Monday, July 28, 2008

New [Thai] foreign minister works on temple policy

Monday, July 28, 2008
Bangkok Post

His Majesty the King gave his good wishes to new Foreign Minister Tej Bunnag at an oath-swearing ceremony at Klai Kangwon Palace in Prachuap Khiri Khan’s Hua Hin district yesterday.

The King encouraged Mr Tej to fulfil his duty to the country to the best of his ability.

"This is an important duty. I hope you do not have too many problems in carrying out your work in the best interests of the country," said the King.

Today, Mr Tej leads Thai negotiators to the Siem Reap meeting attempting to end the border row with Cambodia.
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Earlier report:

New Foreign Minister Tej Bunnag on Sunday met with ranking officials on the dispute over overlapping land adjacent to the ancient Preah Vihear temple.

Officials said they hoped the Cambodian government, fresh from an election victory on Sunday, would be more open-minded and will not set conditions during negotiations.

Mr Tej, appointed Saturday as foreign minister, was to have an audience with His Majesty the King on Sunday evening at the Klaikangwon Palace in Hua Hin for the customary swearing-in ceremony.

His first official duty then will be to lead the Thai delegation to border talks in Poipet, Cambodia.

A foreign ministry spokesman said Mr Tej was to be accompanied to the audience by several senior officials including Lt-Gen Suchit Sitthiprapha, commander of the Second Army Region responsible for security affairs in northeastern Thailand. He will also take part in the Monday talks.

Realising that the problem contains a lot of complexity, the ministry spokesman said the "upcoming negotiations will be conducted on the basis of good neighbourly relations".

Monday's talks will be the second round after last Monday's General Border Committee meeting collapsed at the Thai border district of Aranyaprathet.

"Thailand hopes that Cambodia would become more open-minded and will not set conditions for the negotiations," the spokesman said.

Earlier complaints by Cambodia that Thai troops had moved into the contested area were inaccurate, the spokesman said.

An agreement in 2000 stipulated that before any border demarcation, environment would not be destroyed by either side, the spokesman said.

But Cambodian civilians and military have already settled in the disputed area.

Thailand has warned Cambodia four times on this issue to strictly follow the agreement, he added.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yea tomorrow Cambodia will just give the land to Thai and withdraw it troops.

You Thai are really fucking crazy. You don't realize what you in right now.

Be careful if thing get out of hand even Hun Sen cannot stop this.

Anonymous said...

Thailand is gathering all their trick and papers for the the Monday meeting.

As usual they use the Bangkok Post to convey their tricks.

Cambodia just stick to the 1907 Treaty and 1962 verdict. This is our land and they must withdraw immediately. Don't fall for the tricky paper from 2000 and the one that Sok Ahn modified. For the ICJ this is not even serious document to be considered.

If they not happy, we'll see them at the UN.

If necessary at the ICJ.