On 10 January 2011, at 14:20 hrs., at the Government House, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva gave an interview regarding the progress in helping the seven Thais who were arrested and accused by Cambodia as illegally crossing the border into Cambodia. He said that their relatives had the opportunity to visit those arrested and the government was working on the legal case, and he would discuss ways to provide support in the evening with Mr. Suthep Thaugsuban, Deputy Prime Minister for security affairs, and Mr. Kasit Piromya, Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The Prime Minister said that the goal was to help the arrested Thais and to avoid impacts on the rights of the country. The government would follow the development of the legal case and would set guidelines to be revealed at an appropriate time. He also confirmed that we had to monitor and review information presented by Cambodia to prevent further problems, especially the boundary issues which had not been resolved in many areas. At the same time, the communities of both sides living in the border area were seemingly trespassing. We needed to look for clear guidelines on this issue as the locals could cross the border without problems, but outsiders' visits could cause suspicions. The Prime Minister said he was not aware of the news saying that the seven Thais might be released after 14 January 2011 and stressed that we needed to be careful on such information which could cause confusions. He also warned of expectations as some news could conflict with each other.
Regarding the news from the Cambodian side saying that the Thai military chased and shot some Cambodians, the Prime Minister said, if any, the shooting was for the case of trespassing which was a separate case from the case of the seven Thais. Recently, there was an arrest without shooting. The Prime Minister stressed that the two countries must help improve the relationship in a good direction for the mutual benefits of the people and should avoid impacts on overall relationship from one issue. At the same time, each country had to retain their rights and maintain sovereignty.
Regarding the claim of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) that the seven Thais were arrested in the Thai territory which was opposite to the government's explanation, the Prime Minister said that we had to base on reality and that Cambodia did not dispute the matter of coordinates but casted doubt about the location map. The Prime Minister confirmed that the area mentioned as having been documented on the existing maps of Thailand belonged to Thailand. As for the locals' complaint that they were not able to enter the area, the Prime Minister said that he was working on it, as a separate issue from others, such as wells and camps. The Prime Minister wanted relevant authorities to examine the data carefully, as the documents made by UNBRO did not indicate the facts claimed by others.
The Prime Minister stressed that he did not want conflict within the country and that he would give an explanation after the situation improved, saying that everything must be transparent. The problem was to help the seven Thais first. He said that border issues would be resolved based on the MOU and the JBC, which were not problematic. When disputes occur, we needed to consider guidelines to avoid actions escalating potential conflict, said the Prime Minister.
No comments:
Post a Comment