Cambodia says Chinese national wounded by Thai military shelling
by AFP · Borneo Post OnlinePHNOM PENH (Dec 22): A Chinese national was wounded by Thai military shelling into Cambodia on Monday, Phnom Penh’s interior ministry said, as the Southeast Asian neighbours waged deadly border clashes.
Thai forces fired “artillery shells into civilian areas” of Cambodia’s border province of Battambang, resulting in “one civilian house being completely destroyed and one Chinese national being injured”, the ministry said in a statement.
In the Cambodian border city of Poipet, the ministry said Thailand’s military fired into “civilian areas inhabited by both Cambodian nationals and foreign residents on the Cambodian side of the border”, causing property damage.
Fighting broke out again this month, including with tanks, drones and artillery, and has killed at least 23 people in Thailand and 20 in Cambodia, according to officials.
The conflict stems from a territorial dispute over the colonial-era demarcation of their 800-kilometre (500-mile) border and a smattering of ancient temple ruins situated on the frontier.
Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said he met with Chinese envoy Deng Xijun on Monday to discuss the border conflict.
“China, as a neutral country, does not want to see conflicts in this region,” Anutin told reporters in Bangkok.
“(Deng) does not come to ask us to agree on something. He expresses the country’s intention that they want to see peace, and Thailand has a firm stance on our requirements for peace.”
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said Beijing was hoping for a ceasefire as soon as possible.
“As a friend and close neighbour of both Cambodia and Thailand, China sincerely hopes that both sides will proceed from maintaining peace and stability along the border of the two countries,” Lin told a news briefing on Monday. – AFP