Surakiart defends sea borders MoU

7/09/2011
Nattaya Chetchotiros
Bangkok Post

Former deputy prime minister Surakiart Sathirathai said yesterday that the 2001 memorandum of understanding on maritime borders between Thailand and Cambodia had been beneficial to the kingdom.

The ex-minister who served in the Thaksin Shinawatra government came out in defence of the deal after the Democrat Party on Monday questioned the merits of the MoU.

Democrat spokesman Chavanond Intarakomalyasut told reporters on Monday that the Thaksin government had signed the deal with Cambodia in haste after having been in office only a few months. He also dismissed Mr Surakiart's earlier claim that the MoU compels Phnom Penh to accept that Koh Kut, which is located in the Gulf of Thailand, belongs to Thailand.

Mr Surakiart insisted yesterday the MoU did compel the Cambodian government to recognise Koh Kut as being in Thai territorial waters, although it had tried to say in 1972 that the island and the disputed area near the Preah Vihear temple belonged to Cambodia.

He also rejected Mr Chavanond's comments that the MoU had been signed too quickly. He said the government spent several decades holding talks with Cambodia to settle maritime conflicts before signing the MoU. The talks had been carried out by civil servants, not politicians, Mr Surakiart said.

As for the disputed areas near the temple, Thai and Cambodian government officials had also held several rounds of negotiations over many decades before agreeing to sign an MoU in 2000 during the Chuan Leekpai administration. This was followed by the signing in 2001 of the MoU over the disputed maritime area during the Thaksin administration.

Cambodia agreed to drop its sovereignty claim over Koh Kut after the 2001 agreement was inked, said Mr Surakiart.

The 2001 MoU did not include sharing interests in natural resources in the disputed maritime area as alleged by Mr Chavanond, he said.

The seabed of the overlapping 27,000 square kilometres of waters in the Gulf of Thailand is believed to be rich in oil and gas.

Mr Surakiart said the 2001 MoU included a framework for further negotiations over the disputed maritime area and areas that both governments agreed to jointly develop. It also included a clause that Koh Kut had belonged to Thailand since 1907.

He added that negotiations took quite a long time due to political instability in both countries prior to the Chuan Leekpai administration.Mr Surakiart said instead of criticising people who signed the two MoUs, the public should closely watch negotiations between the Yingluck Shinawatra administration and Cambodia.

Energy Minister Pichai Naripthaphan will be responsible for negotiating on behalf of Thailand about the joint development area.