Thailand's Supreme Commander Gen. Boonsrang Niampradit, right, leads Cambodia's Deputy Premier and Defence Minister Gen. Tea Banh, left, shortly after the latter one arrives for a meeting in the Thai-Cambodian border town of Aranyaprathet, Thailand Monday, July 21, 2008. Cambodian and Thai military leaders began talks Monday aimed at resolving a lingering dispute over territory near a World Heritage Site temple, where more than 4,000 troops from the two sides have been deployed.(AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong)
By Nuntida Puangthong
The Nation
Deutsche Presse Agenture
As of 1.21pm, Thai-Cambodia General Border Committee has not yet started as a four-eyed meeting between Supreme Commander Gen Boonsang Niempradit and Cambodia's Defence Minister Gen Tea Banh is still continuing.
Both chairmen of the GBC started at about 10.15am at Indochina Hotel, Sa Kaew province.
The GBC's special meeting was called to meet in Sa Kaew to defuse military tension near Preah Vihear Temple.
The full GBC meeting will start after the four-eyed meeting finished.
Other officials including Army Defence Minister Gen Anupong Paojinda and Permanent Secretary to foreign affairs are waiting at a meeting room at Indochina Hotel.
The special session of the Thai-Cambodia General Border Committee was conducted to resolve the military stand off near Preah Vihear temple.
Both countries have deployed troops to an area which the Thai side claimed was overlapping zones while the Khmer side claimed as in its soil.
Cambodia tried to use Asean meeting which is conducting ministerial meeting in Singapore as a mechanism to defuse the stand off. However Thailand rejected the effort, saying the conflict should be conducted on bilateral basis.
The Sa Kaew meeting is meant to defuse an intensifying dispute over the ownership of a 4.6-square-kilometre plot of land adjoining Preah Vihear.
Last week Thailand and Cambodia sent about 4,000 troops to the vicinity of Preah Vihear temple, also called Phra Viharn in Thai.
The International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled ownership of the temple to Cambodia in 1962. The row was reignited by the World Heritage Committee's decision to list the temple as a UNESCO site earlier this month despite Thai objections.
Three Thais were briefly detained on July 15 for crossing into a portion of the temple compound that is still subject to a border demarcation dispute. The three were released within hours but prompted Thailand to send paramilitary troops to the contested area, where they remained.
The border spat also coincided with the annual foreign ministers meeting of the Asean Singapore this week.
Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo urged Cambodia and Thailand to exercise utmost restraint while finding peaceful solutions to the row.
"We urge both sides to exercise utmost restraint and resolve this issue amicably, in the spirit of Asean solidarity and good neighbourliness," Yeo said after an informal dinner of Asean officials on the eve of annual ministerial meetings.
The Nation
Deutsche Presse Agenture
As of 1.21pm, Thai-Cambodia General Border Committee has not yet started as a four-eyed meeting between Supreme Commander Gen Boonsang Niempradit and Cambodia's Defence Minister Gen Tea Banh is still continuing.
Both chairmen of the GBC started at about 10.15am at Indochina Hotel, Sa Kaew province.
The GBC's special meeting was called to meet in Sa Kaew to defuse military tension near Preah Vihear Temple.
The full GBC meeting will start after the four-eyed meeting finished.
Other officials including Army Defence Minister Gen Anupong Paojinda and Permanent Secretary to foreign affairs are waiting at a meeting room at Indochina Hotel.
The special session of the Thai-Cambodia General Border Committee was conducted to resolve the military stand off near Preah Vihear temple.
Both countries have deployed troops to an area which the Thai side claimed was overlapping zones while the Khmer side claimed as in its soil.
Cambodia tried to use Asean meeting which is conducting ministerial meeting in Singapore as a mechanism to defuse the stand off. However Thailand rejected the effort, saying the conflict should be conducted on bilateral basis.
The Sa Kaew meeting is meant to defuse an intensifying dispute over the ownership of a 4.6-square-kilometre plot of land adjoining Preah Vihear.
Last week Thailand and Cambodia sent about 4,000 troops to the vicinity of Preah Vihear temple, also called Phra Viharn in Thai.
The International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled ownership of the temple to Cambodia in 1962. The row was reignited by the World Heritage Committee's decision to list the temple as a UNESCO site earlier this month despite Thai objections.
Three Thais were briefly detained on July 15 for crossing into a portion of the temple compound that is still subject to a border demarcation dispute. The three were released within hours but prompted Thailand to send paramilitary troops to the contested area, where they remained.
The border spat also coincided with the annual foreign ministers meeting of the Asean Singapore this week.
Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo urged Cambodia and Thailand to exercise utmost restraint while finding peaceful solutions to the row.
"We urge both sides to exercise utmost restraint and resolve this issue amicably, in the spirit of Asean solidarity and good neighbourliness," Yeo said after an informal dinner of Asean officials on the eve of annual ministerial meetings.
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