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BANGKOK, THAILAND - THAILAND'S premier on Wednesday accused his Cambodian counterpart of using an escalating border dispute as a vote-winner, and said talks should resume after weekend general elections there.
PM Samak Sundaravej said Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen was capitalising on nationalist sentiment ahead of Sunday's polls, which are widely expected to return the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) to power.
'Let them play - they merely want a result for the election on the 27th,' he told reporters. 'He (Hun Sen) just wants to win elections.' PM Samak said the military standoff over a tiny disputed patch of land near the 11th century Preah Vihear temple will be 'less intense' after the polls.
'They (the Cambodians) will find it easier to talk ... After the elections, I will talk,' he said.
At least 500 Thai and 1,000 Cambodian troops remain stationed in 4.6 square kilometres (1.8 square miles) of land claimed by both sides after intense talks on Monday ended with no resolution.
The recent tensions between the neighbours began when the United Nations earlier this month granted Cambodia's request to have the Preah Vihear ruins listed as a World Heritage Site.
PM Hun Sen has portrayed the recognition of the ruins as a national triumph, organising huge public celebrations, but nationalists in Thailand - some of whom still claim Preah Vihear as their own - were outraged.
Troops were sent to the region last week after Cambodia arrested three Thai protesters who tried to illegally enter the temple, which the World Court said in 1962 legally belonged to Cambodia. -- AFP
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