Cambodia and Thailand have held talks in the Indonesian city of Bogor in an attempt to prevent further clashes over the disputed territory surrounding the Preah Vihear temple on their shared border. At a meeting on April 7th-8th of the Joint Boundary Commission, a bilateral body established in 2000, senior Cambodian and Thai officials, including the Cambodian foreign minister, Hor Nam Hong, discussed secondary issues, such as aerial photos of the disputed border, a survey of border markers and new border checkpoints. But the Thai foreign minister, Kasit Piromya, was conspicuously absent from the meeting-Kasit's no-show suggests further progress may be slow.

At present Indonesia holds the rotating chairmanship of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and is acting as a mediator in the dispute. At a meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, on February 22nd, Thailand and Cambodia agreed to allow Indonesian observers to visit the disputed border area, where significant clashes occurred in early February, killing at least 11 people. But the Indonesian observers have yet to be deployed after the Thai military backtracked on April 5th, stating that the observers would be barred from the area. The Thai army seems to be acting independently of the government. In early April the supreme commander of the Thai armed forces, Songkitti Jaggabatara, said that the agreement that the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs had reached with Cambodia and Indonesia over the observers had nothing to do with the military.

Thailand seems to be the reticent party in negotiations, despite its preference for bilateral talks, as opposed to the Cambodian policy of seeking a multilateral solution. The contradictory Thai responses may stem from the current fractious state of politics in Thailand, with nationalists, including Kasit, using the Preah Vihear clash to distract from other pressing issues at home and to garner support from the many Thais who consider the temple and the surrounding land as Thai territory. Attempts to damage Thai-Cambodian negotiations over Preah Vihear may also be a ploy by political rivals to discredit the Thai prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, who has increasingly been trying to distance himself from his ultra-nationalist, staunchly royalist former allies. Thailand may also be trying to humiliate Indonesia, which is seen by some Thais to be interfering through its offer to facilitate negotiations.