[Buddha-l] Thai-Cambodian war over Temple ownership

[Dan Lusthaus]

Chris.

Notice the use of words like "war", "deadly clash," etc.

That "Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rouge guerrilla fighter", says: "I would not
call it a war. This was just a minor armed clash," suggests that some might
think it is, or that distinguishing the present military actions from "war"
is an ambiguity in need of clarification.

Then remind yourself I didn't write this, nor am I misrepresenting it.

Dan

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-AS-Cambodia-Thailand-Border-Dispute.html?ref=world

Cambodia Seeks More Talks With Thais After Clash

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: October 17, 2008

Filed at 5:28 a.m. ET

PREAH VIHEAR, Cambodia (AP) -- Cambodia's prime minister called Friday for
more talks with Thailand after a deadly armed clash raised fears the two
neighbors were headed for a full-scale war over a patch of disputed land
along their border.

"We can still talk to each other and are not yet enemies unwilling to talk
to each other at all," Hun Sen said after a Cabinet meeting in the capital.

On Wednesday, a gun and rocket battle near the 11th-century Preah Vihear
border temple killed two Cambodian soldiers and wounded three others. Seven
Thai troops were also injured.

The fighting lasted about an hour, with each side accusing the other of
firing first.

Hun Sen used much more heated rhetoric the day before the fighting, when he
warned Thai troops to stop trespassing on Cambodian land, calling the
contested territory a "life-and-death battle zone."

Thai army spokesman Col. Sansern Kaewkumnerd said military officials from
the two sides agreed Thursday to hold joint patrols to reduce tension and
the chances of another clash.

But on Friday, Gen. Ke Kim Yan, commander in chief of the Royal Cambodian
Armed Forces, denied any deal for joint patrols had been reached.

He said the two countries had only agreed to maintain their current troop
deployments in the disputed area and inform each other about any troop
movements to prevent further misunderstanding.

"The situation has now returned to normal, but the border problems must be
solved by negotiations," Ke Kim Yan told reporters at Preah Vihear temple,
where he and other top military brass visited Cambodian soldiers.

However, the situation remained tense, with troops from the two sides still
in close proximity to each other.

"We have the same standing order to remain calm but on alert," said Men Li,
a Cambodian army major based near the temple.

Hun Sen, seeking to reassure thousands of Cambodian villagers who have fled
their homes near the conflict area, said, "There is no large-scale war
occurring."

"I would not call it a war. This was just a minor armed clash," said Hun
Sen, a former Khmer Rouge guerrilla fighter.

Hun Sen opened the Cabinet meeting in Phnom Penh by leading his ministers in
a minute of silence for the soldiers killed during Wednesday's clash. A
third Cambodian soldier died Thursday, apparently from inhaling too much
smoke from firing B-40 rockets.

The fighting was the latest flare-up in a decades-old dispute over a stretch
of jungle near the temple. The World Court awarded the temple to Cambodia in
1962, but sovereignty over surrounding land has never been clearly resolved.

Resurgent Thai nationalism, promoted by a protest group that is seeking to
topple the current Thai government, has put authorities in Bangkok under
political pressure to aggressively pursue claims to the land.