Hopes pinned on Thailand-Cambodia temple talks

News Desk
The Nation (Thailand)
Publication Date : 16-08-2010

Thailand's joint boundary demarcation chief hopes Parliament will this week approve minutes of previous meetings of the Thai-Cambodia Joint Boundary Commission (JBC) to allow talks to help resolve the border dispute. "We hope the Parliament will approve all documents and allow us to continue negotiations with Cambodia," said Vasin Teeravechyan, co-chair of the JBC. The Foreign Ministry was due to report to Parliament on the results of JBC meetings in November 2008, February 2009 and April 2009, he said, and will ask for approval to enable negotiations to go on. Demarcation of the boundary has become controversial after the nationalist People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) and its allies in the Senate opposed the negotiations because of fears the country will lose territory. The nationalist group wants the government to revoke a Memorandum of Understanding signed with Cambodia in 2000, which is a basic legal instrument for the JBC and boundary demarcation. The PAD and its allies say the MoU recognises a French map on a 1:200,000 scale, which defines Preah Vihear temple and the area around it as being in Cambodian territory. "We want the government to terminate the MoU and force the Cambodian community near Preah Vihear out of Thai territory," New Politics Party spokesman Samran Rodphet said. The NPP is a political party formed by the PAD. The International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 that Preah Vihear Temple was situated on Cambodian territory. But Thai nationalists argue that the court only ruled that the historic temple belongs to Cambodia and that areas adjacent to the temple still belong to Thailand. Thailand and Cambodia have been at loggerheads since the temple was listed as a World Heritage site, as proposed by Phnom Penh in 2008. Thai nationalists have forced the government to oppose the proposal because they fear losing rights over areas near the temple. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's government has played along with the nationalist PAD to oppose Phnom Penh's World Heritage listing but it took a different stance with the MoU 10 years ago. The document was signed during a Democrat-led regime led by Chuan Leekpai. The ruling Democrat Party considered the MOU useful for settling the boundary with Cambodia, Party spokesman Buranat Samutharak said. However, Parliament was supposed to discuss the JBC document late last year but Abhisit's government put it off after a diplomatic row with Cambodia over an appointment of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra as an adviser to the Hun Sen government. Some senators now want another delay in approving the JBC documents if they cannot get them rejected in the session this week, a source said. Cambodia claims the Thai government is stalling the JBC negotiations and has sought help from other countries, as well as Asean and the United Nations to try to resolve the conflict with Thailand. Prime Minister Hun Sen sent letters to the UN claiming that Abhisit had threatened to use force against Cambodia. Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong sent a letter to the current Asean chairman, Vietnam, to seek help, saying the two countries aren't able to solve the problem bilaterally.