Border conflict between Cambodia and Thailand

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Location of the temple complex on the Thai-Cambodian state border.
Prasat Preah Vihear

The border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia has been smoldering since the 1950s and was sometimes fought at gunpoint. The dispute is mainly about the Prasat Preah Vihear temple , an abandoned Hindu Khmer temple from the 10th to 12th centuries, and the surrounding area. The temple itself, which is listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, as well as the surrounding area that allows access to the temple, is claimed by both states.

chronology

19th century

  • 1833–1846: Siamese-Vietnamese War . Siam gains supremacy over Cambodia. During the reign of King Phra Nang Klao (Rama III.) And King Mongkut (Rama IV.) , The Cambodian kings are crowned by the Thai kings.
  • 1861: France rules Saigon and South Vietnam and shows interest in Cambodia.
  • December 7, 1863: A treaty is signed between Siam and Cambodia, stating Cambodia's dependence on Siam.
  • France invites Siam to the coronation of Prince Norodom.
  • 1867: Siam and France sign a treaty stating that all of Cambodia , with the exception of Siem Reap , Battambang and Sisophon, comes under French protection.
  • 1893: France occupies the east bank of the Mekong , forcing Siam to sign a pact on the legality of this occupation.

20th century

  • February 1904: Siam and France sign a treaty in which Siam agrees to return the area east of the Mekong and the land south of the Dongrek Mountains to France. In return, Siam will get back the province of Chanthaburi , which France had previously occupied.
  • March 1908: Siam and France sign another contract in which Siam's ownership of Siem Reap, Battambang and Sisophon is transferred to France. In return, Siam receives Dan Sai, Trat and all the islands between Laem Ling ("Monkey Cape", north of Ko Chang ) and Ko Kut . Even so, Siam continues to exercise authority over Preah Vihear by granting licenses to log and hunt elephants in the area.
  • 1929: Prince Damrong , the "father of archeology", visits various historical sights in the province of Si Sa Ket . At Prasat Preah Vihear, he is greeted by the French governor of Kampongthom and some uniformed French officials. A French flag is hoisted in the temple area. This process will later be presented to the International Court of Justice as evidence.
  • 1934: Thai surveyors begin to measure the boundaries between Siam and Cambodia, placing the temple complex on Thai territory.
  • 1939: Luang Wichitwathakan , the general manager of the Thai Fine Arts Department , examines the map of the area and discovers that the border runs along a stream rather than the line of the watershed. The government under Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram is trying to reach an agreement with the French government of Indochina . In a public announcement on October 11, 1940, the area around the temple was placed under Thai protection.
  • October 1940: The "Fine Arts Department" registers the Prasat Preah Vihear as a "National Historic Monument". The Thai government openly takes possession of the site and appoints Luang Sri as the administrator, who then lives in a cave near the temple.
  • 1942: During the Second World War, Thailand allies itself with Japan in the so-called "Tokyo Treaty" and thus receives back all the land that had to be ceded to France during the reign of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) .
  • 1949: France, with the consent of Cambodia, submits a notice of appeal against Thailand insisting that all Thai personnel be withdrawn from the area, since it is legally part of Cambodia.
  • 1958: Cambodia reiterates its claims to Preah Vihear several times. The Cambodian Ministry of Public Affairs publishes detailed legal arguments and accuses Thailand of distorting historical facts. The contract of 1940 is cited as evidence.
  • August 1958: Relations become so strained that Thailand mobilizes troops in six provinces along the Thai-Cambodian border.
  • December 1958: Negotiations fail, causing Cambodia to sever diplomatic relations with Thailand.
  • October 1959: The Cambodian government calls the International Court of Justice in The Hague , demanding the withdrawal of Thai troops from the vicinity of Preah Vihear and public recognition of the Cambodian ownership by Thailand.
  • December 1959: Thailand replies with a renewed announcement that Preah Vihear is a national monument. The dispute now focuses on the contract of 1904, in which, according to Thailand, the associated card was not approved by the commission. On this map Preah Vihear is on Cambodian territory.
  • June 1962: The International Court of Justice decides by nine votes to three that Phreah Vihear is on Cambodian territory and that Thailand never contradicted the 1904 map.
  • 1970: Lon Nol's government resumes diplomatic relations with Thailand. Preah Vihear will be opened to the public as a tourist attraction.
  • 1975: The Khmer Rouge regime occupies Cambodia, its troops take up positions in the Dongrek Mountains. The area around Preah Vihear is mined, concrete bunkers that are still visible today are being built.
  • August 1998: After defeating the Khmer Rouge troops, the Cambodian government reopens the temple to international tourism. In the first few days, Preah Vihear is visited by up to 30,000 people.

21st century

Outline map Preah Vihear
  • 2007: During a UNESCO conference in Christchurch, Cambodia files Preah Vihear's application for a nomination as a World Heritage Site .
  • May 22, 2008: At a meeting between Thai and Cambodian envoys at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, an agreement is reached to redefine the map of the area around the temple.
  • May 26, 2008: The Thai government announces its support for Cambodia in applying for a World Heritage Site.
  • June 17, 2008: Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama unveils a new map of the area around the temple drawn by Phnom Penh in support of the UNESCO nomination. This card has to be approved by parliament according to article 190 of the Thai constitution . Critics, however, question the legality as a strip of Thai land is now on the Cambodian side. They accuse the government of ceding this land in exchange for economic benefits.
  • June 21, 2008: The ongoing protests by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD; “Yellow Shirts”) against the constitutional amendment by the government of Samak Sundaravej were rekindled by the cabinet decision to officially approve the card.
  • June 24, 2008: The Cambodian government closed the temple to the public. She feared that the Thai protests would spread across the border.
  • June 27, 2008: The Democratic Party and some senators appealed to the Thai Constitutional Court to invalidate the June 17 cabinet decision.
  • July 8, 2008: UNESCO names the temple a World Heritage Site.
  • July 9, 2008: The Supreme Court of Thailand found the communiqué signed by Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama and Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An in violation of the constitution.
  • July 10, 2008: Thai Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama resigns on allegations.
  • July 15, 2008: Three Thais cross the border in protest and enter the temple complex. They are arrested by Cambodian border police. Rumors that Thai troops would then cross the border turn out to be untrue. The protesters are released the same day. The Cambodian and Thai armies will begin to pull together several hundred soldiers in the vicinity of the temple over the next few days. The political leadership wants to clarify the situation diplomatically at a crisis meeting on July 21, 2008.
  • July 20, 2008: Cambodia lodged a complaint with the UN about the stationing of over 1000 Thai soldiers in the immediate vicinity of the temple.
  • July 21, 2008: According to a survey by Suan Dusit Rajabhat University, the majority of Thais believe that the Preah Vihear conflict is escalating.
  • October 3, 2008: The dispute between Cambodia and Thailand over the Hindu temple on the common border has flared up again. According to information from both sides, at least three soldiers were injured in an exchange of fire lasting several minutes about three kilometers west of the temple, two Thai and one Cambodian. Both sides accuse each other of crossing the line.
  • October 16, 2008: After two Cambodian soldiers were killed in another exchange of fire the day before and several soldiers were injured on both sides, the two states agree to conduct joint border patrols.
  • April 3, 2009: Another exchange of fire breaks out, killing two Cambodian soldiers. Cambodia accuses the Thai troops of invading their territory again.
  • June 1, 2009: Cambodia accuses Thai soldiers of occupying a hill on Cambodian territory near the temple, which Thailand denies.
  • July 18, 2011: The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, called on by Cambodia, asked both sides to withdraw their troops around Preah Vihear and to allow observers from ASEAN to enter the premises.
  • July 18, 2012: Both countries began to withdraw their troops from the disputed area around Preah Vihear. The total of 900 soldiers are to be replaced by the border police.
  • November 11, 2013: The International Court of Justice clarified its decision of 1962 to the effect that the area around the temple also belongs entirely to Cambodia and that the Thais must withdraw.

See also

literature

  • Volker Grabowsky : The dispute over Preah Vihear and the domestic political debate in Thailand. In: Orapim Bernart, Holger Warnk: Thailand. Facets of a Southeast Asian culture. Orientations Special Issue 2012, Edition global, Munich 2013, pp. 69–101.
  • Jörg Menzel : IGH v. June 15, 1962 - Temple of Preah Vihear. About the normative power of faulty maps and delayed reactions. In: Menzel u. a .: international jurisprudence. Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2005, pp. 131-135
  • Sonja Meyer: Preah Vihear Reloaded - The border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia. In: Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs , Vol. 28, No. 1, 2009, pp. 47-68.
  • Sven Missling: A Legal View of the Case of the Temple Preah Vihear. In: Brigitta Hauser-Schäublin: World Heritage Angkor and Beyond. Circumstances and Implications of UNESCO Listings in Cambodia. Universitätsverlag Göttingen, 2011, pp. 57–67.
  • Puangthong R. Pawakapan: State and Uncivil Society in Thailand at the Temple of Preah Vihear. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore 2013.
  • Sienho Yee: Notes on the International Court of Justice (Part 5): Temple of Preah Vihear (Interpretation) (2013). In: Chinese Journal of International Law, 14 (4), 2015, pp. 655-663

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bangkok Post, A fine line , May 22, 2008 - Article no longer available
  2. ↑ Bangkok Post, General News , May 25, 2008
  3. ↑ Bangkok Post, General News , June 19, 2008
  4. ↑ Bangkok Post, Cambodia closes Preah Vihear , June 24, 2008
  5. ↑ Bangkok Post, General News , June 27, 2008
  6. ↑ nationmultimedia.com Cabinet faces impeachment ( memento of February 23, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), July 9, 2008
  7. ↑ Bangkok Post, General News , July 10, 2008
  8. ↑ BBC , Thai-Cambodia stand-off continues , July 16, 2008
  9. ↑ http://www.bangkokpost.com/170708_News/17Jul2008_news01.php  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Troop build-up at border , July 17th, 2008 - Item no longer available@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.bangkokpost.com  
  10. ↑ Bangkok Post, www.bangkokpost.com/200708_News/20Jul2008_news001.php Cambodia complains to UN , July 20, 2008 - Article no longer available
  11. ↑ Bangkok Post, General News , July 21, 2008
  12. ↑ CNN , Thai and Cambodian troops wounded in clash ( November 1, 2008 memento in the Internet Archive ), October 3, 2008
  13. ↑ Tagesschau : Relaxation in the border dispute at the Hindu temple ( memento from October 19, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) , October 16, 2008.
  14. ↑ Der Standard , Dead in Skirmishes on the Border to Thailand , April 3, 2009
  15. ↑ Bangkok Post, At least 2 killed in border clashes , April 3, 2009
  16. ↑ Bangkok Post, Thai troops stand guard near temple . June 1, 2009
  17. ↑ Nicola Glass: Court demands troop withdrawal. In: the daily newspaper . July 18, 2011, accessed July 19, 2011 .
  18. ↑ Partial withdrawal of troops from the disputed area around the Preah Vihear Temple and border police as a replacement for troops
  19. ↑ Thailand and Cambodia withdraw troops. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . July 18, 2012, accessed July 18, 2012 .
  20. ↑ dpa / ecb: Border dispute: Thailand must release Cambodia temple district. In: welt.de . November 11, 2013, accessed October 7, 2018 .
  21. ↑ Archive link ( Memento from November 11, 2013 in the Internet Archive )

Coordinates: 14 ° 23 ′ 46 ″  N , 104 ° 40 ′ 49 ″  E