Thai, Cambodian PMs hold talk

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen met early this morning on the sidelines of Asean summit to discuss the border conflict.

They met for an hour of talks before the retreat starts. The meeting was hosted by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, chair of the summit, who has been keen to push ASEAN's regional peace-making role.

'This was an informal meeting between the two prime ministers with the Indonesian president helping to coordinate the event,' Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Thani Thongphakdi said.

Abhisit and Hun Sen had previously vowed not to hold bilateral talks at the ASEAN meeting, but Yodhoyono's presence turned the event into a trilateral affair.

Neither leader said anything to the press following the morning meeting.

The Jakarta summit comes at a time when Thailand and Cambodia are embroiled in a border conflict over disputed territory near the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple, a World Heritage Site.

Indonesia has offered to send observers to the border area, to facilitate a ceasefire between the two ASEAN states, but the proposal has hit snags on a Thai request that Cambodian troops and civilians be withdrawn from the temple site.

Cambodia has refused to do so, insisting that the observers be allowed in the temple complex while Cambodian troops are there.

'Unless Thailand agrees we cannot move forward,' Hun Sen said Saturday night.

Thailand is pushing for Cambodia to return to the General Border Committee, a bilateral mechanism, to resolve their difference over the troop withdrawal issue.

Abhisit on Saturday accused Hun Sen of attempting to 'internationalize' the border issue.

Cambodia approached the UN Security Council in February to seek a resolution to the border issue, but the council recommended ASEAN mediation. Last week Phnom Penh petitioned the International Court of Justice to intervene.

In 1962, the court ruled that Khao Praviharn was on Cambodian soil, but did not rule on where the common border lies, giving rise to a dispute over a 4.6-square-kilometre plot of land nearby.

ASEAN now holds two summits a year. The second of the two annual ASEAN summits is scheduled for November in Bali.