Thailand asks Asean not to intervene in temple row

via Khmer NZ

Published: 20/08/2010

The Thai government is asking other Asean countries not to intervene in the Preah Vihear conflict and allow Cambodia and Thailand to settle the matter themselves.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday he did not believe the reports that Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, in his capacity as Association of Southeast Asian Nations chairman, would raise the Preah Vihear dispute at an Asean meeting.

He thought the Asean chair was simply sounding out the opinions of association members about the border dispute after receiving a letter from Cambodia.

Mr Abhisit said all parties should understand that the issue could be solved at the bilateral level.

Cambodia wants the conflict to be dealt with at the multilateral level because the Thai parliament has not considered the negotiation framework of the Thai-Cambodian Joint Boundary Commission (JBC), but Mr Abhisit said each country had its own processes and other nations should respect this.

"Thailand has its parliamentary procedures which must be respected," the prime minister said.

"The government does not interfere."

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban yesterday warned that Cambodia could not raise the Preah Vihear issue for multilateral discussion without first securing the consent of Thailand. He urged Cambodia to handle the issue bilaterally.

The conflict was a longstanding one and time was needed to resolve it, he said.

Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said yesterday Thailand and Cambodia had discussed the temple issue through all available mechanisms such as the joint border committee. They did not need the intervention of neighbouring countries.

Mr Kasit said Thailand had tried to explain the matter to its fellow Asean members and he hoped they understood.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry would send a letter to Vietnam and the other members of Asean to clarify the Preah Vihear dispute.

The letter would seek to clear up the misunderstandings surrounding the temple conflict and deal with Phnom Penh's allegations against Thailand related to the temple row, he said.