Tue Feb 22, 2011
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Foreign ministers from Southeast Asia's regional grouping met in Indonesia on Tuesday to try to settle a bloody border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia that has raised doubts about the group's aim for economic integration.
The 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) prides itself on non-interference in members' internal affairs and has long been considered a talking-shop unable to sanction members while trying to resolve disputes by consensus.
"I'd like to make it absolutely clear that for fellow ASEAN member states, the option of conflict, the option of use of force is not meant to be on the table," Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said ahead of the meeting.
Fighting erupted between Thai and Cambodian forces early this month on a disputed stretch of border at the 900-year old Preah Vihear temple.
At least three Thais and eight Cambodians were killed and dozens of people wounded in the February 4-7 exchanges. Sporadic clashes have broken out since then.
An international court awarded the temple to Cambodia 49 years ago but both countries lay claim to a 4.6 sq km patch of land near it.
They have been locked in a standoff since July 2008, when Preah Vihear was granted UNESCO World Heritage status, which Thailand opposed on grounds that the land around the temple had never been demarcated.
Last week, the United Nations Security Council called for an end to the standoff but both sides maintain a heavy military presence on the border and tension is high.
The crisis is an important test for ASEAN, which is aiming to build an EU-style community by 2015 but is riven by a host of territorial and other disputes.
ASEAN includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Cambodia initially asked the U.N. Security Council to deploy peacekeepers at the border and it has also asked for ASEAN observers. Thailand has called for a bilateral solution but welcomes ASEAN's "support.
Thailand's foreign minister signalled that it would agree to invite representatives of ASEAN chairman Indonesia as an observer, according to the Nation newspaper on Monday.
Natalegawa warned against undue optimism over the outcome of the talks.
"Don't expect that it will all be resolved in one event, because the journey is still long," he told reporters, "I'd like to hope that at the end of today we're further down the road in terms of diplomacy."
The Preah Vihear temple, known as Khao Phra Viharn in Thailand, sits on a wedge of land on an escarpment, that forms a natural border overlooking northern Cambodia.
The International Court of Justice in 1962 awarded the temple to Cambodia, which uses a century-old French map as the basis for its territorial claims, but the ruling failed to determine ownership of the scrub next to it.
(Reporting by Olivia Rondonuwu; Editing by Robert Birsel)
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Foreign ministers from Southeast Asia's regional grouping met in Indonesia on Tuesday to try to settle a bloody border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia that has raised doubts about the group's aim for economic integration.
The 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) prides itself on non-interference in members' internal affairs and has long been considered a talking-shop unable to sanction members while trying to resolve disputes by consensus.
"I'd like to make it absolutely clear that for fellow ASEAN member states, the option of conflict, the option of use of force is not meant to be on the table," Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said ahead of the meeting.
Fighting erupted between Thai and Cambodian forces early this month on a disputed stretch of border at the 900-year old Preah Vihear temple.
At least three Thais and eight Cambodians were killed and dozens of people wounded in the February 4-7 exchanges. Sporadic clashes have broken out since then.
An international court awarded the temple to Cambodia 49 years ago but both countries lay claim to a 4.6 sq km patch of land near it.
They have been locked in a standoff since July 2008, when Preah Vihear was granted UNESCO World Heritage status, which Thailand opposed on grounds that the land around the temple had never been demarcated.
Last week, the United Nations Security Council called for an end to the standoff but both sides maintain a heavy military presence on the border and tension is high.
The crisis is an important test for ASEAN, which is aiming to build an EU-style community by 2015 but is riven by a host of territorial and other disputes.
ASEAN includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Cambodia initially asked the U.N. Security Council to deploy peacekeepers at the border and it has also asked for ASEAN observers. Thailand has called for a bilateral solution but welcomes ASEAN's "support.
Thailand's foreign minister signalled that it would agree to invite representatives of ASEAN chairman Indonesia as an observer, according to the Nation newspaper on Monday.
Natalegawa warned against undue optimism over the outcome of the talks.
"Don't expect that it will all be resolved in one event, because the journey is still long," he told reporters, "I'd like to hope that at the end of today we're further down the road in terms of diplomacy."
The Preah Vihear temple, known as Khao Phra Viharn in Thailand, sits on a wedge of land on an escarpment, that forms a natural border overlooking northern Cambodia.
The International Court of Justice in 1962 awarded the temple to Cambodia, which uses a century-old French map as the basis for its territorial claims, but the ruling failed to determine ownership of the scrub next to it.
(Reporting by Olivia Rondonuwu; Editing by Robert Birsel)
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