Govt set to visit Koh Kut

Defence Minister Phumtham Wechayachai will visit Koh Kut in Trat on Saturday to reassert Thailand’s territorial sovereignty over the island amid the maritime territory dispute with Cambodia.
Mr Phumtham, who is also a deputy prime minister, said he will lead a delegation to inspect the island and boost morale among soldiers stationed on the island to guard the Thai-Cambodian border.
The Defence Ministry’s permanent secretary and secretary-general, as well as the Royal Thai Navy chief-of-staff, will also join the delegation, he said.
“We will go there to reassert Thailand’s sovereignty over Koh Kut and boost confidence among local residents,” he said.
When asked about the establishment of a Joint Technical Committee (JTC) to negotiate the maritime areas claimed by both countries, Mr Phumtham said the matter is being handled by the Foreign Affairs Ministry, who will propose the names of potential members to the cabinet soon.
Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra had earlier said that the JTC should be formed in the next two weeks. The committee will resume talks with Cambodia on the Overlapping Claims Area (OCA), based on the 2001 memorandum of understanding signed by the two countries.
Thailand and Cambodia both claim sovereignty of the energy-rich OCA, which covers an area of about 26,000 square kilometres in the Gulf of Thailand.
Cambodia made its initial claim in 1972, which Thailand rejected. The following year, Thailand made its counterclaim.
Mr Phumtham said on Thursday that the committee will be led by a deputy prime minister in charge of national security, and comprise officials from the Defence, Energy, Foreign and Finance ministries, the Council of the State as well as other relevant agencies.
Two more subcommittees will also be formed to help with the negotiations, Mr Phumtham said.
“I hope that the government’s efforts relating to the overlapping claims area will help clear the air,” he said.
When asked about the claim that Thailand lost sovereignty over the island when it signed the 2001 MoU with Cambodia, Mr Phumtham said the “false information” was politically motivated.
“The island has been a part of Thailand’s territory for a long time,” he said.
Responding to critics who are calling on the government to revoke the 2001 MoU, Mr Phumtham said previous administrations chose not to revoke the 2001 MoU because it is seen as the most effective channel to discuss and negotiate the maritime border between the countries.
The calls came as the government announced its plan to resume talks on the OCA with Cambodia.
Paiboon Nititawan, secretary-general of the Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP), said on Thursday that party leader Gen Prawit Wongsuwon has instructed the party’s MPs to push for the revocation of the 2001 MoU “to protect Thailand’s maritime sovereignty”.
The two countries signed a memorandum of understanding in 2001, when the Thaksin Shinawatra administration was in power, to jointly develop parts of the OCA and demarcate a maritime border.
Under the MoU, the maritime border demarcation and joint development must be carried out as an “indivisible package”, with a Thailand-Cambodia JTC set up to discuss them.
Several rounds of talks have been held since, but there has not been any progress, mainly because of the dispute over the maritime border’s demarcation.
The 2001 MoU grabbed public attention after observers pointed out that if the document is used as the basis for negotiations on managing the OCA, Thailand risks losing sovereignty over Koh Kut.