 |
| A ‘‘tuk tuk’’ rides past the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh on Sunday. Thailand has asked the United Nations to postpone the World Heritage listing process of the Preah Vihear Temple on its common border with Cambodia, until a territorial dispute is settled under Asean auspices. |
22/02/2011
Bangkok Post
The Thai-Cambodian dispute poses a significant challenge to the prospect of achieving the Asean Economic Community in 2015. The meeting of Asean foreign ministers today in Indonesia is therefore critical for the success of the AEC project.
The Cambodian initiative to take the conflict with Thailand to the United Nations Security Council reflects Cambodia’s strategy as well as the limits of its endurance. Like it or not, Cambodia had the right to turn to the UN. The Cambodian government apparently felt that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations was failing Phnom Penh and hoped that Asean would take stronger action after the Security Council’s meeting.
By contrast, Thai policy leaders believed that the UNSC would exercise considerable restraint in adopting a resolution on the conflict and transfer the matter back to Asean. Thailand would then benefit from Asean’s ambiguous practice of non-interference, which is underpinned by the so-called “Asean way”. Thus, the Thai government would still be able to follow its preferred approach and deal with the conflict at the bilateral level.
The Security Council meeting on Feb 14 has left the Thai-Cambodian conflict in the hands of Asean and its members. The episode thus illustrates two critical problems Asean is confronting.
No comments:
Post a Comment