NEWS Think
THANIDA TANSUBHAPOL
The political temperature along the Thai-Cambodian border has gone up again since troops from the two sides briefly exchanged gunfire on Friday, wounding two Thai soldiers.
The Thai-Cambodian border has been tense since the time Phnom Penh moved to register the Preah Vihear temple as a World Heritage Site in July.
Tension had been building up after Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's criticism that Thailand was politically unprepared to chair this year's Asean Summit and his denial of Cambodian encroachment on Thai soil at the Ta Kwai temple in Surin province in September.
It reached breaking point last Friday when nervour Cambodian troops opened fire on Thai soldiers patrolling near the Preah Vihear Temple, injuring two Thai para-military rangers from the Suranaree Task Force.
According to a Thai military report, the action was taken after the Cambodian soldiers consulted their supervisors by radio and were heard to receive instructions to fire at the Thai soldiers.
The Thai government has tried to use bilateral talks all along as a means to resolve the problems with its neigbour. Foreign ministers of the two countries met twice in late July and August.
However, the internal political problems in Thailand have made it difficult to bring the issue of negotiations before the Joint Boundary Commission (JBC), since Article 190 of the Constitution demands that the holding of such talks first receive parliamentary approval.
Those closely monitoring the situation along the border understand very well that the meeting between the heads of the regional border committee from Thailand and Cambodia on Aug 29 to discuss the redeployment of troops in equal numbers was postponed due to such difficulties.
The postponement did not mean Thailand was trying to prolong the problem as Cambodia might get the impression.
Phnom Penh has tried to put pressure on Thailand by saying that if the country keeps delaying the process, the issue would be forwarded to a multilateral session of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
Nobody wants to go to war as fighting would only cause unnecessary deaths and destruction and benefit no one, especially border traders who will be affected the most.
Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat and Foreign Minister Sompong Amornwiwat are due to hold another round of talks with their Cambodian counterparts on Oct 13. The Cambodian government needs to be more patient if it is serious about ending the border disputes.
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