Border dispute widens

The Bangkok Post today rather gracelessly accuses Cambodia of making up a crisis at Ta Moan temple in order to stoke nationalist sentiment.

Cambodia on Sunday escalated the border dispute over the Preah Vihear temple, accusing Thai troops of “occupying” a temple far to the west, long considered a totally different matter.

About 70 Thais have been at the 13th Century Ta Muen Thom temple complex in Surin province “since Thursday”, a Cambodian spokesman in Phnom Penh claimed.

But Thai Foreign Minister Tej Bunnag said no troops have moved into the area.

Cambodia and spokesman Sim Sokha appeared to be linking the Preah Vihear and Ta Muen Thom disputes. Although both are in border areas, they are not connected in either distant or recent history – until now.

Perhaps the Bangkok Post has forgotten, but it was Thailand who first sent troops into Preah Vihear and started this whole mess. If Thailand is unhappy with the way things are unfolding, it has no one to blame but itself.

UPDATE: Xinhua adds this:

Earlier on Monday, Thailand’s Supreme Commander Gen Boonsang Niampradit said that he has handed a letter to Cambodian authorities, stating Thailand’s sovereignty over the land at the Ta Moan Thom temple.

Meanwhile, Thailand’s Fine Arts Department has nominated the Khmer-style Ta Muen Thom temple, situated on disputed Thai-Cambodian border area, to be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, the department’s director general Kriengkrai Sampatchalit said Monday.

Cambodia, of course, also claims sovereignty over Ta Moan. It’s a “Khmer-style” temple, after all. Neither side, however, is likely to budge on the issue, and a timely resolution to the conflict appears extremely unlikely.