this issue at all.

Thailand, Cambodia leave leeway for relaxation of tension

November 09, 2009
People's Daily Online (China)

Thailand and Cambodia recalled their respective ambassadors on Nov. 5 after Phnom Penh appointed former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra as an economic adviser of Cambodia and personal advisor to Prime Minister Hun Sen, and strained bilateral ties thus further escalated. Both sides, however, still leave some leeway for the relaxation of tension between them.

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Sunday afternoon announced that ousted Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra would visit Cambodia this week in his new role as economic adviser to his government. Moreover, Hun Sen said, Thaksin would address a group of 300 Cambodians. "Thaksin will be at the Minister of Economy and Finance on Nov. 12 to do a briefing with 300 Cambodian economic experts," he told a new conference at Phnom Penh International Airport. Apparently, this move of his showed to the world that he was not scared or "intimidated" by Bangkok's recall of its ambassador to Cambodia.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen appointed Thaksin as his economic adviser, and criticized or decried judicial injustice in Thailand, thus seriously hurting the national dignity or self-respect of Thai people. A Thai newspaper named "Bangkok Post", therefore, in an editorial referred to this act as "a huge slap in the face of Thailand."

Subsequently, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva in his television address on Sunday, November 8th defended his own actions in an ongoing spat and called on Thais to get united and "to protect the honor" or pride of his country.

Thailand is angrily claiming that Thaksin's acceptance of Hun Sen's appointment is definitely dwarfing or "downgrading" the former Thai prime minister himself and the whole Thailand as well, some Thai media have commented.

Recent polls indicate that most Thais do not favor or endorse the move of Thaksin Shinawata's. On the contrary, a latest poll put the support rate of incumbent Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva at 69 percent as against the previous rate of 23 percent，for the popularity of the Abhisit Vejjajiva government has soared after its diplomatic protest against Phnom Penh's appointment of Thaksin Shinawata as Cambodia's economic adviser and ensuing announcement for the withdrawal of Thai ambassador from Cambodia.

Nevertheless, Thailand has underscored that it has gone into actions to prompt Hun Sen to change his mind instead of making things worse. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on Sunday, Nov. 8th noted that the Thai-Cambodian diplomatic ties would not affect the bilateral economic and trade relations between the two Southeast Asian neighbors. Meanwhile, Hun Sen also announced in Phnom Penh Sunday that he would withdraw an elite unit of paratroopers (Brigade 911) from disputed territory near a historic border temple, Preah Vihear Temple, where Thailand maintains it is its territory.

Furthermore, the International community is reluctant to see the strained Thai-Cambodian relations deteriorating. Singaporean foreign minister George Yeo has also said that he did not want to see the strained Thai-Cambodian ties would affect negatively the ASEAN's image.

Meanwhile, Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, the secretary general of the ASEAN, acknowledged that the APEC CEO Summit will be held in Singapore in mid November 2009 alongside the APEC Learders' Meeting as well as the ASEAN-U.S. Summit. At this critical moment, the ASEAN Secretary General appealed for Cambodian-Thai maximum restraint and called on ASEAN foreign ministers to assist the two ASEAN member states to settle their bilateral disputes amicably and as soon as possible.

By People's Daily resident reporter in Thailand Ren Jianmin and translated by PD Online

Former Thai foreign minister officially assumes ASEAN secretary general post

Newly appointed secretary General of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Surin Pitsuwan addresses a press conference after a ceremony in Jakarta. Thailand's former foreign minister Surin Pitsuwan was formally appointed as new secretary general of the ASEAN which groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. (AFP/Ahmad Zamroni)

01/07/08
TNA (Thailand)

Former Thai foreign minister Surin Pitsuwan formally took up the post of ASEAN ''Association of Southeast Asian Nations'' secretary general at the regional organisation's headquarters in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The ceremony was done simply with Indonesian Foreign Minister Hasan Wirayuda chaired the ceremony, attended by all ASEAN ambassadors as well as 200 ambassadors, diplomats and Indonesian government guests.

The ceremony began with outgoing ASEAN chief Ong Keng Yong of Singapore signing the document to transfer the post to incoming ASEAN secretary-general Surin, who then endorses the document to acknowledge formally taking up the post.

Mr. Wirayuda witnessed the uncomplicated procedure.

Dr. Surin, a former member of the Democrat Party, Thailand's oldest political party, became the second Thai citizen assume the ASEAN secretary-general post. Phan Wannamethee, currently secretary-general of the Thai Red Cross Society and former Permanent Secretary of Thailand's Foreign Ministry.

But Dr. Surin is the first Thai political figure to hold the ASEAN secretary-general post.

Speaking as he took up the post, Dr. Surin said he wanted to carry on the aspirations of ASEAN when the organisation, established 40 years ago, to make ASEAN a unified and strong community bringing security and peace to the region.

He said he wished to see all member countries walk hand in hand together. However, Mr. Surin said he could not accomplish the mission alone and needed the participation of all member. He hoped that he will receive good results and full support for ASEAN's progress.

After the ceremony, Singapore ASEAN Department Director-General Jacky Foo presented the island's instrument of ratification of the Asean Charter to Dr. Surin.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.