Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Military plans for reaction to ruling on temple

January 16, 2013
The Nation

The armed forces yesterday discussed security measures in preparation for an International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling later this year on Cambodia's request for an interpretation of the court's 1962 verdict on the Preah Vihear temple on the Thai-Cambodian border.

Representatives from the Army, Navy and Air Force met at an undisclosed location in Bangkok yesterday. The meeting was chaired by General Padetkarn Chansawek, the armed forces chief-of-staff.

They came up with measures that could be taken in response to four possible rulings by the ICJ, ranging from a court rejection of Cambodia's request to a ruling that the disputed area around Preah Vihear belongs to Cambodia, according to a source familiar with this matter.


The meeting assessed the preparedness of the armed forces in dealing with possible security issues on the border with Cambodia following a new court verdict, according to the source.

The participants also discussed improvement in the armed forces' intelligence operations, as Cambodia appeared to have the upper hand over Thailand after recent developments in the border conflict, the source said.

In a related development, the Defence Ministry sought Cabinet approval to set up six working groups to directly deal with border issues with neighbouring countries.

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