Thai military aircraft evacuated hundreds of frightened Thai citizens from the Cambodian capital yesterday and Thai authorities closed the border to Cambodians after a night of anti-Thai riots in which their embassy and many businesses were torched.
The unexpected violence sparked a diplomatic storm, with Thailand threatening to expel hundreds of thousands of Cambodians working illegally in the country, recalling its ambassador and cutting economic and technical cooperation.
PHOTO: AFP
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said relations had dropped to a "level of concern," and authorities in Phnom Penh said at least 20 people had been arrested in connection with the violence. The only reported fatality was a looter who had been shot dead by police.
Cambodian flags were burnt in Bangkok in response to the riots, which were sparked by remarks reportedly made by a Thai actress that the ancient Angkor Wat temple, Cambodia's national symbol and represented on the flag, belonged to Thailand.
She has denied making the remarks.
There have been no reports of Taiwanese being injured during Wednesday rioting, sources said yesterday.
"So far, none of our Taiwanese businesses based in Cambodia have suffered from the riots," said Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Katharine Chang (
Chang said the Taiwanese business community has established a network for contacts to cope with any further instability in the country.
"The riots were absolutely anti-Thai, so Taiwanese there were not really affected," she said.
Around 129 Taiwanese flew to Phnom Penh yesterday to join a sightseeing group, said Teng Ming-chang (
"According to our estimates, around 775 tourists from Taiwan will visit Cambodia during the Lunar New Year holidays," Teng said.
"We managed to contact local travel agents in Phnom Penh yesterday morning," he said.
"There shouldn't be any security concerns at stake."
The same optimism was shared by Howard Chen (
"We flew a group of 20 tourists to Cambodia this morning [yesterday]. They were to fly to Angkor Wat temples around 4:00pm. I've been close contact with the group. There is nothing to worry about," Chen said.
Thai authorities said 511 citizens had been evacuated by five C-130 transport planes from Phnom Penh. Another 100 were awaiting an evening flight to Bangkok.
After a day of flag-burning and anti-Thai chanting that played on the inherent distrust most Cambodians feel towards their much bigger neighbor, the crowd massed outside the embassy towards Wednesday nightfall.
About 50 protesters climbed the embassy walls and threw stones into the compound, smashing windows, before the arson attack.
Thai said Cambodian authorities had done nothing to stop the extensive damage to Thai businesses and the gutting of its mission.
Angry crowds prowled Phnom Penh into the night, setting fire to cars and attacking Thai-owned and other foreign businesses, including Cambodia Shinawatra, the Cambodian branch of a telecoms company set up by Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Hun Sen blamed the riots on a small group of extremists.
"This violence is very regrettable and is a tremendous loss for our nation ... caused by a small group of people who are extremists, who incited people with lies about the Cambodian embassy in Bangkok being destroyed."
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