Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (right) greets Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen (left) upon his arrival for the opening ceremony of the ASEAN) Summit in Jakarta on Saturday. Hun Sen launched an aggressive attack on Thailand over a border dispute during the first session of the summit. (AFP/Adi Weda)
Monsters and critics
May 7, 2011,
Jakarta (DPA)- Cambodia and Thailand used a regional summit Saturday to exchange barbs over a border spat that has raised questions about the Association of South-East Asian Nations' role in solving the bloc's security problems.
'If conflict occurs, ASEAN must be capable of facilitating a forum for diplomacy and open dialogue with the intent of attaining common peace,' said Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in his opening speech the Jakarta summit.
Thailand and Cambodia are embroiled in a border conflict over disputed territory near the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple, a World Heritage Site.
Fighting over two other temples on their border, Ta Muen [Ta Moan] and Ta Kwai [Ta Krabey], broke out last month, leaving eight dead on each side.
At a meeting on security issues, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen claimed that last month's conflict was caused by an 'invasion' by Thai forces, sources said.
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva denied the accusation, saying Hun Sen had initiated the fighting in his ongoing effort to 'internationalize' what Bangkok regards a bilateral issue.
Although Hun Sen and Abhisit have ruled out a separate meeting during the summit, a trilateral meeting under Yudhoyono was still being considered by Hun Sen.
'If the president of Indonesia initiated such a meeting I think I would respond positively,' Hun Sen said.
Both Cambodia and Thailand have welcomed Indonesia's role as a 'facilitator' in solving their dispute, but Thailand has stopped short of accepting the ASEAN chair as a 'mediator,' which would imply the issue was not being handled bilaterally.
Cambodia approached the UN Security Council in February to seek a resolution to the border issue, but the council recommended ASEAN mediation. Last week Phnom Penh petitioned the International Court of Justice to intervene.
In 1962, the court ruled that Preah Vihear was on Cambodian soil, but did not rule on where the common border lies, giving rise to a dispute over a 4.6-square-kilometre plot of land nearby.
Indonesia, this year's ASEAN chair, has tried to mediate a ceasefire by offering 30 observers to be stationed at hotspots along the border.
Their deployment awaits an agreement between Bangkok and Phnom Penh over the withdrawal of all troops from Preah Vihear and disputed areas.
Cambodia refuses to give in to Thai demands to withdraw from the Preah Vihear complex as the temple is on its territory.
No resolution is expected at the summit, where Thailand proposed further bilateral talks, immediately nixed by Cambodia's Foreign Minister Hor Namhong.
'We should not play the game of chicken and egg,' Hor Namhon said. 'They have to deploy Indonesian observers first, after that the joint commission on the border can meet either in Thailand or Cambodia.'
Other issues at the summit include human trafficking, migrant workers, territorial disputes in the South China Sea, counter-terrorism and Myanmar's controversial proposal to chair ASEAN in 2014.
Human rights activists said ASEAN would be 'a laughingstock' if it allowed military-ruled Myanmar, notorious for jailing dissidents and other human rights abuses, to chair the 10-nation bloc.
The second of the two annual ASEAN summits is scheduled for November in Bali.
No comments:
Post a Comment