August 20, 2008
No substantial agreement has been reached after a one-day verbal tug-of-war between Thai and Cambodian delegations led by respective foreign ministers over the disputed border around the Preah Vihear temple on Tuesday at Thailand's central resort town Cha-am, Phetchburi province.
At a news conference after the talks on Tuesday evening, both Thai Foreign Minister Tej Bunnag and his Cambodian counterpart Hor Namhong called the meeting a success, or a bis step forward since the long-lingering dispute re-captured national attention last month.
The Thai foreign minister read out a five-point statement which has basically set a rough timetable for next round of military and diplomatic negotiations in the near future.
The statement said both sides "welcomed the first-phase redeployment of their respective troops out of the Keo Sikha Kiri Svara Pagoda, the area surrounding the Pagoda and then Temple of Preah Vihear temple," and agreed to convene a second meeting between the Head of the Cambodian Temporary Coordinating Task Force and the Head of the Thai Regional Border Committee on Aug. 29 in Cambodia to discuss the "second phase of redeployment."
It was also agreed that the next meeting of the Thai-Cambodian Joint Commission on Demarcation for Land Boundary (JBC) will be convened in early October this year to discuss issues regarding survey and demarcation of the disputed border.
The third Foreign Ministers' meeting will be held after the JBC meeting, whose schedule has yet to be set.
The first JBC meeting was held in Thailand early July, followed by the first bilateral ministerial meeting on July 28. Both meetings produced no big breakthrough on border demarcation.
As their first-round talks in Siem Reap, Cambodia, the two foreign ministers have brought with them diplomatic, legal, military and border affairs officials to join in Tuesday's meeting, which opened after 9 a.m. (0200GMT) at a hotel in Cha-am, some 220 kilometers southwest of Bangkok, and lasted eight hours until 8 p.m. (1300GMT).
The ministerial meeting mechanism was aimed to find a peaceful solution to a long border dispute regarding a 4.6-sq-kilometer area around the 11th- century ruins of the Khmer-style Hindu temple of Preah Vihear, listed recently by UNESCO as a World Heritage, and to lay down foundations for future cooperation on demarcation and demining work along the disputed border.
The two sides have settled for now on a bilateral mechanism to solve their problems, after the Cambodia withdrew its earlier efforts to draw help from the United Nations Security Council amid voices of disapproval from Thailand and other ASEAN members.
The anticipation for any real breakthrough in foreseeable future talks had been low, though, as both sides had strong claims regarding the sovereignty over the disputed area, including the Preah Vihear temple environs and another ancient ruins -- the Tha Muen temple, critics said.
The Tha Muen temples issue, another topic of wrangle following the Preah Vihear debate, will be discussed during next foreign ministers meeting.
On Tuesday afternoon, outside the hotel, a dozen Thais had a quiet protest against Cambodia's "occupation" of Preah Vihear site and surrounding border areas, by raising banners which reads "Cambodia get out."
Earlier before the meeting started, Tharit Charungvat, spokesman for the Thai Foreign Ministry, said the atmosphere between the two ministers was good on Monday when they met and joined in a dinner, and that the situation has been improving a lot, as the tensions at the border have been eased as a result of the military "redeployment" following previous talks under bilateral mechanism.
Tharit reiterated that territorial dispute is normal for any two neighboring countries, and that the situation for Thailand and Cambodia has now cooled down.
The "first phase of redeployment" has seen that, before Tuesday's talks opened, only about 10 soldiers from each side remain at the Keo Sikha Kiri Svara Pagoda on the access to the Preah Vihear temple, which sits at the border between Thai northeastern province of Si Sa Ket and Cambodia's Preah Vihear province, following a respective "redeployment" since Saturday, and some 20 others from each side at areas nearby for patrol.
The military stand-off had started after three Thais, including a monk, were briefly detained by Cambodian authorities on July 15 for "intruding Cambodian territory" by breaking into the Preah Vihear temple compound to declare Thai sovereignty over the temple.
The temple was awarded to Cambodia in a 1962 verdict of the International Court of Justice, which some Thais have been reluctant to accept. The dispute became a hot issue when Cambodia launched efforts to bid for the listing of the temple as a World Heritage Site last year.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Committee approved Cambodia's application early last month, triggering a wave of national sentiment in Thailand urging the Thai government to take counter actions in defense of territorial sovereignty.
Thailand and Cambodia share a nearly 800-kilometer long common border. Cambodia has based its claim over the Preah Vihear areas on a map drawn by the French before it ended the colonization history half a century ago, but Thailand has refused to recognized the map and called for joint re-demarcation.
Source:Xinhua
No substantial agreement has been reached after a one-day verbal tug-of-war between Thai and Cambodian delegations led by respective foreign ministers over the disputed border around the Preah Vihear temple on Tuesday at Thailand's central resort town Cha-am, Phetchburi province.
At a news conference after the talks on Tuesday evening, both Thai Foreign Minister Tej Bunnag and his Cambodian counterpart Hor Namhong called the meeting a success, or a bis step forward since the long-lingering dispute re-captured national attention last month.
The Thai foreign minister read out a five-point statement which has basically set a rough timetable for next round of military and diplomatic negotiations in the near future.
The statement said both sides "welcomed the first-phase redeployment of their respective troops out of the Keo Sikha Kiri Svara Pagoda, the area surrounding the Pagoda and then Temple of Preah Vihear temple," and agreed to convene a second meeting between the Head of the Cambodian Temporary Coordinating Task Force and the Head of the Thai Regional Border Committee on Aug. 29 in Cambodia to discuss the "second phase of redeployment."
It was also agreed that the next meeting of the Thai-Cambodian Joint Commission on Demarcation for Land Boundary (JBC) will be convened in early October this year to discuss issues regarding survey and demarcation of the disputed border.
The third Foreign Ministers' meeting will be held after the JBC meeting, whose schedule has yet to be set.
The first JBC meeting was held in Thailand early July, followed by the first bilateral ministerial meeting on July 28. Both meetings produced no big breakthrough on border demarcation.
As their first-round talks in Siem Reap, Cambodia, the two foreign ministers have brought with them diplomatic, legal, military and border affairs officials to join in Tuesday's meeting, which opened after 9 a.m. (0200GMT) at a hotel in Cha-am, some 220 kilometers southwest of Bangkok, and lasted eight hours until 8 p.m. (1300GMT).
The ministerial meeting mechanism was aimed to find a peaceful solution to a long border dispute regarding a 4.6-sq-kilometer area around the 11th- century ruins of the Khmer-style Hindu temple of Preah Vihear, listed recently by UNESCO as a World Heritage, and to lay down foundations for future cooperation on demarcation and demining work along the disputed border.
The two sides have settled for now on a bilateral mechanism to solve their problems, after the Cambodia withdrew its earlier efforts to draw help from the United Nations Security Council amid voices of disapproval from Thailand and other ASEAN members.
The anticipation for any real breakthrough in foreseeable future talks had been low, though, as both sides had strong claims regarding the sovereignty over the disputed area, including the Preah Vihear temple environs and another ancient ruins -- the Tha Muen temple, critics said.
The Tha Muen temples issue, another topic of wrangle following the Preah Vihear debate, will be discussed during next foreign ministers meeting.
On Tuesday afternoon, outside the hotel, a dozen Thais had a quiet protest against Cambodia's "occupation" of Preah Vihear site and surrounding border areas, by raising banners which reads "Cambodia get out."
Earlier before the meeting started, Tharit Charungvat, spokesman for the Thai Foreign Ministry, said the atmosphere between the two ministers was good on Monday when they met and joined in a dinner, and that the situation has been improving a lot, as the tensions at the border have been eased as a result of the military "redeployment" following previous talks under bilateral mechanism.
Tharit reiterated that territorial dispute is normal for any two neighboring countries, and that the situation for Thailand and Cambodia has now cooled down.
The "first phase of redeployment" has seen that, before Tuesday's talks opened, only about 10 soldiers from each side remain at the Keo Sikha Kiri Svara Pagoda on the access to the Preah Vihear temple, which sits at the border between Thai northeastern province of Si Sa Ket and Cambodia's Preah Vihear province, following a respective "redeployment" since Saturday, and some 20 others from each side at areas nearby for patrol.
The military stand-off had started after three Thais, including a monk, were briefly detained by Cambodian authorities on July 15 for "intruding Cambodian territory" by breaking into the Preah Vihear temple compound to declare Thai sovereignty over the temple.
The temple was awarded to Cambodia in a 1962 verdict of the International Court of Justice, which some Thais have been reluctant to accept. The dispute became a hot issue when Cambodia launched efforts to bid for the listing of the temple as a World Heritage Site last year.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Committee approved Cambodia's application early last month, triggering a wave of national sentiment in Thailand urging the Thai government to take counter actions in defense of territorial sovereignty.
Thailand and Cambodia share a nearly 800-kilometer long common border. Cambodia has based its claim over the Preah Vihear areas on a map drawn by the French before it ended the colonization history half a century ago, but Thailand has refused to recognized the map and called for joint re-demarcation.
Source:Xinhua
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