Issues ranging from the conflicting territorial claims in the South China Sea, tensions on the Korea peninsula, Burma and Cambodia will likely feature in the discussions. For the first time, defence officials have been invited to attend the security talks. Previous ARF meetings have been confined to foreign ministers and their senior officials because some countries had been wary of turning ARF into an Asian version of the European conference on security, diplomats said. The ARF was set up four years ago as a way to solve potential conflicts in the Asia-Pacific region. It was supposed to evolve through three stages, from discussion of issues to preventive diplomacy and finally to conflict resolution.
Diplomats say it is stuck somewhere between the first two stages.
At a press conference in Bangkok yesterday, Ranariddh said he will seek a non-violent diplomatic end to the current crisis, but he refused to rule out a return to armed resistance. He rejected all Hun Sen's charges, particularly his negotiations with the Khmer Rouge leaders. In return, he accused Hun Sen of killing Funcinpec MPs and members, being involved in drugs trafficking and the May 30 grenade attack, which killed 19 people and wounded more than 100. Ranariddh urged the international community not to recognise the Cambodian government under Hun Sen and foreign minister Ung Huot, who has been elected to replace Ranaridh. He also called on members of the world community to withdraw their ambassadors from Phnom Penh and to suspend all international aid.