PM Abhisit: Thai-Cambodian border situation 'normal'

BANGKOK, Oct 1 (TNA) - Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Thursday that he believes Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's comment regarding Thai-Cambodian border disputes was aimed to impact Cambodia’s domestic political audience and that the overall situation along the Thai-Cambodian border is normal and bilateral relations are going well.

International media--Associated Press (AP) and Agence France-Presse (AFP)--Monday quoted Mr Hun Sen as telling Cambodian officials that anyone from Thailand illegally intruding into Cambodian territory but claimed by both countries would be shot.

The Cambodian leader also said that if Thai officials negotiating the border demarcation present Thai maps during bilateral talks, Cambodian officials “should tear them up or walk out.’

Answering questions in Parliament Thursday, Mr Abhisit said he believed that Mr Hun Sen's remarks were aimed for his domestic benefit.

The situation at the border is normal, the military personnel of both countries are stationed as usual, particularly around the disputed area that they both claim, he said.

Mr Abhisit added that the remarks simply were Mr Hun Sen's style, considered normal, as it had happened many times.

However, he said, Thailand remains ready to protect the kingdom’s sovereignty, but any steps taken will be carried out carefully to avoid conflict and to protect Thailand's interests.

The government also affirmed the use of peaceful mean to solve the border disputes and the disputes between Thailand and Cambodia were not come from Minister of Foreign Affairs Kasit Piromya.

Members of the Opposition Puea Thai Party always charged Mr Kasit of being unfit to serve in government for his support for the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) which seized Bangkok’s two airports late last year, as well as for his denouncing Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen regarding a disputed temple on the border.

Mr Abhisit said after Mr Kasit assumed his post, he had visited Cambodia on several occasions without problems. Bilateral relations between the two neighbours remain positive, as some bilateral agreements were reached recently.

Moreover, the Cambodian premier also affirmed in past meetings that he would not let the border disputes obstruct expanded cooperation, the Thai premier said.

Mr Abhisit said he believed that the border disputes flared up when Noppadon Pattama was Minister of Foreign Affairs and signed a joint communique with Cambodia’s Deputy Prime Minister Sok An in June 2008 to support the Khmer application to list the 11th century temple as a World Heritage site.

When Mr Abhisit assumed office last December, he said his government must resolve the border dispute.

Tensions between the neighbouring countries flared after the United Nations cultural body UNESCO approved Cambodia's bid in July last year to list the 11th century temple as a world heritage site, while the question of sovereignty over the 4.6 square kilometres of surrounding land has never been clearly resolved, angering some Thais who continue to claim Thailand’s ownership of the site. (TNA)

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Source: TNA

Cambodia halves border troops

Aug 30, 2009

PHNOM PENH - CAMBODIA has halved the number of troops around an ancient border temple that has been the scene of bloody clashes with Thailand, the defence ministry said on Sunday.

There have been several skirmishes between the two countries on the disputed frontier around the 11th century Preah Vihear temple in Cambodia since the ruins were granted UN World Heritage status in July 2008.

'We have pulled out 50 per cent of the troops from Preah Vihear temple,' said Chhum Socheat, spokesman for the Ministry of National Defence.
'This shows that the situation at the border is really getting better, and that both countries have a mutual understanding of peace,' he added.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen last week said Thailand had just 30 soldiers on the border, meaning that Cambodia could stand some troops down and send them back to their provincial bases.

'We still have enough troops remaining to protect our territory,' said General Chea Dara, deputy commander of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces.
He said if Thailand 'shows a softer manner' they could cut the numbers further. 'However, if anything happened, our troop mobility would be very swift,' he told AFP.

Thailand in June reignited the row over the temple when it asked world heritage body UNESCO to reconsider its decision to formally list the temple in Cambodia.
Cambodia and Thailand have been at loggerheads over the land around the Preah Vihear temple for decades. Although the World Court ruled in 1962 that it belonged to Cambodia, the most accessible entrance to the ancient Khmer temple with its crumbling stone staircases and elegant carvings is in northeastern Thailand.

The last gunbattle in the temple area in April left three people dead while clashes there in 2008 killed another four people. The border between the two countries has never been fully demarcated, in part because it is littered with landmines left over from decades of war in Cambodia. -- AFP

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Article from The Straits Times
Link: http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/SE%2BAsia/Story/STIStory_423273.html

Thai, Cambodian army chiefs say temple hostilities over

Asia-Pacific News

Aug 25, 2009, 2:44 GMT

Phnom Penh - Cambodian and Thai armed forces chiefs said 13 months of sometimes-fatal hostilities around the ancient Preah Vihear temple are at an end, local media reported Tuesday.

At least seven soldiers from both sides were killed in occasional clashes around the temple complex since mid-2008 in a tense standoff that has had other members of the ASEAN regional bloc concerned.

At a meeting on Monday between military top brass from both sides in Phnom Penh, General Songkitti Jaggabatra, the Supreme Commander of the Royal Thai Armed Forces, said the dispute would no longer be allowed to damage relations between the two kingdoms.

'I would like to clarify again that there will be no more problems between Thailand and Cambodia. The border will not be the cause of any further disputes,' he said in remarks carried by the Phnom Penh Post newspaper.

His opposite number, General Pol Saroeun, echoed that.

'We have the same view. Our goal is to achieve peace and solidarity with each other as siblings,' Pol Saroeun said.

Their meeting came just days after Prime Minister Hun Sen announced Cambodia would cut the number of troops stationed at Preah Vihear after Thailand reduced its forces to just 30 soldiers.

The 11th-century Hindu temple, which sits on Cambodia's northern border with Thailand, was awarded to Cambodia in 1962 by the World Court. Last year the UN's cultural body UNESCO added Preah Vihear to its World Heritage List, a move that rankled Thai nationalists who still contest the ownership of the site.

Cambodia and Thailand have yet to delineate much of their 804-kilometre long common border.

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Source: Asia-Pacific News M&G: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1497161.php/Thai-Cambodian-army-chiefs-say-temple-hostilities-over

Cambodia to recall some troops at border: PM

www.chinaview.cn 2009-08-22 20:16:27

PHNOM PENH, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Saturday that there was no fighting at border and he will recall some troops to help the farmers to planting crops after some areas had been hit by drought.

"We are monitoring to withdraw the troops from the frontiers and we need soldiers to help the local farmers during this time," the premier said at the opening ceremony of irrigation in Pursat province, southeastern part of Phnom Penh, citing that Thailand now has 30 soldiers at the border.

"But in case we have problem at the border, we can mobilize our troops so quickly to border area," he said, adding that "we are moving back our troops of Kompong Thom and Siem Reap provinces to their headquarters from the border."

"I hope there is no fight each other again there," he stresses. Cambodian and Thai troops have confronted at areas near the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple since July, 2008 when the UNESCO listed the temple as the World Heritage Site of Cambodia.

Moreover, Hun Sen said that "in modern age, we need to discuss the matters with each other and we do not want to see any people shed their blood."

Troops tension at border is becoming ease and both side plan to measure the areas soon to plant border markers.

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Source: China View http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-08/22/content_11927585.htm