Kasit defends MoU signed with Phnom Penh

3rd August, 2010
Thanida Tansubhapol and Manop Thip-osod
Bangkok Post

Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya is defending the memorandum of understanding signed with Cambodia in 2000 on border issues, saying it does not put Thailand at a disadvantage.

"The MoU is an existing tool and a framework for negotiations on the border problems [with Cambodia]," Mr Kasit said yesterday.

"More importantly, the MoU is vital for the World Heritage Committee in Brazil to understand that the border negotiations between Thailand and Cambodia have not been finalised and are still ongoing. It includes the Preah Vihear temple area."

A government source close to the issue yesterday said if Thailand did not have this memo with Cambodia, then it would have no guidelines to use in their border demarcation talks.

"The MoU has provided the framework for the surveying of and demarcation of the border between the two countries," the source said.

"Both sides brought all the evidence that they have to include in the MoU."

The document was signed in 2000 by Deputy Foreign Minister Sukhumbhand Paribatra, who is now governor of Bangkok, and adviser to the Cambodian government Var Kim Hong when the Democrat Party led the coalition government and Chuan Leekpai was prime minister.

In the memo, Cambodia presents a map at 1:200,000 scale and other documents for border negotiations. Thailand uses the 1904 and 1907 Siam-France Treaties as well as other relevant treaties, the source said.

"We could not simply exclude the map submitted by Cambodia, otherwise it would have refused to sign the MoU [at the time]," the source said.

But the source stressed that "allowing Cambodia to include the map in the MoU did not mean Thailand that accepted it for use in negotiations on demarcation of border areas".

The source said all documents from both sides must be considered in surveys and border demarcation, and if they have any disputes over the documents, they then have to discuss them together to find common ground.

The source said revoking the memorandum could only be done if both countries agreed.

Critics of the government have demanded that Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva reject the map presented by Cambodia as they say it could lead to the loss of disputed territory.

The prime minister said yesterday he would try to explain the benefits of the 2000 memorandum to critics and he was ready to talk with people with different perspectives on the issue.

In addition to the treaties and maps to be used for border demarcation talks, the other duties of the two countries include searching for all the original 73 markers on the border. The two states began searching for the border markers in 2006 and have recovered 48 so far.