[Cambodia-Thai] Border dispute talks back on track

Aerial mapping of boundary on agenda

Published: 13/02/2012
Writer: Thanida Tansubhapol
Bangkok Post

Thailand and Cambodia will today resume talks under the Joint Boundary Commission to continue surveying and demarcation work on the land boundary between the two countries.

The two-day meeting in Bogor, Indonesia, will be chaired by the head of the Thai delegation Bundit Sotiplalit and his Cambodian counterpart Var Kim Hong (pictured).

Mr Bundit will chair the JBC meeting for the first time. He was appointed head of the Thai delegation in June, replacing former ambassador Vasin Teeravechyan, who resigned from the job due to political pressure.

A source said the selection of companies from Japan, France or Finland to carry out orthophoto mapping of the border will be high on the agenda at the meeting today, and representatives of both countries will also hold discussions on the map's specifications.

Indonesia hosted the previous Thai-Cambodian JBC meeting on April 7-8 last year after the country, as the host of that year's Asean Summit, offered to help broker talks to deal with conflicts between the two countries over the 4.6-square-kilometre disputed area around Preah Vihear temple.

Thailand and Cambodia share a 798km borderline with 73 pillars.

Both countries have surveyed 48 pillars so far.

Of these, they have agreed on 33 pillars.

Bangkok and Phnom Penh returned to the negotiating table after the Constitutional Court agreed last March that the minutes of three JBC meetings in 2008 and 2009 were not considered "treaties" under the Section 190 of the charter.

That section requires any international agreement to be put before the parliament for approval. The court ruled that both countries' negotiators should keep talking about it.

As a result, the previous cabinet of former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on April 12 last year resolved to withdraw the minutes of three JBC meetings from the parliament.

The withdrawal helped border survey and demarcation talks between the two countries to resume.

The Foreign Ministry last week gave out 20,000 handbooks to members of the public interested in the border negotiations between Thailand and Cambodia and the issue of Preah Vihear temple.