PHNOM PENH, 23 Feb. 2012 — The German
Ambassador to ASEAN, Indonesia and Timor Leste, Dr. Norbert Bass, told H.E.
Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Sok An that he is interested in learning from Cambodia
about its chairing of ASEAN this year. Dr. Sok An also updated the Ambassador
about Cambodia-Thailand relations.
Dr. Sok An said that Cambodia is playing an active
role as ASEAN chair in contribution to the region and the world as a whole.
“Samdech Prime Minister Hun Sen is very optimistic about Cambodia’s
role as ASEAN chair, and we will do our best for ASEAN’s interests”, Dr. Sok An told Ambassador Bass in their
meeting today.
The Royal Government of Cambodia hosted, for the
first time, the ASEAN Summit in 2003, when she last took the rotating chair.
Dr. Sok An said that Cambodia has good relations
with the current Thai government led by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
Cambodia had rocky relations with the previous Thai
government led by Abhisit Vejjajiva because Thai ultra-nationalists at the time
used a unilateral map which lacks international recognition to provoke conflict
at the border near Cambodia’s temple of Preah Vihear.
In mid-2007, the Thai government presented its
secret and unilateral map at a World Heritage Committee meeting, and Cambodia
rejected that map, which Dr. Sok An called it “a pirate map”.
Dr. Sok An said that Madame Yingluck Shinawatra’s
coming to office last year paved the way for the Joint Border Commission to
resume its work last month.
The Deputy Prime Minister recalled that in April
2011, Cambodia requested the International Court of Justice for an
interpretation of its 1962 ruling concerning the Preah Vihear case.
The ICJ decided in July last year that both parties
should immediately withdraw their military personnel from a provisional
demilitarised zone of more than 17 square km in Cambodia and Thailand and
refrain from any armed activity directed at that zone.
The Court also decided that “Thailand shall not
obstruct Cambodia’s free access to the Temple of Preah Vihear or Cambodia’s
provision of fresh supplies to its non-military personnel in the Temple”.
The Court ordered both parties to continue
cooperation with ASEAN and, in particular, to allow observers appointed by that
organisation to have access to the provisional demilitarised zone, Dr. Sok An
recounted.
He said that the current Thai government agreed to
respect the ICJ’s order.
The ICJ ruled on 15 June 1962 that the temple of
Preah Vihear is situated in Cambodian territory. The ruling also obligated
Thailand to withdraw any military or police forces or other guards it had
stationed at the temple or in its vicinity on Cambodian territory, and to
restore to Cambodia any objects that had been removed from the temple or the
area.
Dr. Bass thanked Dr. Sok An for his explanation of
the history of Preah Vihear, the situation at the temple that occurred in the
1950s and 1960s and the processes that Cambodia went through before the
900-year-old temple was listed as World Heritage in July 2008.
“I highly appreciated your explanation. We now
understand the issue better”, said Dr. Bass.