Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Saturday (July 31) that a joint World Heritage listing of Preah Vihear and its adjacent compound - claimed by both Thailand and Cambodia - was the "best and smoothest path to take" to end conflict over Cambodia's controversial management plan for the ancient Khmer temple.
Abhisit and foreign minister Kasit Piromya also disputed Phnom Penh's claims of victory following a decision by Unesco's World Heritage Committee to defer a review of Cambodia's management plan until its meeting next year.
The prime minister instructed concerned officials to come up with a detailed analysis of Cambodia's management plan for Preah Vihear to appraise how the plan adversely affects the country's sovereignty. Abhisit said the country would have enough time to study if the plan would bring about any problems before it was sent back to the World Heritage Committee.
The PM said he believed the bilateral memorandum of understanding (MoU) agreed in 2000 was useful for Thailand, especially provisions that ban Cambodia from entering the disputed zone. He instructed the foreign and defence ministries to scrutinise the management plan next week.
Asked to respond to Cambodian deputy prime minister Sok An's claim that the World Heritage Committee had accepted Cambodia's management plan, Abhisit said he needed to see exactly what the committee said.
He believed the committee was careful about its wording. "It will not use the word acknowledge, but acknowledge the submission of the plan. The plan was submitted to the office but the committee members have not considered it,'' he said.
Abhisit said he believed the best solution was to change from having Cambodia solely register the Hindu temple to a proposal by two countries so the World Heritage Site could be co-managed by both.
"This will depend entirely on the Unesco committee, whether it will accept this proposal and for Cambodia to accept the reality. But this is the best and smoothest way out,'' Abhisit said.
The PM said he wished to see Cambodia change its stance and seek cooperation instead of pressuring Thailand on this issue without heeding the country's opinion.
He said the country lost its way when then foreign minister Noppadon Pattama accepted the joint communique in 2008 but since then Thailand had strongly defended itself against the move, and the country was now in a better position.
Abhisit said he understood the call of the People's Alliance for Democracy to scrap the MoU signed in 2000 with Cambodia, but he believed that stemmed from different interpretations and hoped this would not lead to quarrels.
He said although the border tension had subsided, the government was still vigilant and he had instructed foreign minister Kasit to consult with the defence ministry about the problem of Cambodia continuing to occupy the disputed zone. "I do not want to discuss repatriation in advance as I would like to refrain from making the atmosphere tense but we also have to protect national interests,'' he said.
Kasit said Saturday that the Unesco panel's decision in regard to Cambodia's development plan was not a victory for either Thailand or Cambodia.
He was responding to Cambodian deputy prime minister Sok An's earlier remark that Cambodia had achieved its goal when Unesco's panel agreed on Thursday at its meeting in Brazil to consider its management plan for the Preah Vihear Temple. The World Heritage Committee deferred its discussion on the issue to its meeting in Bahrain next year.
"Neither country wins on the issue. What he (Sok An) said, that Cambodia had won, was not correct," Kasit said, explaining that he did not understand why Sok An, who led the Cambodian delegation to the Brasilia meeting, made such an announcement.
The committee decided to defer its consideration of the matter for another year to enable the neighbouring countries to settle their differences regarding the disputed territory around Preah Vihear first, the foreign minister said.
The Associated Press earlier quoted Sok An as saying that, "Unesco has officially accepted our management plan documents, so there is no need to have a further discussion or voting. The result of the meeting is a big victory for Cambodia, a result we have been waiting for."
Abhisit told the media to carefully read the committee resolution about the matter. When asked to comment on Sok An's remark, he said "please find out and read the resolution".
