Thai and Cambodian troops clashed with heavy artillery for a sixth day yesterday near two disputed 12th-century Hindu temples, the Cambodian defense ministry said following a night of shelling that killed a Thai villager.
Talks between Thai and Cambodian defense ministers to end Southeast Asia’s bloodiest border dispute in years were abruptly canceled, dashing hopes of an imminent end to fighting that has killed at least 14 people and sent more than 50,000 into evacuation centers.
Thai Minister of Defence Prawit Wongsuwon had been expected to meet his Cambodian counterpart, Tea Banh, in Phnom Penh, but he instead was flying to China for previously scheduled meetings.
“We welcome talks, but only if Cambodia stops the shooting first,” Royal Thai Army spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said.
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva took a more conciliatory approach, saying talks between defense ministers have merely been “rescheduled.”
Many experts say the fighting over territory and sovereignty is fueled by political interests, as each government seeks to discredit the other by appealing to nationalists at home, especially as Thailand prepares for an election due by July.
A change in government could be in Cambodia’s interests.
Analysts said the Thai military could also be flexing its muscles to preserve its sizeable stake in Thailand’s political apparatus and to satisfy conservative elites at odds with the country’s powerful opposition forces.
“The two countries appear to be calling for different kinds of talks. Cambodia is calling for ceasefire talks, which Thailand says are pointless,” said Surachart Bumrungsuk, a security expert at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.
Those differences are posing a major test for ASEAN, a 10-member bloc with ambitions to become a regional community by 2015 and a viable counterweight to China’s growing clout.
It is also a potential embarrassment for Indonesia, whose foreign minister, Marty Natalegawa, had brokered the UN-backed ceasefire pact in February that would have placed unarmed Indonesian -military observers along the disputed border.
The Thai army objected and the deal never went through.
Thailand’s foreign minister was scheduled to meet with Natalegawa yesterday in Jakarta.
The latest fighting began early in the morning with heavy artillery near the Ta Moan and Ta Krabey temples, Cambodia’s defense ministry said.
Sovereignty over the ancient, stone-walled Hindu temples — Preah Vihear, Ta Moan and Ta Krabey — and the jungle of the Dangrek Mountains surrounding them has been in dispute since the withdrawal of the French from Cambodia in the 1950s.
“We are moving people further away from the border because Cambodia is using longer-range weapons,” Surin Province Deputy Governor Yutthana Viriyakitti said.
Before Friday last week, Cambodian and Thai soldiers jointly patrolled the area largely without incident. Villagers on both sides, many of whom share the same ethnic makeup, would mingle each day.
“We are neighbors and people here want to live in peace,” said a Thai villager who identified herself as Samorn. “I don’t understand why talks aren’t working.”
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