| Written by Thet Sambath | |
| Friday, 10 October 2008 Courtesy of Phnom Penh Post | |
| AN RCAF general said Thursday some 30 Thai soldiers were fired upon by an unknown number of Lao troops in the Golden Triangle region where the three countries' borders converge. The incident happened after Thai soldiers strayed into Lao territory en route to Cambodia. "Lao soldiers shot at the Thais [on Wednesday] as they were walking in Lao territory, but we have no information about possible casualties," the general, who asked not to be named, told the Post Thursday. "I have not received any new reports, but we are investigating the matter carefully," he said. The general added that since Thai soldiers began crossing the border in July, cooperation between Cambodia and Laos to monitor developments along the border has strengthened. Soldiers from Thailand, Cambodia and Laos are normally deployed in the Golden Triangle area, but tension has increased as a result of the months-long standoff between Thai and Cambodian forces over disputed border territory. The general said the recent unexpected arrival of seven Thai soldiers at a Cambodian military guard house in the area had further inflamed matters following last week's gun battle near Preah Vihear. "They came to stay with our soldiers on our land," the general said. "We will burn this house [rather than cede it to them] because we built it on our own land." Addressing the reported clash between Lao and Thai soldiers, Neang Phat, secretary of state at the Ministry of Defence, said "it is an issue between Laos and Thailand and did not involve Cambodian territory". |
Saturday, 11 October 2008
Lao, Thai troops clash on border: RCAF
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4 comments:
This time is Laos soldiers, next will be the Burmese turn if Thailand did not stop such an aggression, and the restrive mulsim down south will also take the opportunity
Laotian soldiers got orders from their politicians and did the right thing in protecting their lands, that's why Thai soldiers never dare to trespass or encroach on their lands. Cambodian soldiers dare not shoot Thai soldiers because they got orders not to shoot. That's why Thai soldiers stepped on their heads and kept trespassing or encroaching Khmer territories everyday. In this report, 7 Thai soldiers just came to set up camp inside Khmer territories and Khmer soldiers did nothing. If Khmer soldiers dare to set foot just one metre inside Thai territories they'll be shot at or captured. Khmer soldiers should not provoke the fighting, but if Thai soldiers encroach and violate our territorial integrity we should use all means to kick them out.
One possible reason that Cambodia soldiers did not fire during any encroachment is because 1] PM may not order them to do so, 2] PM may use the same tactic as former king at the time he tried to declare independent from France - No arm struggle but international stage as mean to pressure France to relinguih all power, 3] our military means are no where close to those of Thailand [despite we experiences in guerilla warfare for the past 3 decades.
As long as political turmoil in Thailand is still at large, the tension along the border would be at risk to all out war and this is not good for either side international community take the case seriously and get involved and it is higly and unlikely going to happen until later stage.
If Thailand's aggression is not ease, would love to see the government recall its ambassador and impose drastically steps towards applicable means to get Thailand back on table once for all.
Mediawatch,
i disagree with your rationale here. the current situation is complete different from Sihanouk's crusade for independence from France. this is a continuous encroachments from Thai troops, which happened almost every week. if Khmer soldiers did not stop them the Thai troops will continue to encroach- when i say stop them it means either shoot at them like the Lao troops did or don't allow them to stay with the Khmer troops in Khmer territories. it's true that the Khmer soldiers did not shoot because the political leaders ordered them not to shoot. this is the problems because it gives Thai troops the reasons to encroach more territories without fears because they know that Khmer troops won't shoot at them. you have to know that before the 15 July invasion of Preah Vihear we never heard of any encroachments. after the preah vihear invasion, more encroachments like in Ta Moan, Ta Krabey, O'plok Damrey, O'Bei Choan, Anlong Veng and so on. This has happened because Khmer troops got the orders not to stop them because our political leaders are afraid of the Thai military might. It is true that our troops and military capability are no match for Thai military, but we have to do something to stop or deter the encroachments. I don't think Hun Sen want to use Sihanouk's independence formula to solve the Thai invasion. I think it is a complete incompetence on Hun Sen's part due to his fears of losing power should war broke out with Thailand. I don't advocate war, but armed clash, like the one at Phnom Trop, should be employed when the Thai troops violated our territories. If there is no armed conflict the Thai will continue to encroach and the international community, especially, the UN security council will not pay any attention to those Thai encroachments. I think the Khmer govt. had not done enough regarding this border issue with Thailand.
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