Cambodia asks Thailand to move border talks to Malaysia

Cambodia's defence minister Tea Seiha said that the meeting should be in a "safe and neutral venue" for security reasons due to the ongoing fighting along the Thai-Cambodian border.

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PHNOM PENH: Cambodia's defence ministry has asked Thailand to hold bilateral talks in the neutral venue of Kuala Lumpur, according to a letter seen by AFP on Tuesday (Dec 23), with the countries set to negotiate truce terms after two weeks of deadly border clashes.

Renewed fighting this month, which shattered a previous truce, has killed at least 23 people in Thailand and 21 in Cambodia, and displaced more than 900,000 on both sides, officials said.

Thailand's Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow on Monday announced a parley with Cambodia after a meeting in the Malaysian capital with his counterparts from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Cambodia is also a member.

Sihasak told reporters the discussion would be held on Wednesday in Thailand's Chanthaburi within the framework of an existing bilateral border committee.

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But in a letter dated Monday to his Thai counterpart Nattaphon Narkphanit, Cambodia's defence minister Tea Seiha requested the meeting be held in Kuala Lumpur.

"For a security reason due to the ongoing fighting along the border, this meeting should be held in a safe and neutral venue," Tea Seiha wrote in the letter, which AFP obtained on Tuesday and confirmed with the ministry.

Malaysia, the chair of the ASEAN regional bloc, had agreed to host the talks in its capital, he added.

Cambodia said Thailand launched airstrikes on its territory on Monday, shortly after Bangkok announced the two nations had agreed to hold the talks.

Cambodian defence ministry spokeswoman Maly Socheata told reporters that combat along the border was ongoing on Tuesday morning.

The ministry said in a statement that Thai forces shelled the Cambodian border city of Poipet.

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