17 July 2012
lowyinterpreter.org
The fact that Prime Minister Hun Sen led the Cambodian participants
in the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting held in Phnom Penh last week in
resisting the release of a post-meeting communiqué dealing with tensions
in the South China Sea, and the fact that no agreed position was
achieved, should scarcely be a surprise.
For at least a decade now, Hun Sen has routinely referred to China as Cambodia's most trusted friend. China is by far Cambodia's most important aid donor, and the Cambodian Government did everything it could to keep the South China Sea off the agenda of the ASEAN Summit held in April of this year.
So Cambodia paid its dues, or, in the words of a diplomat quoted in a New York Times report, 'China bought the chair, simple as that.'
Despite the sharp reaction of the Philippines, with Indonesia taking a more measured approach, commentaries that stress the extent to which Cambodia's behaviour at this meeting might undermine ASEAN unity will surely have to be judged in the longer term. After all, it is worth noting that there is already an underlying lack of unity among those members of ASEAN which have conflicting claims in the South China Sea.
In any event, it is interesting to see that the Bangkok Post has been ready to carry an editorial suggesting that keeping the South China Sea off the agenda was probably the right thing to do since it would not be desirable for ASEAN to take a position in a dispute that now has clear major power overtones involving both China and the US. To the extent the editorial represents Thai official thinking, it of course reflects the fact that Thailand is not involved in any of the South China Sea's claims and counter claims, making it easy to adopt a detached position.
Photo by Flickr user Un rosarino en Vietnam.
For at least a decade now, Hun Sen has routinely referred to China as Cambodia's most trusted friend. China is by far Cambodia's most important aid donor, and the Cambodian Government did everything it could to keep the South China Sea off the agenda of the ASEAN Summit held in April of this year.
So Cambodia paid its dues, or, in the words of a diplomat quoted in a New York Times report, 'China bought the chair, simple as that.'
Despite the sharp reaction of the Philippines, with Indonesia taking a more measured approach, commentaries that stress the extent to which Cambodia's behaviour at this meeting might undermine ASEAN unity will surely have to be judged in the longer term. After all, it is worth noting that there is already an underlying lack of unity among those members of ASEAN which have conflicting claims in the South China Sea.
In any event, it is interesting to see that the Bangkok Post has been ready to carry an editorial suggesting that keeping the South China Sea off the agenda was probably the right thing to do since it would not be desirable for ASEAN to take a position in a dispute that now has clear major power overtones involving both China and the US. To the extent the editorial represents Thai official thinking, it of course reflects the fact that Thailand is not involved in any of the South China Sea's claims and counter claims, making it easy to adopt a detached position.
Photo by Flickr user Un rosarino en Vietnam.
5 comments:
Hey Mr. editor WHERE IS ASEAN WHEN CAMBODIA WAS BEEN ATTACK FROM THAILAND ? ASEAN ignore our plead for helps from a more powerful neighbors . ASEAN simply ignored and kept insist that Cambodia uses bilateral talk with the Thai thief. This is like a Robbers got in your house and polices tell the home owner to talk to the robbers before the police help. Don't be bias ok, be a professional journalist. Get the facts straight.
Caucasian wrote the law and changed it after their feeling.
ASEAN is only able to resolve the internal problem of their member.
The conflict between China and Viet/Philippine is the job of the UN council, because China is not an ASEAN member. All three countries are members of the UN.
ASEAN was just a crab union.
Did ASEAN have its muscle to protect each member nation? No.
Remember that about 20 Cambodian soldiers died + more than 35 Thai soldiers died. Did those crab nations help us to resolve the conflict? When we asked Indonesia observers to come, Did Indonesia come ? No. When we asked them to talk about Cambodian-Thailand dispute, did those countries come to help us?
They let Thailand invade Cambodia illegally until we decided to call for UN Security Council.
Philippines could follow this path way in seeking help.
ASEAN was just a crab union.
Did ASEAN have its muscle to protect each member nation? No.
Remember that about 20 Cambodian soldiers died + more than 35 Thai soldiers died. Did those crab nations help us to resolve the conflict? When we asked Indonesia observers to come, Did Indonesia come ? No. When we asked them to talk about Cambodian-Thailand dispute, did those countries come to help us?
They let Thailand invade Cambodia illegally until we decided to call for UN Security Council.
Philippines could follow this path way in seeking help.
I asked one more,
Did any single Philippine die in the conflict in South China Sea dispute yet?
About 100 soldiers died already in Cambodian-Thailand dispute.
Did any crab country give any condolence to this dispute?
Did they make an immediate meeting to prevent Thailand from invading Cambodia illegally?
Don't forget South China Sea dispute was not resolved by ICJ yet. But, for Preah Vihear's case, ICJ ruled already that Preah Vihear belongs to Cambodia according to the Siamese-French Map 1904.
Before I felt pitiful to Philippine, but after rethinking again. Hundreds of Cambodians died from invasion and from illegal shot to dead every year without any judiciary system.
Did those countries help Cambodians? 'Zero' = 0.00.
Therefore, I won't give any those country a damn.
We don't have to rethink again with countries that think only their own benefits.
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