Phnom Penh must accept responsibility

It seems the letter by Cambodian Ambassador to Thailand You Ay was written to satisfy the Cambodian government only.

The ambassador’s six-point explanation concerning the so-called “Phnom Penh incident”, (as mentioned by Kavi Chongkittavorn: “Asean and China: bickering threatens traditional consensus”, September 10) – in which Cambodia, as chair of Asean, failed to muster the grouping’s traditional joint statement – was an old story retold yet again.

It was strange for Cambodia to allow its official to blame two Asean members as the culprits that had caused Asean’s joint communique to fail in July.

The truth is: an unprecedented incident has occurred during Cambodia’s turn as chair of Asean. Cambodia should strive to correct this mishap. And the first step should be to stop this finger-pointing practice.

Vint Chavala

Lamphun