M&G Asia-Pacific News
Jul 19, 2008
Phnom Penh - A Cambodian official at Preah Vihear temple confirmed Saturday that Thai troops had stood down from a nearby disputed pagoda as a delegation of international military attaches from Vietnam and China flew in by helicopter at Cambodia's request.
A Cambodian government official - speaking on condition of anonymity - confirmed local television reports that Thai troops allegedly stationed at a Cambodian pagoda within a few hundred metres of Preah Vihear temple had moved camp to a jungle clearing.
On Saturday Cambodia's Defence Ministry flew military attaches from China and Vietnam to the temple to view a border dispute first hand, local station CTN said.
The Khmer-language private television station said the delegation was headed by Cambodian armed forces chief Sao Sokha. The official said Thai troops had now moved back.
Thailand has maintained the temple is in a disputed no-man's-land and that a Thai presence in the area was not breaching Cambodian sovereignty. Cambodia disagreed and asked for the tour by international observers.
CTN is viewed as close to the Cambodian government.
Although other international attaches including the US were originally rumoured to be attending, in the end they were supplied by the two Communist nations, which are also closest regional allies.
Tensions have been running high on the border since Cambodia asked UNESCO to list the temple as a World Heritage Site despite there being a dispute over a 4.6-kilometre swathe of land nearby.
UNESCO obliged earlier this month, but tensions spilled over Tuesday when Cambodia briefly detained, then released, three Thais it said had illegally crossed the border, prompting first dozens, and then hundreds of Thai troops to follow in an alleged incursion.
On Friday, Thailand warned the situation was deteriorating but Cambodia has said it is determined to seek a diplomatic solution over the disputed territory around the 11th century Hindu temple.
Jul 19, 2008
Phnom Penh - A Cambodian official at Preah Vihear temple confirmed Saturday that Thai troops had stood down from a nearby disputed pagoda as a delegation of international military attaches from Vietnam and China flew in by helicopter at Cambodia's request.
A Cambodian government official - speaking on condition of anonymity - confirmed local television reports that Thai troops allegedly stationed at a Cambodian pagoda within a few hundred metres of Preah Vihear temple had moved camp to a jungle clearing.
On Saturday Cambodia's Defence Ministry flew military attaches from China and Vietnam to the temple to view a border dispute first hand, local station CTN said.
The Khmer-language private television station said the delegation was headed by Cambodian armed forces chief Sao Sokha. The official said Thai troops had now moved back.
Thailand has maintained the temple is in a disputed no-man's-land and that a Thai presence in the area was not breaching Cambodian sovereignty. Cambodia disagreed and asked for the tour by international observers.
CTN is viewed as close to the Cambodian government.
Although other international attaches including the US were originally rumoured to be attending, in the end they were supplied by the two Communist nations, which are also closest regional allies.
Tensions have been running high on the border since Cambodia asked UNESCO to list the temple as a World Heritage Site despite there being a dispute over a 4.6-kilometre swathe of land nearby.
UNESCO obliged earlier this month, but tensions spilled over Tuesday when Cambodia briefly detained, then released, three Thais it said had illegally crossed the border, prompting first dozens, and then hundreds of Thai troops to follow in an alleged incursion.
On Friday, Thailand warned the situation was deteriorating but Cambodia has said it is determined to seek a diplomatic solution over the disputed territory around the 11th century Hindu temple.
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