PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia’s government says it plans to seek a ruling from the U.N.’s International Court of Justice over border disputes with neighboring Thailand, one of which triggered a fatal military clash last week.
Cambodia’s National Assembly, where Prime Minister Hun Manet’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party holds all but a handful of seats, voted on Monday to support the government’s decision.
A 1962 ruling by the same court, awarding to Cambodia the disputed territory on which a historic temple is located, rankled Thailand and to this day remains a major irritant in bilateral relations.
Thai officials did not immediately respond to Cambodia’s intention to seek a ruling from the court, which is located in The Hague in the Netherlands and also known as the World Court.
Thailand’s Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa said Sunday that Thailand’s actions at the border were proportionate and in line with domestic and international law. He said the situation at the border remained calm, and that both sides agreed to find solutions to ease the tension as soon as possible.
The brief May 28 clash near Morokot village, in Cambodia’s northwestern province of Preah Vihear, in which one Cambodian soldier was killed, began when Cambodian troops were conducting a routine patrol along the border when the Thai side opened fire, the Cambodian side says.
The Thai army says that Cambodian soldiers entered a disputed patch of land and opened fire when Thai soldiers approached them to negotiate.
Hun Manet in social media posts on Sunday declared that his government will ask the court to rule on the demarcation of several disputed areas, including where the centuries-old Hindu-style Ta Moan Thom, Ta Moan Toch and Ta Kro Bei temples are located.
In February, Cambodian troops and their family members entered the Ta Moan Thom temple in disputed territory and sang the Cambodian national anthem, leading to a brief argument with Thai forces.
After last week’s flare-up, both sides quickly called for calm and talks to ease their differences, while reserving the right to use military action to safeguard their sovereignty. On Thursday, the two countries’ army commanders met to discuss how to avoid more clashes
On Monday, Hun Manet called for the two countries to have their Joint Border Commission continue the work of border demarcation, as well as having the World Court take up the issue.
Hun Manet’s announced intention to appeal to the World Court may touch a raw nerve in Thailand, because the 1962 ruling awarding the major Preah Vihear temple to Cambodia is a touchstone issue for Thai nationalists. and wielded in domestic politics.
Last year, Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinatwatra’s government was attacked on nationalist grounds for proposing to resume talks with Cambodia on demarcation of maritime territory believed to hold profitable hydrocarbon resources.
In 2008, there were several deadly clashes between Cambodia and Thai forces at the Preah Vihear promontory, an area on which sits a 1,000-year-old temple that was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site that same year. In 2013, the World Court reaffirmed its 1962 ruling.
Hun Manet, speaking Monday to Cambodia lawmakers, said his government would take the cases of the other disputed areas to the World Court to determine ownership even if Thailand did not join in the appeal, in order “to end this problem and extinguish it once and for all so that there is no further confusion.”
“In particular, let’s not fall for the incitement of a handful of extremist groups in Cambodia and Thailand, and let’s not fall into the problem of confrontation by armed forces of the two countries,” he said.
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Associated Press writer Jintamas Saksornchai in Bangkok contributed to this report.
