DPA
Phnom Penh - Cambodia and Thailand said on Tuesday that the border temple of Preah Vihear was not in dispute and Thailand would not obstruct it being accepted as a Unesco World Heritage Site.
"The process of listing the Preah Vihear temple as a World Heritage Site is a Cambodian internal affair," Cambodian spokesman Phay Siphon said. "Both governments agree to cooperate."
Siphon told journalists after a meeting between Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An and a Thai delegation led by Thai Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs Virasakdi Futrakul that the talks were cordial.
The temple, known as Khao Phra Viharn in Thai and predating Angkor Wat by a century, is a sacred site to both nations but can only be accessed easily from the Thai side.
Despite Thai protests, it was awarded to Cambodia in 1962 by the International Court of Justice in The Hague but has historically remained a contentious issue between Thais and Khmers. In Thai, the temple is called Khao Phra Viharn.
Both sides are accused of deploying troops there in recent years, but on Tuesday, both sides were keen to be seen as in agreement.
Siphon declined comment about whether any other talks had been held on the two nations' still-disputed border demarcation or whether these have been as cordial.
Because of the rugged border terrain and a history of colonialism and war in Indochina, borders in the region remain a hot issue with potential mineral and oil reserves in the balance.
Siphon said he was not aware of a visit by World Heritage representatives to the temple this week, which diplomatic sources have said could go ahead.
In a speech to mark World Press Freedom Day over the weekend, Information Minister Khieu Kanharith was also conciliatory.
He urged journalists to keep their work on the temple issue factual and calm and not to incite problems that do not exist between the two neighbours.
"The process of listing the Preah Vihear temple as a World Heritage Site is a Cambodian internal affair," Cambodian spokesman Phay Siphon said. "Both governments agree to cooperate."
Siphon told journalists after a meeting between Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An and a Thai delegation led by Thai Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs Virasakdi Futrakul that the talks were cordial.
The temple, known as Khao Phra Viharn in Thai and predating Angkor Wat by a century, is a sacred site to both nations but can only be accessed easily from the Thai side.
Despite Thai protests, it was awarded to Cambodia in 1962 by the International Court of Justice in The Hague but has historically remained a contentious issue between Thais and Khmers. In Thai, the temple is called Khao Phra Viharn.
Both sides are accused of deploying troops there in recent years, but on Tuesday, both sides were keen to be seen as in agreement.
Siphon declined comment about whether any other talks had been held on the two nations' still-disputed border demarcation or whether these have been as cordial.
Because of the rugged border terrain and a history of colonialism and war in Indochina, borders in the region remain a hot issue with potential mineral and oil reserves in the balance.
Siphon said he was not aware of a visit by World Heritage representatives to the temple this week, which diplomatic sources have said could go ahead.
In a speech to mark World Press Freedom Day over the weekend, Information Minister Khieu Kanharith was also conciliatory.
He urged journalists to keep their work on the temple issue factual and calm and not to incite problems that do not exist between the two neighbours.
5 comments:
Preah Vichear must be resolved once and for all so that Cambodia will not be bullied by Thailand again. Looking good in front of cameras will not solved the problem. Thailand must learn to treat Cambodia fairly with respect to history. There are a lot of things that we can do together but being strangling over the Preah Vihear issue. Cambodia is clearly the victim country, our reaction is only our duty and responsibility to defend our interest as a nation. We are not intruding, invading, enroaching, interfering, stealing, obstructing for what Thailand's; but it is the other way around.
note how the thai still say that access to our temple is only from the thai side; that's balonie! also note how the thai called it "prah viharn". well, let me educate those who are not khmer that the thai changed the spelling to make it the thai sound only as the words 'prah viharn' is actually the corrupted thai sound of the khmer's words 'preah vihear'. just note how similar the two names are; it is almost like french, english, or spanish for some words in these languages may be spelled the same or slightly different, but the are pronounced differently or even having the same meanings. just the sounds are different. oh well, enough of thai as we khmer people are not that fond of them anyway. they are the cultural thieves in our eyes.
on the same note, also note how the khmer word "phnom and nokor" are copied by the thai to have their own spelling of "phanom" for khmer's "phnom" and "nakorn" for khmer's "nokor". see the similarity, dispite the sound or pronunciation differences. also, note the khmer word for island is "koh or koah" depends on a person's spelling of it; and the thai are using the same khmer word for island. the list goes on and on, however i thought i put these out just to illustrate to non-khmer people or non-thai people the strikingly similar between khmer and thai in many many many ways than there are differences. i guess to understand more, all once has to do is study both the khmer and thai languages and you will see the subtle similarity the thai adopted from the khmer language. even the thai movies are khmer in origin. it is very rare and few if anything that the thai did not borrow or adopt from khmer, not to mention the very existence of the thai nation as it was conceived due to very very strong khmer influences during the golden age of the great khmer civilization of angkor, which at the time as comparable to the romans or the greek of the western civilization. god bless cambodia.
Thai Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs Virasakdi Futrakul failed to protest openly to the media here. Otherwise, he would not be able to board home!
Don't fully protest after you arrive home. Tell your King and your people that "I am barking too much and now my energy ran out." You should also quote this simple sentence to your leaders that "I also am sorry for not able to persuade to Mr. Sok An and Mr. Hun Sen to have them share 50/50 of sacred Preah Vihear in Unesco registration for World Heritage or 50/50 for management."
These two sentences would be found online in a lesson of Special English program for Thais.
Preah Vihear belong to Khmers on both sides of the fence. Therefore, it should be settled 50/50. Stop bullshitting and start developing.
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