Cambodia's claim unsupported

Cambodia believes that the Preah Vihear Temple’s vicinity should be based on the Annex I map (French map 1:200,000 scale), while Thais argue for the watershed as the borderline under the Thai-French treaty. Because of the lack of Thai protest on the French map pre-1962, that map was used to pinpoint the location of the temple, which is in Cambodia, and therefore the court felt it “unnecessary to consider whether the line as mapped by the French did in fact correspond to the true watershed line”. In short, the Thais’ neglect gave rise to the judgement against them without the court having to concern itself with the watershed line.

Based on this background, Cambodia’s request for interpretation of the word “vicinity”, used by the court as a claim for 4.6 square kilometres under the French map as the “vicinity” of the temple, is stretching the imagination, especially when the court did not stamp its approval of the French map. Therefore, common usage should be the basis, meaning only the general surrounding area of the temple, and that certainly does not cover 4.6 square kilometres.

Songdej Praditsmanont

Bangkok