_http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/27604/hun-sen-seeks-to-internationali
se-spat_
(http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/27604/hun-sen-seeks-to-internationalise-spat)
_News_ (http://www.bangkokpost.com/news) ยป Local News
THAI-CAMBODIAN TIES
Hun Sen seeks to 'internationalise' spat
* Published: 18/11/2009 at 12:00 AM
* Newspaper section: _News_
(http://www.bangkokpost.com/advance-search/?papers_sec_id=1)
Thailand's domestic turmoil has been further complicated by the political
tempest that blew through Bangkok from Phnom Penh last week. For the first
time, the protracted Thai political crisis is no longer wholly domestic but
has direct foreign bearings from next door.
In a flurry of seemingly orchestrated offensive manoeuvres, Cambodia's
Prime Minister Hun Sen has put the government of Prime Minister Abhisit
Vejjajiva on the back foot. Mr Hun Sen has achieved several objectives,
whereas Mr
Abhisit's government has yet to define what it wants out of the
retaliatory spiral that has brought contemporary Thai-Cambodian relations to
its
nadir.
To be sure, Mr Hun Sen's deliberate provocation was designed and timed to
rock the Abhisit government. It began with the Cambodian leader's invitation
to. and warm reception of, Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyudh's visit to Phnom Penh
in mid-October. At that time, Mr Hun Sen expressed sympathy for convicted
and exiled Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, hinting the latter could
find refuge in Cambodia.
At the Asean Summit in Cha-am a week later, Mr Hun Sen's second move was to
follow through with statements to the media indicating that Thaksin should
be made an adviser to the Cambodian government.
The Cambodian strongman then returned to Phnom Penh to officially appoint
Thaksin as government adviser on the economy.
The fourth move was to invite Mr Thaksin to give a talk last week. All of
these moves took place just prior to the Apec leaders' meeting and the
inaugural Asean-US summit, which Mr Abhisit was to preside over as Asean
chair.
The Abhisit government was behind Mr Hun Sen's curve balls throughout. It
should have sent clearer and louder signals that avoided unnecessary
ridicule, insult, condescension and sarcasm.
Instead, Mr Abhisit's press conference in Cha-am warned Mr Hun Sen not to
be used as a pawn by Thaksin. If the Cambodian ambassador failed to show up
when summoned by the Thai government, clear signals should have been
sounded as well.
By the time Mr Hun Sen appointed Thaksin, the Abhisit government went
ballistic when it should have been measured and nuanced. It could have recalled
the Thai ambassador for consultations before sending him back to Phnom
Penh.
The intensity and rapidity of Bangkok's level of responses, including the
revocation of a memorandum of understanding on overlapping claims in the
Gulf of Thailand and suspension of aid and soft loans, made the Abhisit
government appear flustered and blustered.
Moreover, it reflected the Abhisit government's misguided estimation of
Thailand's leverage over Cambodia and betrays its own shortcomings, which were
discussed in detail in Mr Hun Sen's long interview last week.
Indeed, Mr Hun Sen has not been nice but he may have had his reasons for
not being nice to Mr Abhisit's government. And there appears little the Thai
leader can do about it.
Unlike bygone years, new geopolitical realities now mean Bangkok is merely
one among many in the pecking order of importance to Cambodia. China,
Vietnam, Russia, Japan, and even South Korea have been instrumental players in
Cambodia's economic development. The Thai government needs to accept
Cambodia's status as an up-and-coming emerging economy after decades of war,
conflict and tragedy, with more than its fair share of natural resources that
beckons partners near and far, and relative political stability alongside
democratic legitimacy to boot.
On the other hand, Mr Hun Sen has been pent up on a number of old scores,
as his interview revealed. The Cambodian leader was miffed, of course, when
Mr Abhisit appointed a foreign minister who publicly called him a gangster
on a nationalist stage where Mr Hun Sen was a ping-pong ball. Mr Abhisit's
misjudgement on his foreign minister choice, owing to his own
miscalculation and/or pressure from his backers, doomed Thai-Cambodian
relations from
the outset.
Moreover, Mr Hun Sen viewed the Abhisit government's reneging on Cambodia's
registration of Preah Vihear Temple as a World Heritage Site as
back-stabbing following Mr Abhisit's personal assurance that it could be
discussed.
The Abhisit government did little to rein in right-wing groups from
demonstrating at Preah Vihear areas, some even demanding the return of the
temple
which belongs to Cambodia by international law.
The bilateral atmosphere was further poisoned by the Abhisit government's
allowing Sam Rainsy, an opposition leader in Cambodian politics, to use a
forum in Bangkok to attack Mr Hun Sen.
With the expulsion of a Thai diplomat and the arrest of a Thai engineer on
spying charges, Mr Hun Sen has not flinched in the face of Thai
retaliation. While he is settling old scores, Mr Hun Sen's persistence of
harassment
and taking sides in Thailand's deep-seated polarisation by allowing Thaksin
to use Cambodia as a staging ground, would suggest that Phnom Penh is
intent on carrying out this bilateral spat to its logical conclusion in
regionalising and internationalising the Thai-Cambodian conflict.
Mr Hun Sen would have an edge not in bilateral dealings but in regional and
international considerations, especially if the Abhisit government
ratchets up retaliation and ends up with overreaction.
Mr Abhisit must now own up to his misjudgements.
A cabinet reshuffle is imperative. He should treat Mr Hun Sen with respect
and appeal for Cambodia to stay out of Thai affairs like other countries,
such as the United Kingdom and China, have done.
Most important, Mr Abhisit must come up with an overarching policy
objective in order to locate and shape the political and diplomatic tools to
achieve it. That objective should be to persuade Mr Hun Sen to not let Thaksin
use Cambodian soil as his launch pad to battle his opponents.
* Thitinan Pongsudhirak is Director of the Institute of Security and
International Studies, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn
University.
About the author
Writer: _Thitinan Pongsudhirak_ (mailto:[email protected])
Position: Director of the Institute of Security and Internat
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