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A Cambodian border official said that the demarcation of the priority zones along the Cambodian-Thai border is still at an impasse in spite of the fact that, recently, reports indicated that the Thai parliament met to approve the border negotiation meeting between Cambodia and Thailand, as well as with other Thai neighboring countries.

Var Kim Hong, chairman of the Cambodian government border resolution committee, said on Saturday 05 September that, right now, information published from Bangkok, Thailand, about the Cambodian-Thai border cannot be trusted.

Var Kim Hong added that, as for the step leading to the border demarcation along priority zones, Cambodia is already prepared for it, but obstacles prevent this issue from moving forward as Cambodia must wait for Thailand to obtain its parliament approval first.

Var Kim Hong said: “I did not receive the official confirmation as to whether they [Thai parliament] approved it or not, I did no see it yet. Now, information from Bangkok cannot be trusted anymore, their information is in shamble in the past few days and we know this already. They said they would review it yesterday, I don’t know if they reviewed it or not, we don’t know for sure. On Friday, they said they’d review or maybe Monday, we don’t know. Therefore, how can we ask about the border demarcation if there is no approval, we don’t have any plan to plant the border markers according to the Thai constitution.”

Var Kim Hong’s reaction took place after local Thai news media reported that Thai parliament met to approve the Thai government’s border negotiation with Cambodia, as well as with a number of other Thai neighboring countries.

Thailand’s The Nation reported on 02 September that Thailand’s parliament met to decide on the negotiations between the Cambodian-Thai Joint Border Committee, in order to provide security and order along the border. This decision took place following a request made by the Thai ministry of Defense based on Article 190 of Thailand’s constitution.

Cambodian troops who are confronting the Thai troops on top of the Chak Chreng hill, near Preah Vihear temple, said on Saturday morning also that the situation of the confrontation between troops of both countries in the past 10 days has improved, and troops can hold joint patrols and they also ate with each others. Nevertheless, concerns remain because the border dispute is not resolved yet.

Cambodian troops indicated: “The situation is calmer than before, i.e. we understand that the situation is moving well. A few days ago, they [troops] ate together, but, as far as our concerns, we still have them. It’s normal when countries have differences.”

The border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand took place when Thailand sent in several hundreds of its troops to invade Cambodia’s Wat Keo Sekha Kiri Svarak pagoda, as well as a number of other regions in July 2008. Government officials from both countries met to negotiate several times already, but there was no good outcome to these meetings.