Kasit: Thai-Cambodian ties still good

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By: BangkokPost.com

Published: 1/07/2009 at 04:27 PM

Relations between Thailand and Cambodia are still cordial and both governments were continually working to solve the border dispute near Preah Vihear temple, Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said on Wednesday.

"It is the responsibility of the army of each country whether to withdraw troops along the border area, but I believe neither country wants another clash," the minister said.

It was possible the Cambodian government misunderstood Thailand's intentions in asking the World Heritage Committee to review Cambodia's unilateral listing of the 11th-century temple as a world heritage site, he said.

The Thai government had no intention to offend its neighbour, he said.

Mr Kasit also said the Foreign Ministry had no idea if fugitive politician Thaksin Shinawatra was in Asia or anywhere else. The ministry, unlike the police, had no authority to bring him back to answer the charges against him. The ministry could only enter into diplomatic negotiations. But Thaksin would be brought brought back to the country to face justice, he said.

"The Foreign Ministry is not a secret police agency or the CIA, but he must return to Thailand because jail-time is waiting for him," the minister said.

Hun Sen warned that he’ll have Thai airplanes trespassing into Cambodian airspace shot down

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Wednesday, July 01, 2009

01 July 2009
Rasmei Kampuchea newspaper
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

Prime minister Hun Sen issued a warning to neighboring Thailand, which is currently embroiled in a border dispute with Cambodia, that it should be careful with its planes so that they never fly into Cambodian airspace otherwise danger awaits them because Cambodian soldiers cannot hold back.

Hun Sen made this declaration during a ceremony to distribute diploma for 975 students from the Norton University on 30 June 2009.

Hun Sen also talked about the explosion incident which took place in the evening of 28 June and which was caused by the inattention of two soldiers who lit up their matches to look at the gas tank of their truck and caused a fire which led to the explosion of 29 BM-21 rockets loaded on the same truck. The explosion injured 2 persons, and Hun Sen said that Cambodia had these ammunitions since long ago, and they are not new. Each of the rockets costs $3,000 and Cambodia does not want to boast that these are merely medium-size ammunitions, [in fact Cambodia] has even larger size [ammunitions] than these and the exploded ammunitions make up only about 1% [of the total].

Hun Sen added that he frankly told Thailand’s defense minister and its deputy-PM during their meeting with him last weekend that [Thailand] should be careful with its planes trespassing into Cambodian airspace. Hun Sen added that earlier, Cambodia destroyed 270 shoulder-launched missiles, but Cambodia has replaced them with even more modern ones and he cannot order those who have their fingers on the trigger. Therefore, Thailand should be careful and look at its maps properly and not fly into someone else’s airspace. Hun Sen said: “I am telling you frankly that even if each missile costs $200,000, I will still buy them.” Hun Sen added: “I am concerned that they fly into [our airspace] when they are transporting Thai leaders in them, because we do not have planes to fly back and forth, only Thailand flies airplanes and they circle them around, what if those who are below can not hold back.”

Hun Sen said that he frankly told Thailand that the number of Cambodian soldiers along the border will remain the same, and there is no troops pullout as long as the 30 [Thai soldiers] are not being pulled out, their bones will be [buried] there.”

Regarding his private meeting with Suthep Thaugsuban, Thailand’s deputy-PM, on 27 June at his residence in Takhmao, Hun Sen said: “Samlor Kor-ko (mixed vegetable soup allegedly cooked by his wife) was very good” because, like what Hun Sen said before, there were no discussions about Preah Vihear temple.

Hun Sen added that, nevertheless, in this issue, he is not boasting to Thailand. Thailand has more modern weapons than Cambodia, and it has more troops than Cambodia: Thailand had 300,000 troops, and Cambodia has only 100,000 soldiers. However, in the national defense, Cambodia will be pleased to oblige Thailand to the end. Hun Sen added that: “We don’t want war with neighboring countries, but it is an automatic right to defend when it comes to one’s border.”

Hun Sen also criticized [Singapore] Channel News Asia which falsely reported that he discussed Preah Vihear issue with Thailand’s ministers. In reality, whatever Hun Sen said, that’s how it was, and there was no need to talk about Preah Vihear issue. We have several issues to discuss with each other, including the overlapped maritime sea area between the two countries in order to bring in joint development, and also the border problems between the two countries where tension and confrontations must be lowered.”

To conclude, Hun Sen claimed: “I will not lose a single minute to tell the Thai counterpart to pull their troop out of Cambodia. It is a fact that I have to tell them, if I forget this point, it means that I am forgetting my own nation.” Hun Sen added that this is the actual problem, but the results will have to wait for the upcoming negotiations.

Army plans troop cuts near temple

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World Heritage Committee to review site listing

By: WASSANA NANUAM and PRADIT RUANGDIT

Published: 1/07/2009 at 12:00 AM

Newspaper section: News

The army plans to reduce troop numbers around the disputed Preah Vihear temple in a bid to ease border tensions with Cambodia.

Army chief Anupong Paojinda yesterday said there would be a reduction soon in the number of soldiers deployed around the mountain, where the ruins of the ancient Hindu temple sit, to comply with a recent agreement reached with Cambodia.

The agreement was reached between Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban and Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon at the weekend, he said.

"But there won't be a complete pullout. It will simply be an adjustment to bring down the number of troops stationed there," Gen Anupong said.

"We still need troops in the area to reinforce our position that the area is ours."

Troop numbers around Preah Vihear should be reduced to the level the army maintained before the recent reinforcements were called in, Gen Anupong said. No exact timeframe has been set for the reduction. Further talks would be needed to specify troop levels that both sides would find acceptable, he said.

An informed source said there were currently around 5,000 Cambodian troops and 3,000 Thai soldiers in the disputed area.

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suwit Khunkitti told the cabinet yesterday Unesco's World Heritage Committee (WHC) had decided not to review the temple listing as a World Heritage site until its annual meeting in Brazil next year, as requested by Thailand.

Mr Suwit, who has just returned from observing the WHC meeting in Seville in Spain, said the committee's decision was to allow Thailand to make better preparations for its objections to Phnom Penh's push to have the temple listed.

Acting government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said the Thai delegation had asked the WHC to comply with regulation 13, one of the World Heritage listing regulations.

The regulation states that a bilateral listing would replace a unilateral listing if the listing had led to growing border conflicts between two concerned parties, he said.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday said the WHC's decision had helped keep the efforts to resolve the Thai-Cambodian border dispute on track.