BANGKOK, July 19 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's Supreme Commander of Royal Thai
Armed Forces Boonsrang Niumpraditt Saturday expressed confidence that Thai and
Cambodian troops would not clash although the troops have been built up along
the disputed border line near Preah Vihear temple.
Speaking on a Bangkok radio station, Boonsrang said there will definitely
be no violence.
Boonsrang said the Thai military will not employ violence to solve this
problem. Instead, the military would use peaceful means in solving the border
crisis.
He said the deployment of troops along the border would not affect the
scheduled meeting of the Thai-Cambodian General Border Committee on Monday
either.
Boonsrang has been assigned by Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej to lead the
Thai delegation to Monday's meeting of the Thai-Cambodian General Border
Committee at Sa Kaeo on the Thai-Cambodian border to discuss issues concerning
the Preah Vihear temple situation with Cambodia.
Both countries have claimed sovereignty over a 4.6 square kilometers area
adjacent to the temple, which the International Court of Justice awarded,
together with the land it occupies, to Cambodia in 1962. The decision has
rankled the Thais ever since.
The security situation around the temple deteriorated after three Thais
were briefly detained by Cambodian soldiers after surreptitiously crossing into
the disputed border area on Tuesday. The three people were released on the same
day.
According to reports, both Thailand and Cambodia have reinforced their
troops at and near Preah Vihear Temple, which straddles the Thai-Cambodian
border atop the Dangrek Mountain and was listed as a World Heritage Site on July
7 by the UNESCO's World Heritage Committee.