Cambodia's bluster fails at UN event

At the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Thailand and Cambodia verbally clashed again over their border dispute. What stood out was not just the usual complaints, but the gap between quiet promises made behind closed doors and loud posturing in public.

- Kavi Chongkittavorn

Thailand's Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow, left, and Cambodia's Deputy Prime Minister Sokhonm Prak, right, individually address the United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York City on Sunday.

(AFP)

As per a US request for informal four-party consultations (Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia and the US) just a day earlier on the sidelines of UNGA, both countries talked peace, dialogue, mutual trust, and confidence. Yet, less than 24 hours later, during the UNGA general debate session, Phnom Penh quickly abandoned that tone.

In his speech, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sokhonn Prak accused Thailand of aggression, portrayed his country as the victim, and made a long list of accusations against Thailand. Apparently, Cambodia was hoping to use the meeting in New York City to trumpet its own causes to the world body and hope everyone would listen and then take Cambodia's side.

That was not to be.

In his own speech, newly appointed Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow minced no words in lambasting what was said by Sokhonn Prak as "completely opposite" to what had been said a day earlier at the four-party consultations. "It reveals the true intention of Cambodia. The allegations are so far-fetched that they make a mockery of the truth," he declared.