Cambodia will not raise the issues of border disputes with Thailand during the Asean Summit

A Cambodian official has said that Cambodia will not put the Khmer-Thai border disputes on the agenda of the upcoming 14th Asean Summit.

The Secretary of State and the spokesman for the Council of Ministers, Mr. Phay Siphan, said that Cambodia wants to leave the Khmer-Thai border disputes to be resolved in bilateral talks by using the Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2000.

Mr. Phay Siphan said: “The foundation of this policy has been proclaimed by Samdech Decho (Hun Sen) since the beginning of the new mandate (of this government). The international community as well as the United Nations and other countries have urged us (Cambodia and Thailand), even the messages from ASEAN, to resolve the disputes bilaterally.”

But Mr. Son Chhay, leader of a group of opposition parliamentarians, has urged the government to put the Khmer-Thai border disputes on the agenda of the Asean Summit, hoping that Asean can help to resolve these disputes.

Mr. Son Chhay said: “It is necessary that we put these disputes on the agenda of this summit in order to have a participation from other members of Asean to push for a resolution. In this way, the Cambodian side has an aspect of a legal victory if we involve the international community in this case.”

Please note that, in the past, some members of Asean such as Malaysia and Indonesia, wanted to mediate but the Cambodian government has refused to accept their offers of mediation.

Mr. Son Chhay said that, if the government did not put the Khmer-Thai border disputes on the agenda of the Asean Summit, he will write a letter requesting the government to come to explain to the parliament.

Mr. Son Chhay said: “If there is any secrets that cannot be revealed publicly, they (the government) can just reveal them to the parliament when we summon them to explain to the parliament about the Preah Vihear issues.”