Committee to reach out to Cambodia
PUBLISHED: 6 Nov 2024 at 05: 35
According to Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the government plans to establish a Joint Technical Committee (JTC ) in the next two weeks to work on issues relating to the dispute over overlapping maritime area ownership with Cambodia.
In the next two days, she announced on Tuesday that the program will be presented to the government.
In accordance with the memorandum of understanding from 2001, the JTC will resume discussions with Cambodia over the Overlapping Claims Area ( OCA ) in the Gulf of Thailand.
She also acknowledged that past governments had tried repeatedly to establish JTCs to settle the dispute.
The JTC may be led by Defence Minister Phumtham Wechayachai, according to federal resources.
Mr. Phumtham, who also serves as a deputy prime minister, agreed that it was usual for a deputy prime minister to be in charge of regional security on Tuesday.
Additionally, Mr. Phumtham argued that” the MoU is the best mechanism]for resolving the dispute” and that” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Security Council, and important authorities have confirmed that this is the case.”
In the Gulf of Thailand, Cambodia and Thailand both asserted autonomy over the OCA, which covers 27, 000 square kilometers.
Cambodia made its first seafaring say in 1972, which Thailand rejected. The next year, Thailand made its suit.
In an effort to build a joint development framework over some OCA regions and establish a nautical border, both nations signed the MoU in 2001.
After observers noted that if the Thai government uses the 2001 MoU to guide negotiations over managing aquatic resources in the area’s overlapping claims region, it runs the risk of losing control over Koh Kut.
Last week, prominent members of the Palang Pracharath Party ( PPRP ) held a press conference to object to discussions about the joint development of oil and gas resources in the Gulf under the terms of the 2001 MoU, which they claim could lead to the loss of territory.
Thirachai Phuvanatnaranubala, former finance minister and PPRP chair of an intellectual commission, argued the MoU includes a regional state by Cambodia that contradicts the 1907 French-Siamese agreement, rendering the MoU itself unlawful.
The state claims that discussions have not yet begun.
Suphanvasa Chotikajan Tang, the director-general of the Department of Treaties and Legal Affairs, said that once the government approves the JTC, it will be forwarded to congress for support.
As part of a versatile method that will help negotiations go smoothly, Ms. Suphanvasa stated that the JTC may be made up of representatives from the Foreign Affairs, Finance, and Energy Ministries as well as legal experts from the Council of State.
She stated that the OCA discussions will cover nautical security and natural resource development issues. Thus, the government has even set up two separate modules to operate on both issues.
A screen working on shared healthy resource development will be led by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cambodia’s personal JTC on sea security and the sea border, and a panel headed by the Energy Ministry will be led by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
” Agreements may seek to reach a common ground between the two nations.” The government had approve the result of the discussions. Interestingly, the result must be in line with international laws and other legitimate systems”, she said.
As opposed to what some claimed, Ms. Suphanvasa insisted that the 2001 MoU had merely serve as a platform for discussions and that it was not a threat to national interests.
She claimed that neither side’s maritime claims may be impacted by the MoU’s Article 5’s clear prohibition on the document and its implementation.