President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (R) shakes hand with Hun Sen.AMITA O. LEGASPI,
GMA News
8th May, 2011
JAKARTA, Indonesia — The Cambodia-Thailand border dispute took the center stage Saturday when Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen raised the issue during the plenary session of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) 18th Summit.
The usually sober plenary session of ASEAN leaders became heated Saturday, officials from the Philippine government who were present during the session told reporters.
“By ASEAN standards, medyo mainit [it was heated] but if you are to compare it to a regular session of our Congress, malayo [far from it]," Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning secretary Ramon A. Carandang.
Philippine Energy Secretary Rene Almendras said he was “awakened."
Carandang, Almendras and Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario were with President Benigno Simeon Aquino III at the plenary session.
Carandang said it seemed many leaders and other officials inside Cendrawasih Hall of the Jakarta Convention Center had not expected Hun Sen to raise the issue.
“Many people actually in the room, were surprised that the Cambodian side brought it up and it took quite a bit of their time. There are many other issues but they spent a good amount of time talking about that and so many of the people there were a little surprised," he said.
Not part of formal agenda
The Cambodian-Thailand border dispute was not part of the formal agenda “but we were expecting at some point that it would be brought up perhaps in the plenary or tomorrow in the retreat so we were surprised when it was raised," he added.
Carandang did not go into the details of what Hun Sen said.
But according to him, after Hun Sen had finished his statement, the session went into a break and when it resumed Thailand Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva took his turn to speak about his own country’s perspective on the issue.
Leaders from the other ASEAN countries expressed both their concern over the issue and their willingness to help to solve it.
President Aquino, for his part, expressed the desire of the Philippines to be of help in any way it can as he urged Cambodia and Thailand to have a peaceful resolution in the spirit of ASEAN brotherhood and solidarity.
Carandang quoted Lao Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong as saying both countries should restrain themselves in the issue.
On Friday during the meeting of the foreign ministers, Cambodia foreign minister Hor Namhong read a statement accusing Thailand of back-pedaling from implementing solutions for the border dispute.
Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said it was inappropriate to raise the issue that has already been discussed through the ASEAN chair, Indonesia Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa.
Ceasefire monitoring team
This happened even after the two had separate meetings with Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa Friday where they both agreed for the sending of a 30-man observer team to monitor the ceasefire.
In an interview after the meetings, Marty said as far as the terms of reference for the sending of the observers – 15 on each side of the border – is concerned it is already a done deal.
“What remains now is how we operationalize the assignment of the Indonesian observers team on the ground. The key word here is to create conditions conducive for the assignment of the Indonesian observer team," he said.
He added that he will talk again with the two foreign ministers to get them to try defining what they mean with terms conducive for the deployment of Indonesian observers.
Cambodia and Thailand have been in a deadlock since July 2008, when 11th-century Preah Vihear temple was granted UNESCO World Heritage status, which Thailand opposed on the grounds that the land around the temple had never been demarcated.
The temple is located between the Choam Khsant district in the Preah Vihear province of northern Cambodia and the Kantharalak district (amphoe) in the Sisaket province of Northeastern Thailand.
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 around it.
At least eight people have been killed due to the clashes.
The ASEAN had asked the two countries to settle their differences peacefully.
During the meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers in February this year, the two countries agreed to allow unarmed military observers from Indonesia to be posted along their border, but Thailand wants the issue to be resolved bilaterally by a joint commission which has yet to properly demarcate the area, despite a 10-year study. —MRT/LBG, GMA News
JAKARTA, Indonesia — The Cambodia-Thailand border dispute took the center stage Saturday when Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen raised the issue during the plenary session of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) 18th Summit.
The usually sober plenary session of ASEAN leaders became heated Saturday, officials from the Philippine government who were present during the session told reporters.
“By ASEAN standards, medyo mainit [it was heated] but if you are to compare it to a regular session of our Congress, malayo [far from it]," Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning secretary Ramon A. Carandang.
Philippine Energy Secretary Rene Almendras said he was “awakened."
Carandang, Almendras and Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario were with President Benigno Simeon Aquino III at the plenary session.
Carandang said it seemed many leaders and other officials inside Cendrawasih Hall of the Jakarta Convention Center had not expected Hun Sen to raise the issue.
“Many people actually in the room, were surprised that the Cambodian side brought it up and it took quite a bit of their time. There are many other issues but they spent a good amount of time talking about that and so many of the people there were a little surprised," he said.
Not part of formal agenda
The Cambodian-Thailand border dispute was not part of the formal agenda “but we were expecting at some point that it would be brought up perhaps in the plenary or tomorrow in the retreat so we were surprised when it was raised," he added.
Carandang did not go into the details of what Hun Sen said.
But according to him, after Hun Sen had finished his statement, the session went into a break and when it resumed Thailand Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva took his turn to speak about his own country’s perspective on the issue.
Leaders from the other ASEAN countries expressed both their concern over the issue and their willingness to help to solve it.
President Aquino, for his part, expressed the desire of the Philippines to be of help in any way it can as he urged Cambodia and Thailand to have a peaceful resolution in the spirit of ASEAN brotherhood and solidarity.
Carandang quoted Lao Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong as saying both countries should restrain themselves in the issue.
On Friday during the meeting of the foreign ministers, Cambodia foreign minister Hor Namhong read a statement accusing Thailand of back-pedaling from implementing solutions for the border dispute.
Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said it was inappropriate to raise the issue that has already been discussed through the ASEAN chair, Indonesia Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa.
Ceasefire monitoring team
This happened even after the two had separate meetings with Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa Friday where they both agreed for the sending of a 30-man observer team to monitor the ceasefire.
In an interview after the meetings, Marty said as far as the terms of reference for the sending of the observers – 15 on each side of the border – is concerned it is already a done deal.
“What remains now is how we operationalize the assignment of the Indonesian observers team on the ground. The key word here is to create conditions conducive for the assignment of the Indonesian observer team," he said.
He added that he will talk again with the two foreign ministers to get them to try defining what they mean with terms conducive for the deployment of Indonesian observers.
Cambodia and Thailand have been in a deadlock since July 2008, when 11th-century Preah Vihear temple was granted UNESCO World Heritage status, which Thailand opposed on the grounds that the land around the temple had never been demarcated.
The temple is located between the Choam Khsant district in the Preah Vihear province of northern Cambodia and the Kantharalak district (amphoe) in the Sisaket province of Northeastern Thailand.
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 around it.
At least eight people have been killed due to the clashes.
The ASEAN had asked the two countries to settle their differences peacefully.
During the meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers in February this year, the two countries agreed to allow unarmed military observers from Indonesia to be posted along their border, but Thailand wants the issue to be resolved bilaterally by a joint commission which has yet to properly demarcate the area, despite a 10-year study. —MRT/LBG, GMA News
1 comment:
I think what he did is right.
First, it is a hot issue. We cannot allow the Thai to invade us illegally.
Don't be surprised that Hun Sen is raising this issue during the meeting.
It seems that each member of this unworthy ASEAN focus only on each individual's benefit, not Cambodia.
I don't know what happens behind the 10 members of ASEAN. But, I hope that ASEAN should consider current Cambodian border conflict as the hot issue. We already gave the right to Indonesia to resolve the conflict, but nothing has been succeed peacefully, but the the stupid aggression of Thailand get rise everyday. They wanted to occupy Cambodian territory without any legal map or proof.
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