Heritage war?

Thailand and Cambodia have made headlines, this time disputing over a border which houses the Preah Vihear temples. In July Unesco gave the prestigious 8220;World Heritage Site8221; stamp to Preah Vihear, which caused extreme jubilation among the Cambodians and corresponding sneers from the Thais. The nationalists in the Thai government had already passed comment on this recent decision; however they were too pre-occupied with their own internal squabbles. Now that things have calmed down they have re-ignited the issue through accusations which range from loss of sovereignty to out-right aggression.

This territorial dispute, supposedly settled by the International Court of Justice to Cambodia8217;s advantage in 1962, failed to take into account the 4.6 sq km piece of land, which lies adjacent to the temples. Egged on from the opposition party, the Thai army has established its presence on the border this time by deploying over 10,000 troops, heavy artillery and umpteen machine guns. The Cambodian have responded by doing much the same, focusing more on rocket launchers than troops. Originally it seemed as though this was just posturing by the two sides. Cambodia issued statements such as, 8220;Ants can hurt elephants. They Thais should not have done this.8221; Thailand responded with: 8220;The problem now is not about withdrawing or not withdrawing 8212; it8217;s our territory.8221; Matters escalated and culminated with a brief but deadly exchange of fire which lasted for 40 minutes.

Thai and Cambodian officials met for five-hour-long meetings, without progress towards settling the deadlock. International statements from the UN and ASEAN members initially fell on deaf ears 8212; the Thais would not retreat from the territory and Cambodians were preparing for a potential war. What should have been a non-issue became the first outright confrontation between the two neighbours in 10 years.