Pattaya Daily News
-(MCOT) Thailand is willing to fight its case in the World Court to resolve the border dispute after Cambodia appealed to the court’s 1962 ruling about the ancient Preah Vihear temple, according to Thai Minister of Foreign AffairCambodia’s appeal in the World Court was made after the Cambodian government issued a statement that had requested “interpretation of the Court’s judgment… concerning the temple of Preah Vihear” was prompted by “Thailand’s repeated armed aggression to exert its claims to Cambodian territory.”
“We especially want clarification about the vicinity around the temple. Thailand is using unilateral maps to claim our territory,” a Cambodian government spokesman told Agence France Presse news agency.
Thai foreign ministry spokesman Thani Thongpakdi (pictured right) denied the accusation made by Cambodian government, stating that it was simply Cambodia’s opinion.
The International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 that Preah Vihear temple belonged to Cambodia, although its primary entrance lies in Thailand.
Mr. Thongpakdi believed the Cambodian troops intrusion beginning last Friday was to pave the way for Cambodia to bring the issue to the International Court of Justice.
“The Thai foreign ministry is well prepared. Legal advisors have been hired to handle the case, but we continue to believe that the border dispute should be solved at the bilateral level,” the Thai spokesman said.
“What Cambodia is doing means it overlooks the importance of regional cooperation and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN),” Mr. Thongpakdi added.
Mr. Thongpakdi believed that the court will forward the document to Thailand soon.
“However it may take year or two, or more, for the court’s consideration. We still must see whether the court will accept the case or not,” he said
The historic Preah Vihear temple has been a point of contention between two neighboring countries as the boundary through the surrounding grounds is not demarcated. This is the border where occasional military clashes claimed numerous lives.
The latest skirmish erupted last Friday near Ta Kwai [Ta Krabey] temple in Surin’s Phanom Dong Rak district and the fighting spread to nearby Si Sa Ket province, forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands of local residents for their safety.
The Thai army reported Cambodian troops first fired on Thai soldiers and that Thailand was obliged to retaliate to protect the country’s sovereignty.
4 comments:
They're making a fool of themselve again; you're going to lose.
Thailand feel very confident because it has nothing to lose because it is Cambodian territory that they have claimed. I hope when the court decided, the verdict would be crystal clear. It should say from where is Cambodian territory and from where is Thai territory. Don't leave any ambivalence.
Thai may have a lot of highly educated people than Cambodia, but most don't respect the ruling of the International Court of Justice. Therefore, it doesn't make any sense for the Thai to continue to push for bilateral when it's too arrogant to care about anyone else except themselves. So, the Thai foreign minister, defense minster, and the prime minister should shut their traps and stop releasing dumb ideas to fuel the public.
Only a pocket of the Thai academic fully understand the entire Khmer/Thai history and they continue to warn the Thai government to back down and stop wanting to take what's not belong to them in the first place. The Thai academic should start a revolution to start teaching the Thai about true history of Thai & Khmer.
Supposedly, there are a lot of intellect people in Thailand, or Thailand pretended to be intelligent only from taken out of the pretexts from let say the United States, and it is obvious that intellectually most of Thais people are not genuine at all if you really and genuinely know them. The Thais presented their sophistication and/or their intelligence in almost in every categories nothing but emulation of others, but the ways they portrayed themselves had fooled many people.
If the Thais really a democratic state, which they claimed they are, and if they disagreed with the decision of the ICJ in 1962 with Cambodia, why don't they find legitimate reasons and facts to appeal the decision of the ICJ, Why Not?. Why their government behaved like a bunch of thugs, not any different of the thugs of the Somalian Pirates.
Post a Comment