Wednesday, 30 May 2012
By Joseph Freeman and Vong Sokheng
Phnom Penh Post
Cambodia’s
Prime Minister Hun Sen shakes hands with Brunei’s Minister of Energy
Mohammad Yasmin Umar and Thailand’s Minister of Defence Sukumpol
Suwanatat yesterday as Vietnamese Defence Minister looks on. Photograph: Reuters
The planned theme of yesterday’s ASEAN defence ministers roundtable was
military co-operation between countries, particularly in times of
natural disaster, but it was a theme invariably pushed to the background
by other regional developments.
Among them was what appeared to
be a cooling-off period in the dispute between the Philippines and China
over sovereignty in the South China Sea, as well as this week’s visit
by China’s minister of defence, the timing of which raised some
eyebrows.
ASEAN members the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and
Brunei, along with China and Taiwan, claim portions of the resource-rich
body of water.
Last month, China and the Philippines each sent boats to a disputed reef that both countries claim.
But
that standoff seems to have turned into a waiting game, based on
remarks by the minister of defence for the Philippines, Voltaire Gazmin.
He said that as of yesterday afternoon, only two vessels
remained around the reef, which the Philippines calls the Scarborough
Shoal.
Gazmin also told reporters he met with his Chinese counterpart, Lian Guanglie, on Monday at Guanglie’s hotel.
“It
was agreed that we exercise restraint in our statements and in our
actions, and continue an open dialogue,” he said following the
closed-door meeting.
A day before last night’s meeting between
Guanglie and his ASEAN counterparts, China pledged about $19 million in
defence aid to Cambodia as part of a military agreement signed between
the two countries.
The stated purpose of the meeting was for the
Chinese official to explain his country’s stance on the South China Sea
yesterday, but Defence Minister Tea Banh denied yesterday that
Guanglie’s visit was intended to influence the ASEAN talks.
The visit, he said, simply “coincided” with the ministers’ meeting.
Separately,
the defence ministers accepted an initiative floated by Prime Minister
Hun Sen to look at how Cambodia successfully assimilated Khmer Rouge
guerrillas into the government in 1998.
The so-called “win-win” policy put an end to years of civil war.
“Cambodia
is proposing a concept paper on the ASEAN Civil War Free Zone, by using
our experiences in civil war termination to contribute to peace and
stability in the region,” Tea Banh said in opening remarks.
To contact the reporters on this story: Joseph Freeman at joseph.freeman@phnompenhpost.com
Vong Sokheng at sokheng.vong@phnompenhpost.com
1 comment:
Hun Sen is more confident. He only slightly bowed. The rest bowed low to him. Interesting body language reading with symbolic implications.
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