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SINGAPORE: Thailand and Cambodia were on Sunday urged to exercise restraint over a tense border dispute which overshadowed the start of annual talks among Southeast Asian foreign ministers.
The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) kicked off its meeting in Singapore with a dinner where they were expected to raise an array of pressing issues, before formal talks on Monday.
High on the official agenda is a new charter which would create an EU-style economic block committed to democracy and human rights by 2015, and efforts to get aid to some two million survivors of Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar.
But even before the ministers gathered at a restaurant in the city-state's botanical gardens, the atmosphere had been soured by an armed standoff between Thai and Cambodian troops over territory surrounding an ancient temple.
"Any tension, any misunderstanding between and among member states is always an issue of concern for ASEAN," the bloc's secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan said, adding the issue would likely be raised at Sunday's dinner.
He said the ministers were keen to see the matter resolved "as soon as possible."
More than 500 Thai troops and well over 1,000 Cambodian soldiers are stationed around a small Buddhist pagoda leading to the ruins of an 11th-century temple, where nearby land is claimed by both sides.
The armed stand-off began after three Thai protesters were arrested on Tuesday for crossing a fence to reach the ancient ruins, which have been a source of tension between the neighbours for decades.
A spokesman for the ASEAN meeting said ministers would likely seek a briefing from their Thai and Cambodian counterparts on the situation.
"We encourage both sides to exercise restraint and also to resolve the issue peacefully," Andrew Tan told a press briefing.
Defence officials from both countries plan to meet on the border on Monday to try to defuse the crisis.
But Thai government representatives here said they could not discuss whether the countries' ministers would hold bilateral talks in Singapore.
The issue of Myanmar is also high on the agenda, after the ruling military earned widespread contempt by refusing to allow a foreign-led relief effort when a May cyclone left 138,000 dead or missing.
ASEAN spokesman Tan said the ministers would seek an update on developments in Myanmar, which amid the cyclone devastation held a much-criticised referendum on a "roadmap to democracy".
"Besides the referendum, they have just extended Aung San Suu Kyi's arrest and they are moving ahead with their roadmap 2010 and elections, so I think these issues will all be looked at," he said.
ASEAN won praise for eventually bridging the gap between Myanmar and the outside world over cyclone relief efforts by taking the lead on a joint aid mission with the military authorities and the United Nations.
The mission is expected on Monday to release its full report on the humanitarian situation in Myanmar's devastated southern delta region.
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will open the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Monday.
- AFP/CNA
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