Tension Rises Over Vietnamese Border

[geovalin]

Cambodia tried to talk tough in a meeting with Vietnamese border officials yesterday, but their threats and harsh words did little to prompt apologies or even agreements to stop building in disputed areas from their Vietnamese neighbors. In a closed-door meeting at the Council of Ministers yesterday, Va Kim Hong, the chairman of the Border Committee, and Le Hoai Trung, the deputy minister of the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry in charge of border affairs, touched on a number of contentious issues related to the Cambodia-Vietnam border, including mapping assistance from France and construction in border areas by Vietnamese soldiers.
 

The two sides discussed the technical assistance needed from France in mapping the border, hoping to use their “Bonne” maps of the region and their high-tech mapping instruments to settle a number of disputed areas. But even the message they plan to send to France is causing friction between the two sides, as Cambodia believes that only two of the seven disputed areas along the border require France to step in, while Vietnam thinks France should arbitrate decisions for all seven of the areas being debated.
 

“We want France to help with only two points among the seven listed, which the premier requested to Vietnam. But Vietnam wants all seven points, so we do not agree. I think the additional five points can be handled by experts from our two countries. I cannot tell you which points these are,” Mr. Kim Hong said. On March 19 in Ho Chi Minh City, the two countries agreed to jointly ask France to provide technical mapping experts to copy the maps for border post numbers 30-40 in Rattanakiri province and border posts numbers 138-147 in Svay Rieng province.

 

read more http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/29091/tension-rises-over-border/

 

 

-- © Copyright Khmer Times 30/08

[geovalin]

French assistance sticking point at Vietnam border meeting

Tue, 30 August 2016

Phak Seangly and Mech Dara

 

A six-hour, closed-door meeting of the Cambodia-Vietnam Border Committee ended inconclusively last night, with the two countries unable to agree on how much assistance they should request from the French government in settling ongoing border demarcation issues.

The head of Cambodia’s committee, senior minister Var Kimhong, said yesterday that his Vietnamese counterparts submitted a seven-point list of areas they felt French assistance was warranted, only two of which the Cambodian delegation have agreed to thus far.

“Frankly, we don’t agree. The two points are a lot already,” Kimhong said, adding that the remaining five could be solved without outside intervention.

 

read more http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/french-assistance-sticking-point-vietnam-border-meeting

 

 

-- © Copyright Phenom Pen Post 30/09