Joint inspections in Kandal not needed, top border official says
THE chairman of the Cambodian Border Affairs Committee Va r K i mhong sa id on Tuesday t hat Viet na m does not need to ask Cambodian of f ic i a l s to joi n i n border i nspect ions of Viet na mese campsites because Cambodia had a l ready diplomat ica l ly responded to t he issue.
“We have our officials guarding each of the coordinates already. If Vietnam wants to inspect and ask if their campsite locations are alright, they can. If the locations are unapproved, the tents should be removed.
“I don’t know why they want Cambodia to get involved. It is just a waste of time because we have a l ready a nswered t heir questions t hrough diplomatic means,” he said.
Kimhong said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation had already responded to Vietnamese queries about the issue and they should not ask for anything else from Cambodia.
He suggested Kanda l provincial authorities investigate t he situation f urt her to see if t he Vietnamese off icia ls had removed t heir tents.
Provincial governor Kong Sophorn said on Tuesday that he had not yet seen the official letter from Vietnam asking for Cambodian assistance, but he was alerted to it by the media.
Sophorn said the work must be decided by t he Border
Affairs Committee, the Minist r y of Foreig n A f fa i rs a nd I nter nat iona l Cooperat ion and t he Ministr y of Interior.
He said if any of these institutions offered directives, he would comply and cooperate with Vietnamese officials.
“If we talk about country-tocountry discussions, we have to ask for advice from the Border Affairs Committee, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the Ministry of Interior. Then I can take the executive order to work with Vietnam,” he said.
Government spokesman Phay Siphan said on Tuesday that the Ministry of Foreign
Af f ai r s and In t er nati onal Cooperation had been using diplomacy with positive effects to resolve the border issue.
But Siphan said Vietnamese authorities had yet to agree to a resolution. “We are ta lk ing to the Vietnamese side to plan a d iplomat ic a r ra ngement. We do not ta ke this as a conf lict bet ween our nations as we t r y to ha ndle it t hrough discussions,” he said.
Viet na m’s a mbassador to Cambodia Vu Quang Minh on Tuesday sa id t hat A n Gia ng prov i ncia l aut hor it ies have submitted a letter to Cambodia n border pol ice of f icia ls i nv it i ng Ka nda l prov i ncia l authorities to inspect the border a nd t he c a mpsites i n question.
He said if provincial authorities are still not sure about the exact location of the tents, they should join An Giang provincial authorities to inspect the area together.
Mi n h s a i d : “We h a v e informed the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs already and if the Kandal provincial authorities want to join the inspection, please inform the An Giang provi nci al authorities three days before the planned inspection. Cambodia and Vietnam are close friends and neighbours.”