Preah Sihanouk Provincial Television, September 18: Last night, Prime Minister Hun Manet wrote to Malaysian Prime Minister and ASEAN Chair Anwar Ibrahim, as well as leaders of China, the United States, France, the United Nations and other countries and organisations, reporting what he described as a serious Thai military plan to seize 17 areas in Cambodia by force.
According to a Cambodian Foreign Ministry announcement, Hun Manet said reliable intelligence indicated that the Thai military intended to seize 17 locations between Pursat and Koh Kong through military means. He said these areas in western and southwestern Cambodia were lawful Cambodian territory.
The prime minister said Thailand relied on unilaterally drawn 1:50,000 maps rather than the mutually recognised 1:200,000 maps. He described the latter as the work of the boundary commission established under the 1904 and 1907 Franco-Siamese treaties, affirmed by the International Court of Justice and recognised again by both countries in their 2000 memorandum.
Hun Manet warned that Thailand’s unilateral demarcation and exercise of jurisdiction in Cambodian territory seriously violated Cambodian sovereignty, international law and bilateral agreements, and could trigger regional conflict threatening Southeast Asian peace and stability.
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