JAKARTA, Indonesia – A summit of Southeast Asian leaders focusing on economic integration took a dramatic turn Saturday when Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen blasted his Thai counterpart over a bloody border dispute.Hun Sen took the floor of the closed-door opening session of the two-day summit in Jakarta and accused Thailand of attacking its neighbour in a contested border area near an 11th-century Khmer temple, attendees said.
- One foreign minister described the fiery Cambodian leader as "quite aggressive" and observers said the assembled Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders were surprised at the outburst.
- "It became a little dramatic, but I think that's just the way that Prime Minister Hun Sen delivers speeches," Philippine presidential spokesman Ricky Carandang said.
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva told reporters after the encounter: "We had a frank discussion this morning."- "We need to resolve the problem because we don't want this to be a problem that would affect ASEAN's agenda on community building," he added.
- The border spat was not on the formal agenda of the two-day summit but it is overshadowing discussions on ASEAN's long-term efforts to create a closely integrated regional economic zone by 2015.
Post a Comment