Cambodia seeks ASEAN's help

Cambodia seeks ASEAN's help

PHNOM PENH (Reuter): Cambodia will consider seeking the
intervention of other Southeast Asian nations if talks with
Vietnamese officials fail to settle a border row, co-Premier
Prince Norodom Ranariddh said yesterday.

"I do believe Vietnam does not have any interest to jeopardize
our good relations," said the prince, who on Wednesday had
accused Vietnamese of advancing some 300-400 meters into a
southeast Cambodia province and forcing local farmers out.

Ranariddh had earlier said the action constituted an invasion
and violated the spirit of a joint statement on cooperation in
January 1995, and added that Cambodia would raise the matter with
the Vietnamese embassy.

The embassy issued a statement on Thursday saying the
Vietnamese Expert Working Group was prepared to meet Cambodian
counterparts to discuss and settle border disputes.

Ranariddh said yesterday that if Vietnam failed to pull back
from the border, he was ready to travel to Hanoi to raise the
issue with Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet.

He said that should this fail to produce results, Cambodia
could seek the help of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN), to which it is expected to graduate by 1997 from current
observer membership.

ASEAN links Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Ranariddh said Cambodia would "try to resolve it through
bilateral talks, but why not multi-lateral ones?"

Traditionally stormy relations between the neighbors have been
warming in recent months, though analysts predicted the ill-
defined border would cause friction for some time to come.

Tension dates back to the 18th and 19th centuries when Vietnam
seized southeastern parts of Cambodia and later vied with
Thailand to assert dominance over their smaller neighbor.

Hanoi forces invaded Cambodia in late 1978 to topple the
brutal Khmer Rouge regime of Pol Pot and only withdrew in 1989,
paving the way for a treaty in 1991 to end the civil war.