ASEAN Actions

In 2008, at the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), Cambodia requested ASEAN to take more actions to acquire a ceasefire in the contested territory. Even though, the ARF was all about preventive diplomacy, ASEAN failed to make any change due to disagreement from Thailand. In the meeting, the chairman of the ARF, H.E. George Yeo, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Singapore and other ministers were caught up on the current situation surrounding the ongoing Preah Vihear Temple conflict, They encouraged both countries to try and solve the matter peacefully.

After efforts by Indonesia as good office in solving the Cambodia and Thailand issue, on the 14th February of 2018, the two countries as well as ASEAN’s Chair, Dr Marty Natalegawa, were invited to the New York United Nations headquater. (asean-chair-invited-to-unsc-meeting-on-cambodian-thai-border-dispute). The UN meeting on 21st of February concluded that the two countries should continue to resolve the conflict through the ASEAN framework.

The next day, in the Informal ASEAN Foreign Minister Meeting managed to push two outcomes, first, ASEAN did manage to make a deal of Indonesian observers to monitor the ceasefire at the border of the contested territory with the consent of both Cambodia and Thailand, and secondly, both countries would continue their bilateral negotiation through the Joint Commission for Demarcation of Land Boundary and the General Border Committee and the assistance of Indonesia. (mfa.go.th). However, the deal soon fell apart as Thailand decided to call off the agreement, saying it would weaken the country’s sovereignty.

ASEAN as well as the Indonesian Chair tried their best in solving the dispute peacefully and managed to come in between the two conflicting member parties to allow for a cease fire and peaceful negotiation attempts. Still the meetings and efforts in both 2008 and 2011 all failed to result in any official resolution due to Thailand’s refusal of multilateral mediation in the initial meeting and Thailand’s withdrawal from the second agreement. The efforts to resolve the issue failed due to its rigid non-intervention model and its non binding structures.