Thai Supreme Commander confident no border clash between Thai, Cambodia troops

BANGKOK, July 19 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's Supreme Commander of Royal Thai Armed Forces Boonsrang Niumpraditt (pictured) Saturday expressed confidence that Thai and Cambodian troops would not clash although the troops have been built up along the disputed border line near Preah Vihear temple.

Speaking on a Bangkok radio station, Boonsrang said there will definitely be no violence.

Boonsrang said the Thai military will not employ violence to solve this problem. Instead, the military would use peaceful means in solving the border crisis.

He said the deployment of troops along the border would not affect the scheduled meeting of the Thai-Cambodian General Border Committee on Monday either.

Boonsrang has been assigned by Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej to lead the Thai delegation to Monday's meeting of the Thai-Cambodian General Border Committee at Sa Kaeo on the Thai-Cambodian border to discuss issues concerning the Preah Vihear temple situation with Cambodia.

Both countries have claimed sovereignty over a 4.6 square kilometers area adjacent to the temple, which the International Court of Justice awarded, together with the land it occupies, to Cambodia in 1962. The decision has rankled the Thais ever since.

The security situation around the temple deteriorated after three Thais were briefly detained by Cambodian soldiers after surreptitiously crossing into the disputed border area on Tuesday. The three people were released on the same day.

According to reports, both Thailand and Cambodia have reinforced their troops at and near Preah Vihear Temple, which straddles the Thai-Cambodian border atop the Dangrek Mountain and was listed as a World Heritage Site on July 7 by the UNESCO's World Heritage Committee.

Editor: Wang Hongjiang