VZCZCXRO9392
OO RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHPF #0317/01 0471047
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 161047Z FEB 06
FM AMEMBASSY PHNOM PENH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6029
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM  PRIORITY
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 1315

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PHNOM PENH 000317 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS; GENEVA FOR RMA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/15/2016 
TAGS: PREL PGOV CB TH
SUBJECT: CAMBODIA AND THAILAND FOCUS ON BORDER ISSUES 
DURING BILATERAL TALKS 
 
Classified By: Pol/Econ Chief Margaret McKean, Reason 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
 ¶1.  (C)  Summary.  Thailand and Cambodia agreed to survey 
and delimit their land border over the next year and resolve 
their maritime border claims by the end of 2007.  Nearly 90 
percent of Thai business claims arising from the 2003 
anti-Thai riots have been addressed, but new Thai businesses 
are focusing more on the tourism market in Siem Reap than 
elsewhere in the country.  The Thai Embassy rejects Cambodian 
claims of mistreatment based on ethnicity of Cambodian 
nationals at the border.  The last-minute cancellation of the 
November 2005 RGC-GOT bilateral meetings in Siem Reap was the 
result of the Thai FM's urgent return to Bangkok to travel to 
Malaysia for the funeral of the deceased wife of the 
Malaysian FM, and not a reflection of GOT dissatisfaction 
with the Cambodian government.  End Summary. 
 
Thai-Cambodian Relations:  Reasonably Good 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶2.  (C)  On February 15, Pol/Econ Chief met with Songchai 
Chaipatiyut, Second Secretary of the Thai Embassy, to discuss 
the recent bilateral talks between the Thai and Cambodian 
governments at the fifth Joint Commission on Bilateral 
Cooperation that wrapped up on February 8.  Songchai said the 
talks had gone "reasonably well," but complained at the large 
number of officials participating in the meetings. 
Thai-Cambodian cooperation extends to 40 sectors; the total 
number of participants from both sides during the discussions 
numbered around several hundred people, said the Embassy 
official.  The key areas of interest during the talks 
centered on the border demarcation of both the land and sea 
borders and migrant Cambodian workers seeking to enter 
Thailand. 
 
¶3.  (C)  On the border issue, Cambodia and Thailand agreed to 
complete a five-step process to delimit their land border 
during CY 2006 and finalize an agreement on their maritime 
border in 2007 -- an agreement that Songchai believes is 
unrealistic.  In the first place, the Thai official said that 
Cambodia continues to work with the Vietnamese on their joint 
commitment to demarcate the agreed-upon land border (save for 
the disputed Dak Dam section of Mondulkiri) as well as 
continue discussions on maritime borders.  The Cambodians are 
also working with the Lao on their border issues, he added. 
The Thai-Cambodian land border is not as contentious as 
Cambodia's border with Vietnam, he noted, as both sides 
accept the French colonial borders defined in the early 20th 
century.  Some watersheds along the border may have shifted 
slightly or are less well defined today, but Songchai said 
there is general agreement that the problem with the 
Thai-Cambodia border is a technical, rather than political, 
issue.  (Note:  In a separate conversation with Cambodian MFA 
SecState Long Visalo, the RGC official agreed on this point. 
The problem with the Thai-Cambodia border, he said, is that 
the old border markers were spaced widely and some markers 
have either been lost or moved.  Visalo said that the French 
colonial government had physically relocated people, 
including French colonial settlers, along the Thai-Cambodia 
border when the border was agreed upon over 100 years 
earlier; but no such population adjustment was overseen along 
the Cambodian-Vietnam border.  End Note.) 
 
¶4.  (C)  Nevertheless, the technical aspects of getting to 
the physical demarcation of the border area will take time. 
Songchai has worked on border negotiations with Cambodia for 
several years, and he acknowledged that the projected 
timeframe for concluding the land and maritime borders is 
overly optimistic.  The two sides have not even begun to 
review the old maps and redraw the border on up-to-date maps. 
 He noted that the overlapping claims area involving maritime 
oil and gas deposits is particularly controversial, but 
refused to speculate as to how a final agreement is likely to 
look.  Both sides are relying are foreign legal experts and 
Songchai mentioned that the Cambodian side appears to be 
receiving private U.S. legal advice. 
 
¶5.  (C)  A second topic of particular interest to both sides 
in the bilateral talks revolved around migration issues. 
Songchai defended the GOT's treatment of Cambodians trying to 
illegally enter the country.  He said that the RGC continues 
to characterize the issue as racist but the Thai diplomat 
insisted that was not the case.  If the Thai border police 
find people crossing illegally into Thai territory and 
request them to stop, and they refuse, the Thai law 
enforcement officials have the right to apprehend them, he 
stated.  In some cases, the border officials are not aware of 
the persons' nationality -- whether they are Thai, Cambodian, 
 
PHNOM PENH 00000317  002 OF 002 
 
 
Vietnamese or another nationality.  But the Cambodians always 
complain that the Thai are discriminating against them on the 
basis of race.  He added that the GOT is trying to regularize 
the procedure for Cambodians to work in Thailand, but said 
many Cambodians do not adhere to the law. 
 
¶6.  (C)  Finally, Songchai explained that the previously 
scheduled joint commission meeting in November 2005 was 
canceled abruptl due to the death of the Malaysian PM's 
wife, and the need for the Thai FM to return to Bangkok in 
preparation for the funeral.  Unfortunately, as the Thai 
delegation was heading back to Bangkok, the GOT decided to 
send a higher level delegation to Malaysia, but by then it 
was too late to restart the Thai-Cambodia meetings.  The 
Cambodian government, continued Songchai, was unhappy with 
the GOT over the incident, and there were some negative press 
articles.  He affirmed, however, there was no intentional 
diplomatic slight. 
 
Thai Businesses:  Heading for Siem Reap 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶7.  (C)  In response to questions concerning Thai business 
activity since the 2003 anti-Thai riots, Songchai said that 
roughly 90 percent of the compensation has been provided by 
the RGC; of the remaining 10 percent, some of it may never be 
paid out as the claimants may not pursue it for business 
reasons, or an agreement may not be reached between the RGC 
and the business in question.  As to whether there is 
increased Thai business investment interest these days, 
Songchai responded that Thai businessmen are more interested 
in Vietnam than Cambodia.  Start-up costs are too high in 
Cambodia, even compared with Thailand.  Nearly everything 
must be imported, he noted.  The one-stop shop for business 
registration at the Council for the Development of Cambodia 
(CDC) is good in theory, in practice it is a different story, 
noted the Thai diplomat.  The tax issue is not 
straightforward in Cambodia, and Thai businesses often 
believe they are taxed unfairly compared with their Cambodian 
counterparts.  Thai hotels and restaurants in Siem Reap are 
another story, he added, and represent attractive business 
opportunities.  But that is the only area where there is real 
movement. 
 
¶8.  (C)  Comment:  Despite the good relationship between the 
prime ministers, Thai-Cambodian relations still have not 
fully recovered from the 2003 anti-Thai riots that led to the 
gutting of the Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh.  With this latest 
agreement on borders -- announced by the Thai FM at the 
celebration of the 55th anniversary of bilateral relations -- 
the Thai are effectively playing catch-up ball with the 
Vietnamese, who recently concluded their own border agreement 
with Cambodia.  The Thai FM commented privately to us then 
that his advisors told him the agreement was too ambitious. 
They may have been right -- but the political message remains 
a positive one.  End Comment. 
Mussomeli