Phnom Penh Post
Security guards sit on a bunker at the 11th century Preah Vihear temple last week. Photograph: Scott Howes/Phnom Penh Post
During the Cambodian team’s last day of statements before the
International Court of Justice, lawyers shot back at Thai arguments
claiming a 1962 ICJ ruling had granted to Cambodia only the 11th century
Preah Vihear temple, and not necessarily a significant area around the
temple.
Cambodian counsel Rodman Bundy told the court that
Cambodian maps from the 1960s, which the Thai team had argued
demonstrated Cambodia’s acceptance of Thai boundaries, had been intended
by Cambodia only to sketch the natural watershed around the area, and
not to indicate any territorial claims.
Noting that the area
under dispute always had been larger than Thailand would admit, Bundy
added: “When a state objects as many times as Cambodia did, it is not
over a few metres.”
Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Hun Sen
urged the armed forces and citizens of both Cambodia and Thailand to
maintain their good relationship despite the ongoing hearings.
Speaking
to several hundred villagers, youths and government officials at a
groundbreaking ceremony for a new administration building at Kampot
town’s municipal hall, the premier appealed to Cambodian and Thai
military forces not to escalate the territorial dispute, and to allow
the court to settle the case.
“We should resolve the issue by
peaceful means with the legal teams at the ICJ, and not allow this small
dispute to widen along the border,” the prime minister said.
Thai
and Cambodian forces clashed near Preah Vihear repeatedly between 2008,
the year the temple was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site at
Cambodia’s request, and 2011, after which Cambodia asked the ICJ to
explicate its 1962 ruling.
“Do not destroy a bilateral
relationship between the two countries that involves trade, tourism,
culture and other sectors,” Hun Sen said.
“There was happiness
and good relationships from province to province, district to district,
armed forces to armed forces, police to police and local authorities to
local authorities between the two countries.”
Thailand will present its closing statements before the ICJ today.
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