KI Media: “D298/2 Order refusing request for further charging” plus 24 more

Outwitted and outmaneuvered by Cambodia on the settlement of the Thai-Cambodian border problem, the best that the Thai Government can do now is to go to Bogor, Indonesia with dignity and make a decent showing at the meeting. Diplomacy is never a place for the fainthearted. On the other hand, showing its misplaced guts by shunning the international community may further damage Thailand's international image which has already taken a big plunge after the military coup of 2006 and parliamentary coup of 2008 which ushered in the present government.

From time immemorial, the Thai nation has excelled in diplomacy which has kept Thailand independent and sovereign. Proactive diplomacy has always been Thailand's strong point in winning regional and international recognition.

Sadly for the country, the conduct of international relations by the present government has only succeeded in winning mistrust, confusion, and condemnation in the region.

The Foreign Ministry seems to be at a loss on how to handle the border situation, notwithstanding its relations with other countries. There is no clarity in its foreign policy except for its indulgence in vengeance and spreading false rumors. At no time in Thai history has Thai diplomacy reached its lowest point.

By MARK LANDLER

WASHINGTON — With tensions rising over China's crackdown on dissent, the Obama administration is about to lose three of its most prominent players on China policy — a shake-up that could reinforce its efforts to cultivate other Asian countries to counterbalance an increasingly assertive Beijing.

Jeffrey A. Bader, President Obama's top China adviser, is leaving the White House, senior officials said on Friday. James B. Steinberg, a deputy secretary of state who focused heavily on China, has announced plans to take a job in academia, while the American ambassador to China, Jon M. Huntsman Jr., will step down at the end of April to explore a bid for the Republican presidential nomination.

Taken together, the departures could alter the tone of the administration's approach to China, one of its most vital but difficult relationships. Mr. Bader will be replaced at the National Security Council by his deputy, Daniel R. Russel, a Japan expert. Mr. Steinberg's exit raises the profile of Kurt M. Campbell, the assistant secretary for East Asian affairs, who has also worked intensively on Japan.

While both Mr. Russel and Mr. Campbell have traveled to Beijing regularly in the last two years, their Japan pedigrees serve as a reminder to China that the United States has other old friends in the region. Since Mr. Obama took office, the United States has worked to shore up alliances with Japan and South Korea and to deepen ties with Indonesia, Vietnam and other neighbors that worry about China's regional ambitions.

White House officials played down any message in the changes, noting that China policy is coordinated by the national security adviser, Thomas E. Donilon, and that Mr. Obama has met the Chinese president, Hu Jintao, eight times — an unusual amount of contact that demonstrates the importance that the administration attaches to China.

"We're going to have challenges going forward," Mr. Donilon said of China in an interview on Thursday. "But we work from a better base, and more important, we work from a stronger base in the region."

Among those challenges is China's recent detention of dozens of lawyers, journalists, artists and human-rights advocates, which American officials said appeared to be aimed at preventing the Arab world's uprisings from spreading to China. The State Department cited the arrests in its annual human-rights report, issued Friday, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton bluntly criticized China.

On Wednesday, Ambassador Huntsman used a farewell speech in China to deliver a rebuke of Chinese authorities for detaining Ai Weiwei, a Beijing artist, as he was trying to board a flight to Hong Kong on Sunday. Mr. Huntsman also said China had wrongly jailed an American geologist, Xue Feng, who was accused of stealing state secrets while researching the Chinese oil industry.

Mr. Huntsman has been in an awkward spot, still serving as Mr. Obama's emissary even though there were indications that he might challenge him for the presidency in 2012. But administration officials said his remarks faithfully echoed the administration's criticism.

Mr. Huntsman's successor will be Gary Locke, the former governor of Washington, who is now commerce secretary. A senior official predicted that Mr. Locke would be warmly received in China because of his status as one of the highest-ranking Chinese-Americans in the government, as well as his record in Washington State, where he worked on trade ties with China for local exporters like Boeing.

Trade friction between Beijing and Washington has eased in recent weeks, with the upswing in the American economy and a modest rise in the value of China's currency. In February, the Treasury Department declined again, in a twice-yearly report, to cite China for manipulating its currency, though it said the currency, the renminbi, remained "substantially undervalued" compared to the dollar.

The White House pointed to signs of improvement, including China's decision not to veto a United Nations resolution authorizing military action in Libya, as well as its support for sanctions against Iran. Chinese officials are toning down maritime claims in the South China Sea, an issue that flared last year when Mrs. Clinton said the United States wanted to help resolve disputes between China and its neighbors.

After a fraught period between the two countries over disputes like climate change and North Korea, Mr. Hu had a smooth state visit in January. It had been exhaustively planned by Mr. Donilon and Mr. Bader, who traveled to Beijing last fall with Mr. Obama's former top economic adviser, Lawrence H. Summers. It was a trip that cemented Mr. Donilon as the key administration figure on China.

Mr. Donilon has kept up his contacts with Chinese officials, but he is not a China hand by background or education.

With Mr. Bader's departure for the Brookings Institution, the administration is losing a Chinese-speaking official whose involvement with China goes back to the normalization of relations in 1979. He also came up with the idea of appointing Mr. Huntsman, then the governor of Utah, who had been a Mormon missionary in Taiwan.

Mr. Bader's replacement, Mr. Russel, speaks Japanese and was consul general in Osaka, Japan, from 2005 to 2008. Noting that he worked at the United Nations and in Europe, Mr. Russel said that an official's focus could not be extrapolated from his background "because their focus is what the president's focus is."

For all his history with China, Mr. Bader was the architect of a policy that has stressed tightening ties with all the countries around it. He said Mr. Russel's regional focus made him the right choice to carry that forward.

Steven Lee Myers contributed reporting.

Thailand's Defense Minister, Pravit, just yesterday deny Thai military used cluster bombs

Actually, the so-called "rogue state" is Cambodia, as seen by the first shot fired into Thailand's territory. Even after a cease fired agreement, the country still fired during the night. Furthermore, Cambodia's special forces has also tried to ambush the Thai military in Thai soil. Not only does this show the state of inconsideration of the Cambodia army, but also the aggression it has.

Not only are the attacks meant on the military, but a local village and school was also destroyed from Cambodian attacks, a few civilians lost their lives as well. An excuse of miss placed shots can not be use because the village is quite far from military positions.

If you think Cambodia is defending the old temple monument because of their love, think again. Would a country to worships a temple, as old as the one in dispute, use it as a strong hold for its army? would one use it as a barrack? would one use it to stock armament? I don't think so.

Those who think Thailand is the rouge state is delusional and ignorant.

• Then by now, most neutral observer have agreed that at the time when the situation between Thailand and Cambodian was already tense, Thailand sent in tractors to build a road in the disputed territory. Those tractors building road caused the Cambodians to fire on the tractors to stop them. By the way, the road, is for security purpose so that Thai military vehicles can better move into the dispute territory.

Thailand meanwhile, refuses these observers.

The international anti-cluster munitions group insists Thailand is only "muddying the waters" by attempting to refute the allegation that it used cluster bombs during border clashes with Cambodia in late February.

Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) director Laura Cheeseman yesterday said the Thai army admitted to using Dual-Purpose Improved Conventional Munition (DPICM) in fighting with Cambodia. The DPICM, she said, is a "classic example of a cluster munition".

Foreign Ministry spokesman Thani Thongphakdi yesterday released a statement rebutting the CMC's claim. He said the group "misinterpreted" a statement made by Thai Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office in Geneva Sihasak Phuangketkeow.

Cheeseman: Thailand 'muddying the waters'

Mr Thani said the Permanent Representative had told the CMC that Thailand had used DPICM, not cluster munitions.

"How Thailand could come to such a conclusion is baffling," Ms Cheeseman stated. "The DPICM is the classic example of a cluster munition, which is essentially a large canister that opens up after deployment to disperse many submunitions over a wide area."

Defence Ministry spokesman Thanathip Sawangsaeng echoed an earlier denial made by Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon that the army has no cluster bombs in its arsenal.

"We may have some weapons with similar features to cluster bombs but they do not work like cluster bombs. They are not cluster bombs," Col Thanathip said.

A source in the army said the weapon in question could be the Caesar self-propelled howitzer, whose artillery burst into bomblets.

The army suspended its use after the border clashes in February.

Ms Cheeseman also countered an argument made by acting government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn that armies of different countries can categorise weapons differently. No country besides Thailand has ever questioned if the DPICM is a cluster munition, she said in an email to the Bangkok Post.

In the Foreign Ministry's statement, Mr Thani said Thailand's use of DPICM was in response to Cambodia's attacks with BM-21 rocket launcher systems, which struck at targets indiscriminately.

"Such attacks had impacted Thai civilians. It was therefore necessary for Thai troops to act in self-defence against such military targets."

Ms Cheeseman said instead of trying to muddy the waters with the question of definition, the Thai government should take steps to ban all cluster munitions by joining the Convention on Cluster Munitions, an international treaty that prohibits the use, transfer and stockpiling of cluster bombs.

Cambodia criticizes Thai stance on border dispute observers

Apr 9, 2011, 8:00 GMT

Jakarta – Cambodia on Saturday expressed frustration over conflicting messages from Thailand on Indonesia's role as mediator in a border dispute between the two nations.

Thai and Cambodian foreign ministers agreed in February to accept Indonesian observers stationed along their common border to monitor a ceasefire in a dispute over land surrounding an 11th-century Hindu temple.

But Thailand's military insisted the issue be resolved bilaterally and rejected the involvement of Indonesia, the current chair of the Association of South-East Asian Nations.

'We can't understand,' Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said in Jakarta. 'If Thailand wishes really to have a ceasefire on the border, why should they hesitate to receive Indonesian observers?'

Hor Namhong said Thailand accused Cambodia of starting the fighting every time an armed clash broke out.

'Frankly speaking, it's really difficult to deal with them,' he said. 'The government, the foreign minister, says one thing while the military says another thing.

'We don't know who we can trust, who to deal with. We don't know who really has the right to negotiate.'

Thai and Cambodian diplomats held talks Thursday and Friday in the Indonesian city of Bogor to try to resolve the dispute.

The Bangkok Post reported Friday that Thailand's Foreign Ministry would take over from the Defence Ministry the task of defining the roles of Indonesian observers and where to post them along the Thai-Cambodian border.

The ministry originally only had responsibility for giving the observers diplomatic immunity while they are stationed in Thailand.

The move upset the Thai military, which announced Tuesday that it would not allow observers to enter the disputed area, the Post said.

Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya reportedly said he had agreed with Phnom Penh and Jakarta that Indonesian observers could inspect the area.

The Bangkok Post said 15 Indonesian observers would be deployed in Thailand and 15 in Cambodia

Thailand has blamed UNESCO for exacerbating the dispute with its 2008 cision to list the Preah Vihear border temple as a heritage site despite Bangkok's objections.

The International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 that the 11th-century temple belonged to Cambodia but stopped short of determining the border demarcation in a nearby contested area.

Both countries claim a 4.6-square-kilometre plot of land near the temple, which has been included under Cambodia's management plan for UNESCO's World Heritage Committee.