Border stand-off is a storm in a teacup

Today the UN Security Council is expected to discuss whether it should place a military stand-off between Cambodia and Thailand on its agenda. Most members of this top UN body believe that the situation is not serious enough, and there is ample room for the two countries to reach agreement on the border demarcation and the Preah Vihear Temple. Don Pramudwinai, the Thai ambassador to the UN, is standing by to help work out the dispute between Cambodia and Thailand at the UN level. He is sending out signals to other UN members that the conflict does not warrant full UN attention because Thailand and Cambodia are in a position to settle the problems by themselves.

Cambodia is very good at crying wolf. On Tuesday, the Cambodian government requested that the UN help broker a solution to the stand-off, which has become tense over the past week. Cambodia's winning approval for Preah Vihear's listing as a World Heritage site has spilled over into a full-blown dispute about overlapping land around the ruins of the 11th-century Hindu temple. Two days of diplomatic talks have produced no result. Cambodia now wants to claim the disputed area as under its sovereignty.

Cambodia is using all international forums, such as Asean, to trumpet its sovereignty claim over the temple and its surrounding areas. It has also threatened to bring the case to the International Court of Justice again, which awarded only the temple to Cambodia in a landmark case in 1962. It seems the only Cambodian foreign policy now revolves around Preah Vihear.

More than 500 Thai troops are facing off against at least 1,000 Cambodian soldiers over the small patch of land near the temple. The stand-off began after three Thai nationalist protesters were arrested last week for jumping a barbed-wire fence to reach the temple, prompting armed troops to head to the border. Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej called the three protestors "crazy guys". Both sides are now squaring off in the disputed area, which covers about 4.6 square kilometres. Cambodian Cabinet spokesman Phay Siphan estimated the Thai troops at 4,000 strong after new reinforcements. But Thailand has denied it is reinforcing the frontier, also denying that it has built up any significant force there. Only 400 Thai soldiers had been sent to the overlapping area.

Negotiations through the General Border Committee (GBC), represented by Thailand and Cambodia, are not going anywhere. Inside both countries, the conflict over Preah Vihear has been played up to full nationalist scale. Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen has won publicity with the World Heritage listing and called for celebrations. But the Thai people feel that this is another stupid mistake and a loss of sovereignty to a neighbour country.

Gen Boonsrang Niempradit, the supreme commander and the Thai chief negotiator, has pointed out that the General Border Committee is not likely to produce a breakthrough as this issue can only be resolved through a leaders' summit. Obviously, Thailand would like to resolve the conflict through bilateral means rather than allowing it to develop at the regional or international level as plotted by Cambodia. Both sides will have to handle the conflict carefully to avoid further worsening relations. Images could be tarnished, which could affect the overall image and solidarity of Asean.

Asean secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan is right to have called for Thailand and Cambodia to work out the solution at a bilateral level and to avoid any full-blown confrontation. However, PM Samak is not in any hurry to deal with the situation. The Thai prime minister believes that his Cambodian counterpart, Hun Sen, is trying to use the escalating dispute as a ploy to win the general election scheduled for this Sunday. Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party is expected to win the election and resume power. Once the election is over, Cambodia might regain its composure. Then it can resume talks with Thailand over the border dispute.