Details are Sketchy
March 8, 2008
No sooner had Thailand and Cambodia papered over the issues surrounding Preah Vihear, and now the Thais are crying over Ta Moan.
The Foreign Ministry summoned on Friday French and Cambodian ambassadors to complain maps of Cambodia publish in France and Cambodia wrongly claimed Thai territory.
The envoys were told that maps of Utdor Mean Chay and Preah Vihear provinces published in France and Cambodia claim that parts of the Ta Mean Prom temple in Surin province are in Cambodia.
Director of Treaty and Legal Affairs, Virachai Plasai, told the ambassadors the area in question is “overlapping” and requires demarcation under a treaty signed by Thailand and Cambodia in 2000.
For starters, the Ta Moan temples — there’s actually three of them — lie in a declared “white zone,” as agreed to by both countries under the treaty that Virachai is talking about. That’s supposed to mean that neither side can use or occupy the temples until both sides resolve the demarcation issue.
That’s not what is happening. Today the Ta Moan temples are occupied by a heavily armed unit of the Thai military, in violation of the treaty. The Thais have undertaken road construction in the disputed area, in violation of the treaty. And the Thais have benefited financially by allowing tourists to visit the temples, in violation of the treaty. As if that were not enough, Thailand refuses Cambodians entry.
If anybody has a grievance here, it’s Cambodia.
March 8, 2008
No sooner had Thailand and Cambodia papered over the issues surrounding Preah Vihear, and now the Thais are crying over Ta Moan.
The Foreign Ministry summoned on Friday French and Cambodian ambassadors to complain maps of Cambodia publish in France and Cambodia wrongly claimed Thai territory.
The envoys were told that maps of Utdor Mean Chay and Preah Vihear provinces published in France and Cambodia claim that parts of the Ta Mean Prom temple in Surin province are in Cambodia.
Director of Treaty and Legal Affairs, Virachai Plasai, told the ambassadors the area in question is “overlapping” and requires demarcation under a treaty signed by Thailand and Cambodia in 2000.
For starters, the Ta Moan temples — there’s actually three of them — lie in a declared “white zone,” as agreed to by both countries under the treaty that Virachai is talking about. That’s supposed to mean that neither side can use or occupy the temples until both sides resolve the demarcation issue.
That’s not what is happening. Today the Ta Moan temples are occupied by a heavily armed unit of the Thai military, in violation of the treaty. The Thais have undertaken road construction in the disputed area, in violation of the treaty. And the Thais have benefited financially by allowing tourists to visit the temples, in violation of the treaty. As if that were not enough, Thailand refuses Cambodians entry.
If anybody has a grievance here, it’s Cambodia.
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