PHNOM PENH, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Press and Quick Reaction Unit of the Office of the Council of Ministers of Cambodia has issued a statement on Monday rejecting "the false statement of Thai Premier Abhisit Vejjajiva on Preah Vihear temple."
The statement said that the Bangkok Post on Feb. 11 reported, and which was also published in the National News Bureau of Thailand, that "Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva asks UNESCO to remove the temple of Preah Vihear from the World Heritage List, claiming that the delisting of the temple of Preah Vihear would remove tensions between Cambodia and Thailand."
The statement "strongly rejected the false statement of Thai prime minister", saying that the "real tension has been caused by Thailand's long-standing territorial invasion".
"The recent real war of aggression against Cambodia from Feb. 4- 7, 2011, like the previous attacks of July 15, 2008 and April 3-4, 2009, which has been fuelled by Thai severe internal political turmoil, is just the latest attempt to turn into reality this secret unilateral map, which has no international legitimacy, and to oust Cambodian from the Thai so-called disputed, overlapping or 4.6 sq.km area", said PRU's statement.
It also said that "Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, who asked UNESCO to delist Cambodia's Temple of Preah Vihear from the World Heritage List, proved that he lacks knowledge about the World Heritage and his move is opposing the World Heritage concept. "
"It is not possible both a legal and practical point of view to delist the Temple of Preah Vihear from the World Heritage List," said the statement.
The border between Thailand and Cambodia has never been completely demarcated.
Although the International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 that the Temple of Preah Vihear belonged to Cambodia, the row over the 4.6-square-km territory around the temple has never been resolved.
The conflict has occurred just a week after Cambodia's Preah Vihear temple was enlisted as World Heritage Site on July 7, 2008, since then both sides have built up military forces along the border, and periodic clashes happened, resulted in the deaths of troops on both sides.
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