Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday criticized Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva for reportedly saying that he would call on Unesco’s World Heritage Committee to register Preah Vihear temple as a world heritage site under the joint management of Cambodia and Thailand.
Mr Abhisit was quoted by Thai newspaper the Bangkok Post on Wednesday as saying that he would make the request when the heritage committee next convenes in Spain on June 22.
Mr Hun Sen told reporters outside the Foreign Affairs Ministry on Thursday that Mr Abhisit’s remarks represented a “disturbance of another country’s sovereignty.”
He added that he hoped “Une-
sco will not make the ignorant decision to give into [Abhisit’s] greedy demands.”
The prime minister said that Mr Abhisit’s request would be unsuccessful: “First of all, the Hague court granted Preah Vihear temple and the surrounding territory to Cambodia [in 1962], and secondly, Unesco has already listed Preah Vihear as a world heritage site for Cambodia.”
The WHC unanimously approv-
ed Cambodia’s application to in-
clude the Khmer temple on the World Heritage list in July 2008. Shortly after the inscription, Thai-
land moved its troops into the area, which sparked current conflict.
“I am very sorry about his comments and objectives,” Mr Hun Sen said. “During his visit to Cam-
bodia he did not raise the issue with me. He will not succeed in his goal.”
Repeated attempts to contact Thai Embassy officials in Phnom Penh were unsuccessful.
The Bangkok Post reported Thursday that Thailand’s chairman of the Thai WHC and Min-
ister for Natural Resources and the Environment, Suwit Khunkitti, will take his time to explain fully to all 21 members of the WHC why Thailand wants a review of the decision to register Cambodia’s Preah Vihear temple as a World Heritage site.
The newspaper also reported that Thai Major General Tawatchai Samutsakhon, the Second Army deputy chief in charge of intelligence and operations, said he was not worried by a suggestion that Thailand’s push for a review of the WHC resolution would cause confrontation between Thai and Cam-
bodian troops in the disputed border areas.
Abdul Wichiancharoen, adviser to Thailand’s National World Heritage Committee, said his government’s objection could not lead to a change in the listing of Preah Vihear, the Thai newspaper The Nation reported on Thursday. However, he agreed with the government’s symbolic objection and supported the government’s policy in preventing Cambodia from annexing areas of land claimed by Thailand.
According to Giovanni Boccardi, chief of Unesco’s East Asia and Pacific Unit, it hasn’t been determined whether there should be a discussion on the temple when the WHC assembles later this month due to a “very heavy agenda.”
However, if the discussion goes ahead then Thailand, as an observer state party, would be able to request to intervene, he wrote in an e-mail from Unesco’s World Heri-
tage Center in Paris.
“In this case the chairperson of the committee might decide to give Thailand the floor, after the members of the Committee have intervened,” he wrote.
Phay Siphan, spokesman for the Council of Ministers in Phnom Penh said, “[the issue] stays the same. Preah Vihear belongs to Cambodia. We have the full rights to the site.”
“We are not worried,” he added.
In the past the Thai government has expressed concerns that Cambodia’s successful listing of the Preah Vihear temple as a world heritage site might undermine their standing regarding the territorial dispute on the border. The two countries have yet to complete planned border demarcation near the site.
Answering questions concerning the border dispute, Mr Siphan said that any damage inflicted upon the temple would not have an impact on the temple’s status as a world heritage site.
“We have a good management plan for damage and part of our obligation is to preserve the Preah Vihear temple,” he said.
Contacted by telephone on Thursday, RCAF division 3 commander, Major Srey Dek—who is stationed at the Preah Vihear temple—said he had met with Thai commanders in Preah Vi-
hear province’s Choam Ksan district last week to discuss the withdrawal of the troops from the disputed area.
“The situation along the border is not a tense one. It has re-
mained stable,” he said.
(Additional reporting by Casja Collin and Eang Mengleng)
