The Siem Reap Talk: It’s Only A Symbolic Gesture

Opinion by Khmerization
27th July 2008

“Cambodia must make it clear to Thailand that, should the Siem Reap Talk failed, Cambodia shall not hesitate in bringing the matter to the UN Security Council and the International Court of Justice one more time.”

The much anticipated meeting between Cambodian and Thai foreign ministers tomorrow to resolve the issue of the Thai occupation of the so-called “disputed zone” in Preah Vihear will be the talk of the Siem Reap town. As the Cambodian election is over, the Cambodian as well as the Thai population, but in particular the press corps, will be focussing their attention on Siem Reap. With the Cambodian people preparing to march to Siem Reap to demand a Thai withdrawal from the so-called “disputed zone” on the same day as the meeting, it will put more pressures on the Thai side to come up with a proposal acceptable the Cambodian side.

But from a pessimist’s point of view, the Siem Reap Meeting, the same as the Aranyaprathet Meeting last Monday, is only a symbolic gesture from Thailand in order to appease Cambodia and the international community . It will not achieve anything, unless Cambodia makes a substantial concession. The scenario would be like this: The Cambodian side will propose for a total Thai withdrawal but the Thai will refuse and instead the Thai side will counter with a proposal that is unacceptable to the Cambodian side. The Thai delegation has signalled that it will propose three solutions to end their occupation. 1). Not allowing the people to live in the area. 2). A joint management of the area, and 3). A partitioning of the area.

From a Cambodian perspective, these alternative proposals by the Thai side are unacceptable. No country on earth, let alone Cambodia, will accept to share their territories with any other countries.

The Cambodian delegation must be firm because there is nothing to negotiate. Thailand sent in the troops to occupy Cambodia’s territories and by international laws Thailand must withdraw its troops. As such, Cambodia must demand a total Thai withdrawal first before agreeing to any future border negotiations. On top of this, Cambodia must demand for a total re-examination of all the border lines by using 1904 and 1907 treaty to settle for all disputed areas between the two countries, not just the areas around Preah Vihear, but at Anlong Veng, O’Bei Choan, O’Smach, Phnom Preuk, Phnom Malai as well as Cambodia’s territorial waters and islands that have been allegedly encroached by Thailand. And any future border negotiations must be based on the maps and the documents of the 1904 and 1907 treaty of which both Cambodia and Thailand had signed.

Also, in order to ensure international recognition, the border survey to settle the border demarcations will be conducted with the involvements of the international observers. Thailand will not like this idea because of the internationalisation of the conflict and because the internationalisation of the border delimitation might expose more of the Thai encroachments on Cambodian borders, but this is the only bargaining chip that Cambodia has to counter the Thai proposals and its intransigence. Another bargaining chip Cambodia has is that, it has said steadfastly that, should the Siem Reap Talk failed, it will go back to lodge a complaint with the UN Security Council. As I said earlier, Thailand does not want the Khmer-Thai border issue go to the UN Security Council because it is afraid that more Thai encroachments on the Cambodian territories will be exposed to the international community.

Coming back to the Siem Reap Meeting, I am hoping that the Cambodian delegation will stand firm and demand a total Thai withdrawal from the Preah Vihear’s “disputed zone”. Cambodia must not accept the three Thai proposals unveiled above. Cambodia must demand, if the Thai delegation refuses to withdraw their troops, a total review of all border lines using the 1904 and 1907 treaty as the base, as it is the only treaty that Cambodia and Thailand had ever concluded. Cambodia must make it clear to Thailand that, should the Siem Reap Talk failed, Cambodia shall not hesitate in bringing the matter to the UN Security Council and the International Court of Justice one more time. //