Thai editorial: Time to push ties with Phnom Penh

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EDITORIAL
Time to push ties with Phnom Penh
The Nation

The Prayut government must make progress while it still has the support of powerful nationalist interests in Thailand

BANGKOK: -- Now would be an opportune moment for Thailand and Cambodia to push ahead with tasks to enhance bilateral ties while conservatives and nationalists here still retain faith in the junta-run government. The government under Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha should realise that the honeymoon period is fast running out.

Foreign ministers of the two countries mapped out important tasks during the 9th Meeting of the Thailand-Cambodia Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation in Siem Reap last week. But there remain many initiatives on which progress is being hindered by domestic political conflict in Thailand in the past, where nationalist groups have managed to stymie cooperation between the neighbours.

Interestingly, the two foreign ministers agreed in Siem Reap to encourage the Joint Technical Committee to resume talks on the countries' overlapping territory in the Gulf of Thailand.

In 2001, during the Thaksin Shinawatra administration, Thailand signed memorandum of understanding with Cambodia to delimit and demarcate the maritime boundary as well as jointly exploit petroleum resources in the Gulf. The joint committee has held several meetings since then to define the area and seek shared solutions on resource development in the overlapping areas.

Thailand has experience in this area - with Malaysia between 1972 and 1990. Thailand and Malaysia have cooperated on exploiting natural-gas deposits ever since, and no one has ever found reason to criticise the deal.

The cooperation between Thailand and Cambodia was going smoothly until 2005, when nationalist groups were seeking to oust Thaksin from politics. They accused the prime minister and his associates of permitting the government in Phnom Penh to list the disputed Preah Vihear Temple as a World Heritage site as part of a deal designed to benefit Thaksin and his circle.

Thaksin's government was toppled by a military coup in 2006, and two years later Cambodia managed to have Preah Vihear listed as World Heritage, angering the nationalists in Bangkok. Ever since, Thai administrations have steered clear of cooperating with Cambodia for fear of igniting angry claims that they are "selling" the country. Even the Democrats, perceived as more "elitist", had to employ a tough policy against Phnom Penh when in power so as to gain support from the conservative elite. Under the Democrat administration a series of border skirmishes took place with Cambodian troops along the border near Preah Vihear and in Surin province.

When Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen appointed Thaksin as his economic adviser in 2009, the Democrat-led government of Abhisit Vejjajiva tried to curry favour with nationalist groups by attempting to denounce the 2001 MoU. But Abhisit held back on informing Phnom Penh of the Thais' intention to withdraw, and so the agreement still stands.

Nationalist sentiment in Thailand remains despite the toppling of two Shinawatra administrations, yet they seem to have remained supporters of Prayut's government, believing that a military-backed administration is superior to coalition rule. Given that faith, Prayut's government should be safe from allegations of making deals with Cambodia for personal interests. But, along with loyalty, Thai nationalists display a good deal of irrationality. In their eyes, Thaksin's motives are almost always suspicious, while others - notably the military-backed government - escape any censure even when they do the same as Thaksin.

With Thailand and Cambodia celebrating 65 years of diplomatic ties this year, this is the right time to encourage the conservative elite in Bangkok to push progress on cooperation with Cambodia, and to open a new chapter in bilateral relations while Shinawatra is absent from the scene.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Time-to-push-ties-with-Phnom-Penh-30252262.html


-- The Nation 2015-01-20

[yellowboat]

With Thailand and Cambodia celebrating 65 years of diplomatic ties this year, this is the right time to encourage the conservative elite in Bangkok to push progress on cooperation with Cambodia, and to open a new chapter in bilateral relations while Shinawatra is absent from the scene.

The Thai elite are not well trusted or liked. Doubt they will get very far as Shinawatra always seems to be one or two steps ahead.

[starky]

What an international powerhouse that will be Thailand and Cambodia... look out world

[Tomtomtom69]

I suspect that the lack of trust between the two governments is one reason why it took so long for them to come to an agreement on the cross-border movement of commercial vehicles and why there is still no agreement on the cross-border movement of personal vehicles between the two countries for tourism purposes.

It's very sad that even such a basic issue takes such a long time to resolve, but the strained relations between the two neighbors, and the hostile views expressed by many Thais towards Cambodians (and to some extent in the reverse direction too) doesn't help matters.

[starky]

I suspect that the lack of trust between the two governments is one reason why it took so long for them to come to an agreement on the cross-border movement of commercial vehicles and why there is still no agreement on the cross-border movement of personal vehicles between the two countries for tourism purposes.

It's very sad that even such a basic issue takes such a long time to resolve, but the strained relations between the two neighbors, and the hostile views expressed by many Thais towards Cambodians (and to some extent in the reverse direction too) doesn't help matters.

... and the hostile views expressed by many Thais towards Cambodians, Burmese, Vietnamese, Laotian and everyone else that isn't Thai... oh and the Muslim Thai's in the South and let's not forget those unwashed, uneducated Thai's up in the North East and ....

[rickirs]

"powerful nationalist interests in Thailand"

That would be the Thai military Junta. Oddly it never seems to accomplish any better than an elected civilian government for all its brassiness.

Edited January 21, 2015 by rickirs