Tuesday, 14 June 2011
Cheang Sokha
Photo by: Reuters
Thailand’s Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva (centre) makes his way through supporters during an election campaign in Bangkok in May.
Thailand has insisted it has “solid evidence” that it will present to the international community proving that three men detained in Sisaket province last week were spies, a claim Cambodian officials once again dismissed yesterday.
Ung Kimthai, a 46-year-old Cambodian national, was arrested by Thai officials on Tuesday last week with two others, nationals from Thailand and Vietnam, on suspicion of espionage. Allegations of drunk driving for the Thai national and drug use for Ung Kimthai have also been raised.
While Cambodian authorities have reacted strongly against the claim, which they called a “deceitful fabrication” designed to provide cover for future aggression, Thai caretaker Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said authorities had “solid” evidence to back up the allegations, the Bangkok Post reported yesterday.
Abhisit said Cambodian officials had contacted Thailand to secure the release of the three men, the newspaper reported.
“If it is fabrication, why did Cambodia try to contact us for help in obtaining their release?” Abhisit was quoted as saying.
“The information is solid enough and will also be presented to the international community.”
Thai police reportedly said the three men had been carrying maps with military bases marked on them at the time of their arrest.
Koy Kuong, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Cambodia continues to deny the allegation of espionage, and that Ung Kimthai had entered Thailand merely as a tourist.
“This case is a fake,” he said. “We have asked [Thailand] for a deeper investigation.”
Koy Kuong added that Thailand was using the incident as a ploy to distract attention away from its own aggressive ambitions.
“Thailand cannot use a small thing like a mosquito that they made up to hide their huge sky of ambitions for aggression,” he charged.
Yesterday, Thailand’s new ambassador to Cambodia, Sampong Nanguanbun, met with Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Eang Sophalleth, a personal assistant to Hun Sen, said Sampong had informed the premier in the meeting that his mission was to expand cooperation across all fields between the two countries.
Hun Sen, Eang Sophalleth said, told the new envoy that despite the border dispute, he considered the two countries to be inseparable, like “teeth and tongue”, and expressed optimism over the relationship, noting that bilateral trade was continuing.
“What we should do is try to find a resolution through all mechanisms in the interest of the people,” Eang Sophalleth quoted Hun Sen as saying.
6 comments:
In 2008 a lot western and Thai experts predicted Cambodia’s army is unlikely to defeat its much larger neighbor Thailand “It would be suicide for the Cambodian side to attack the Thais." "Basically, on paper, Thailand is much stronger militarily than Cambodia,” said Tim Huxley, executive director of the IISS-Asia, adding that Cambodia’s annual defense budget is about $140 million and Thailand’s is 25 times that-$3.5 billion.
The Thais and the westerners considered Cambodia weapons are cold war era weaponry will not sustain the onslaught of the more modern high tech American made F16 killing machines . it seem Cambodian army won't last for a day if the fighting occur,that in 2008.
On 4 Feb 2011 it was the bloody clashed of the decade lasted for few hours The Thais onslaught from every angles tried to push through Cambodian defend line Cambodia army unleashed the fire from hell (BM 21) carpeted the Thais with rockets, brought the Thai army to its kneed. the Thais not conceded defeat that easily they bring in the cluster bombs ( ban ammunitions) fired at Cambodian troops. The fighting lasted for 4 days Cambodian army stilled standing, it is the first time that Thai had fight the real army not with the civilian protesters in BangKok or the insurgents in the south.
It signal how desperate is Thai army and willing to use the ban ammunitions and was widely condemned by international community afterward .
The clashed in Feb and April 2011 clearly indicated the inability of Thai army to defeat Cambodia and it might end up with Cambodia defeat Thailand, contrast to the theory of the people who never fought the real war only sitting behind the desk and predicting on the papers.
If it escalate to the full scale war, and the war drag on for a couple of years and Cambodia have the medium range rockets can hit Thai airports, The entire Thailand economy will collapse and Thailand will faces the bankruptcy.that is the price of war if Thailand wants to start one.
According to Thailand military claimed by top brass, Thailand can easily take Cambodia in 3 weeks if full scall invasion were about to happened. Thai military had gravely misjudged Cambodia ability to defend her sovereignty. Thailand had always assumed and underestimates Cambodia's military strength and ability to fight. All those clashes since 2008 to the latest in April 2011, Cambodia had not lost an inch of her position. In fact, Hun Sen restraint his battlefield commanders to not advance forward because Cambodia is not an invader but a defender. Those commanders were ordered to defend the position only. And defending they did. If Cambodia military were to advance foward, they could have captured and taken over those Thai positions destroyed by Cambodian artillery and BM-21 rocket launchers. Thai military became frustrated and unleashed some of the biggest guns such as cluster ammunitions and 3Quinuclidinyl Benzilate(QNB)poison gas to crack Cambodia's military position, again, Thai military failed. We would thought that as great as Thailand military is, Cambodia wouldn't even have a chance to fire back. I say damn those that underestimated Cambodia.
@ 10:27, 1:28 Very true, well written analysis. If the Thai still dreaming of taken Preah Vihear back, think again it's not going to be easy-- it's going to be "Over the dead Cambodian's bodies". Cambodia will defend with all her might.
Abhishit Vejjajiva play tricky game with "SPIES LIKE US?" Picking up innocent people from the street and frame them with$$$$$$$! You must pretend to be cambodian spie...ok!
Lately I’ve seen a lot of heated comments about the Thai-Cambodian border clash on this forum, which led me to assume that they are Cambodians.
I fully support the Cambodian troops and the Cambodian government in defending our sovereignty from foreign aggressors, may it be the Thai, Vietnamese or Laotians.
However, I disagree with most of the comments earlier because they’ve over estimating our military capability to defend our own country if full scale war broke out. I am not writing to degrade nor insult the Cambodian Army, nor am I glorifying Thailand; I am being a realist, and hopefully by expressing my view would make some war mongers to understand the consequences of war before making such war rhetoric. In particular, the person that commented on 14 June 2011 10:27 PM, “contrast to the theory of the people who never fought the real war only sitting behind the desk and predicting on the papers.”; I bet, you have never fought in any war yourself, hence you have no right to insult them like the way you did.
The Thai-Cambodian conflicts is what it is, a conflict not a war as some may want us to believe! Cambodian soldiers are brave war veterans and I have no doubt that they’re willing to die defending the country; but that is different to winning a real war. If real war broke, with Cambodia’s current military hardware/capabilities, we won’t stand a chance against the Thai aggression (having said that, if attack still need to defend our country). Corruption aside, we’re simply out numbered, out gun and our supplies/logistics are not as efficient. We might employ guerilla warfare to drag the war for a few years and by doing so inflict some casualty and pains on the Thai side but I don’t think we can repel the Thai invasion, if there is one. Just look at the Sino-Vietnam war, despite the experience from the Vietnam war, better trained and equipped than the Cambodian, the Vietnamese could not held their positions against the Chinese invasion, resulting in heavy casualty on both sides. Some argued that Vietnam won the war because the Chinese later withdraw, others believed China never intended to invade and capture, hence China did not lose the war. Doesn’t matter who won that war, my point was that the experience and bravery alone will not win you the war against a better equipped enermy! Just because the government/commanders told us that Cambodia has not conceded a mm. of land in the clashes, do not take it as an ability to defend from the Thai full scale invasion.
Propaganda are coming from the media and government on both sides, even the western journalist get their information from the local media hence has not been verified nor it is free from bias. So, sift through all the news/info and separate facts from propaganda before making your own judgment on what to believe.
From a proud Cambodian!
12:19PM,duhhhhh..... Of course Thailand has military superiority over Cambodia. There is no doubt about that. Just because Thailand has military superiority over Cambodia doesn't mean, Thailand can guaranteed itself victorious win if Thailand highly desire to wage a full scale invasion of Cambodia. Face it, there is advantage and disadvantage for Cambodia and Thailand. The clashes we saw had proven that just because Cambodia military lack fancy war machines like Thailand, does not mean, Cambodia make it easy for Thailand to just simply walk into Cambodia. Thailand was fighting an enemy much smaller than its own side and failed to accomplished anything concrete. If current little Cambodia with such military inferiority compare to Thailand, gave the big almighty bad-ass Thailand such a headache and frustration in the battlefields, how will Thailand stand with Cambodia, if Cambodia were to be equally equip with fancy war machines like that of Thailand? The point is, yea..big deal Thailand got some big bad-ass guns, cluster ammunition, poison gas, and many other war machines, the question is, why hasn't Thailand suceed in its mission, if its military are so much migtier than Cambodia? Cambodia never claimed victory over those little clashes. It hard to say who suffer more casualty. Cambodia military was able to throw punches effectively and able to stand on their turf to fight another day. By the way, this is not propaganda, just my wildest analysis.
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