The Cambodian leader, Mr Hun Sen, met King Norodom Sihanouk in Beijing yesterday in an attempt to gain the king's approval for his new government while in Phnom Penh legal moves accelerated to arrest the king's ousted son. But none of the parties to the Beijing meeting was willing afterward to reveal the content of their five hours of talks.
Meanwhile an ally of Prince Norodom Ranariddh said the king's son planned to quit self-exile in Thailand and join his supporters in the jungles of northern Cambodia in his quest to regain power.
The king, who on Monday threatened to abdicate, declined to comment on the meeting and referred all queries to Mr Hun Sen and Mr Ung Huot, who has succeeded the king's ousted son as first Prime Minister.
"They will reply to your questions," the king said in a statement faxed to news agencies in Beijing. "For my part, I prefer, at least for the moment, to keep silent."
The high-powered government delegation, which also included the acting head of state, Mr Chea Sim, and a large retinue of senior officials, spent more than five hours inside the king's residence in Beijing, where he is undergoing medical treatment.
The king warned ahead of the talks that he was ready to abdicate, adding that his letter had "already been written by me for more than a week."
"But I am waiting for Hun Sen, our `strongman', to let me know indirectly, by the appropriate words and gestures, that I can abdicate without risking being criticised by him or being accused of creating additional difficulties for the country and the people," he said in an open letter. He denied his decision to grant Mr Hun Sen an audience conferred royal recognition of the prince's removal.
King Sihanouk, revered in Cambodia, further muddied the waters with a separate statement saying he planned to return to his country "soon" as monarch. On Saturday he denounced Mr Ung Huot as a "puppet" of Mr Hun Sen.
Meanwhile Cambodian authorities have stepped up their assault on Prince Ranariddh by issuing arrest warrants for him, documents showed yesterday.
The two warrants charge him with illegally importing weapons, bringing outlawed Khmer Rouge troops to the capital and moving his own troops without permission ahead of the factional clashes which ousted him last month.
"The message is clear," a western analyst said. "The exiled prince can come back, but at his own risk of going to jail."
In Manila, ASEAN's Secretary General, Mr Rodolfo Severino, said that the United States and China may take part in a planned meeting to discuss the crisis in Cambodia.