Legal chief says Thailand fully prepared to fight Cambodia on land dispute

THE HAGUE, April 14 (TNA) - Reiterating that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is not authorised to consider a request by Cambodia to interpret its 1962 ruling which awarded ancient Preah Vihear temple to Cambodia but left area surrounding it in dispute between the countries, Thailand’s legal team chief Veerachai Palasai said Sunday that his team is now well prepared to defend Phnom Penh charges in the court. Veerachai, also Thai ambassador to The Netherlands, said the Phnom Penh government has no rights to file charges against Thailand to the ICJ. His remarks were made in The Hague just one day before legal experts of both countries give their final oral statements between April 15-19 to the ICJ to reinterpret its 1962 ruling concerning the 4.6 sq km of scrubland near the temple to determine if the land belongs to Cambodia or Thailand. The ICJ is expected to issue its ruling on the disputed land late this year. Veerachai said the Thai government has informed the ICJ earlier that it is not authorised to reinterpret the 1962 ruling while the charge on disputed land filed by Cambodia should be considered as “new case” as it contains fresh dispute and has nothing to do with the old case (the Preah Vihear dispute), therefore, using Article 60 of the ICJ constitution is improper. He said the charge on disputed land near the temple filed by Cambodia is like an appeal which that country sought and asked the court 50 years ago to rule on boundary line between the two countries and the status of the Cambodian map. The court at that time rejected to consider the map, therefore, the request at this time could be interpreted as an appeal and this is outside the court’s impotence to issue any ruling. Veerachai insisted the ongoing dispute is a “fresh issue and does not concern with the 1962 case (the Preah Vihear case)”. (TNA)