17/08/2010
THANIDA TANSUBHAPOL AND AFP
Bangkok Post
A [Thai] senior ministry official who requested anonymity said the next JBC meeting would be delayed until all the agreed minutes were approved.The Foreign Ministry has made a U-turn by deciding not to table the border agreements reached by the Joint Boundary Commission between Thailand and Cambodia for approval by parliament, ministry deputy spokesman Thani Thongpakdi says.
The decision was taken after it was realised that the joint parliamentary session was tied up with other issues, Mr Thani said yesterday.
The ministry planned to seek joint parliamentary approval for the minutes of three meetings of the JBC today. Agreement on the documents was reached at meetings in Siem Reap in November 2008, in Bangkok in February 2009 and in Phnom Penh in April last year.
The main issues at the meetings were the decision by the two countries to survey border areas, including those near the Preah Vihear temple, and to start to make aerial maps of the border.
The constitution requires parliament to approve agreements that have an impact on Thai territory.
The ministry hopes to be able to open new talks with Cambodia after it gets parliamentary approval.
A senior ministry official who requested anonymity said the next JBC meeting would be delayed until all the agreed minutes were approved.
The JBC was formed to implement the memorandum of understanding signed by Thailand and Cambodia in 2000 to solve their territorial dispute.
The government faces opposition from some senators and activists who are threatening to stage a protest if the ministry submits the JBC documents to the two houses of parliament for endorsement.
Activist Chaiwat Sinsuwong said yesterday he would lead a rally in front of parliament in Bangkok today to oppose parliament's support for any action to comply with the memorandum.
He said support for the memo could be interpreted as Thailand agreeing to cooperate with Cambodia to base demarcation on a map drafted by colonial-era France which he said put Thailand at a disadvantage.
In Phnom Penh, the secretary-general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Surin Pitsuwan, yesterday called for a peaceful solution to the border dispute which has led to a war of words.
"We certainly would like to see a peaceful resolution to any problem in Asean," Mr Surin said after meeting Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong.
He said he would await a decision by Asean foreign ministers before responding to Cambodia's request for regional help in resolving the row, which Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has warned could lead to fresh bloodshed.
The two countries have been locked in a troop stand-off along the border since July 2008, when the ancient Preah Vihear temple was granted Unesco world heritage status.
The World Court ruled in 1962 that the temple belonged to Cambodia even though its main entrance lies in Thailand.
The boundary through the surrounding area remains in dispute, with occasional gunfights claiming several lives.
3 comments:
Its not surprise that Thailand will find the way to flip flop within cambodia again and again?
i think because they know that ASEAN will not response positively to Cambodia request.
Let's how Cambodia react to this tactics.
Since Hun Sen was a Khmer Rouge commander, now a Khmer Rouge leader and had many of his political opponents and journalists assassinated, I wonder if he have any plan to assassinate the Thai Prime Minister (Ahbullshit Vejjajiva)?
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