BY SAING SOENTHRITH AND CHRIS MUELLER | JANUARY 1, 2015
Cambodian officials on Wednesday denied a troop buildup along a disputed border area in Preah Vihear province after Thai media reported that Cambodia brought in heavy machinery to develop the area, triggering both countries to increase their military presence.
The Bangkok Post reported Wednesday that Thai authorities closed their side of the An Ses border checkpoint—called the Chong Arn Ma checkpoint in Thailand—because Cambodia had moved in equipment to excavate the area for a planned casino and hotel, violating an agreement by both countries to not develop the disputed territory in any way.
According to the article, an unnamed military source said Cambodia then began moving in soldiers and weapons to the border area on Monday. In response, Thai troops brought in their own reinforcements, the article says.
Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said by email Wednesday that reports that Cambodia had violated a border agreement were erroneous.
“We did not, do not and will not do anything violating territory of our neighbors, particularly MoU 2000 with Thailand,” Mr. Kuong said, referring to a memorandum of understanding that Thailand and Cambodia signed in 2000 agreeing that neither side would develop the contested area.
“Cambodia has not moved in any troops, as naively accused,” he added.
Mr. Kuong went on to accuse Thailand of violating the border agreement.
“Thailand…moved in around 200 troops with some kinds of heavy guns,” he said. “Thailand has violated the MoU 2000, by erecting a big aerial and some concrete buildings just one or two meters from the unclear borderline.”
Chea Kimseng, the governor of Choam Ksan district, where the Cambodian side of the checkpoint is located, said that in preparation for the 2015 Asean Economic Community, construction crews have been working to level out a road near the border that leads to a market and then on to a roundabout.
Mr. Kimseng said the roundabout, which features in its center a statue of a local hero astride a horse, is 150 meters from the disputed border, while the market is 500 meters away.
“It is our land,” he said.
Mr. Kimseng said that on Saturday, a Thai Ranger force approached the construction crews and instructed them to stop their work, adding that the paramilitary unit also told Thai citizens shopping at the market to return to Thailand.
On Sunday, Mr. Kimseng said, the Rangers returned and again told the crews to halt work.
“Two hundred Thai soldiers then deployed along the An Ses border checkpoint and they closed the [border] gate,” he said.
After the border was closed and the Thai soldiers massed, locals at the market fled out of fear that a skirmish would break out, he added.
Srey Doek, who commands the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces’ 3rd Intervention Division, which is stationed along the border, also said Wednesday that no Cambodian soldiers were sent to the border this week, and that tensions in the area were exaggerated.
“Both the Cambodian and Thai soldiers are fine, and have cooperated with and contacted each other,” he said.
General Doek also said the closing of the border on the Thai side was not a rare occurrence.
“It is not the first time Thai soldiers closed the border and we are not surprised about this act,” he said.
According to the Bangkok Post, Serm Chainarong, governor of Thailand’s Ubon Ratchathani province, said the roadwork near the border was being carried out in preparation for a casino and hotel development in the disputed area, which he called a “no man’s land.”
But on Wednesday, Rath Sophea, director of Preah Vihear’s information department, said the development in question was located 1.5 km inside Cambodian territory.
“It is not involved with the border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand at all,” he said, adding that construction crews had moved their equipment farther away from the border.
The latest tension comes just a week after Defense Minister Tea Banh and his Thai counterpart, Prawit Wongsuwan, met in Phnom Penh and promised greater cooperation along the border.
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