Thailand yesterday rejected a request by Cambodia to hold bilateral talks in a neutral country, leaving a planned meeting to negotiate an end to deadly border clashes in doubt.
The nations’ long-standing border conflict reignited this month, shattering an earlier truce, killing more than 40 people and displacing more than 900,000 on both sides, officials said.
The clashing neighbors on Monday agreed to negotiate truce terms this week, but Cambodia asked Thailand to hold the talks in a neutral venue, Malaysia’s capital.
Photo: EPA
However, the Thai Ministry of Defense said yesterday that the bilateral border committee meeting would go ahead in Thailand’s Chanthaburi Province from today as planned.
“We guarantee Chanthaburi is safe. This province is the original plan for hosting the GBC [General Border Committee] even before the fighting started,” Thai Ministry of Defense spokesman Surasant Kongsiri told reporters.
Surasant said officials from the committee would meet from today to Saturday, adding that whether the meeting happened depended on Cambodia.
A Cambodian government spokesman said he had no updated information on the meeting venue.
The conflict stems from a territorial dispute over the colonial-era demarcation of their 800km border and a smattering of ancient temple ruins situated on the frontier.
Each side has blamed the other for instigating the fresh fighting since Dec. 7 and traded accusations of attacks on civilians, after five days of clashes in July killed dozens.
The US, China and Malaysia brokered a truce to end that round of fighting, but the ceasefire was short-lived.
Thai Minister of Foreign Affairs Sihasak Phuangketkeow on Monday announced the parley with Cambodia after a crisis meeting in Kuala Lumpur with his counterparts from ASEAN, of which Cambodia is also a member.
However, in a letter to Thai Minister of Defense Nattaphon Narkphanit, Cambodian Minister of National Defense Tea Seiha requested the meeting be held in Kuala Lumpur for security reasons.
The Taiwanese passport ranked 33rd in a global listing of passports by convenience this month, rising three places from last month’s ranking, but matching its position in January last year. The Henley Passport Index, an international ranking of passports by the number of designations its holder can travel to without a visa, showed that the Taiwan passport enables holders to travel to 139 countries and territories without a visa. Singapore’s passport was ranked the most powerful with visa-free access to 192 destinations out of 227, according to the index published on Tuesday by UK-based migration investment consultancy firm Henley and Partners. Japan’s and
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A strong cold air mass is expected to arrive tonight, bringing a change in weather and a drop in temperature, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The coldest time would be early on Thursday morning, with temperatures in some areas dipping as low as 8°C, it said. Daytime highs yesterday were 22°C to 24°C in northern and eastern Taiwan, and about 25°C to 28°C in the central and southern regions, it said. However, nighttime lows would dip to about 15°C to 16°C in central and northern Taiwan as well as the northeast, and 17°C to 19°C elsewhere, it said. Tropical Storm Nokaen, currently
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