They believe - wrongly- that if Thailand delays settlement on Preah Vihear until February next year, the World Heritage Committee would remove the temple from its listing.
The Nation, 17/12/2009
Normalisation of bilateral relations between Thailand and Cambodia remains an uphill task at this moment as both sides continue to enjoy - for domestic consumption - political benefits from the dispute.
The Thai government has set conditions for normalisation of relations - Cambodia must respect the Thai judiciary; stop interference in Thailand's internal affairs; and remove fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra from the position of adviser to the Cambodian government.
Cambodia, on the other hand, says it wants Thailand to return its ambassador to Phnom Penh, otherwise relations can never get back on track.
The Thai government reply is it would not return its ambassador to resume duty as long as Thaksin remained an adviser to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, and continued to avoid extradition to face punishment following his conviction in Thailand for corruption.
Thaksin has been at the core of the bad relations between the two countries since Hun Sen gave him the economic adviser's post in October. But even before this, feelings had been bad due to the conflict over the Hindu temple of Preah Vihear.
The two governments intentionally put the Thaksin issue into the context of bilateral relations because they wanted to use the issue to boost popularity at home and cover their respective administrative failures.
Posts
