Cabinet may not set up Joint Technical Committee with Cambodia yet
Timing likely unworkable because of other commitments, defence minister says
The Cabinet may not approve Thai members taking part in the Joint Technical Committee with Cambodia on Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said on Monday.
He explained that he would have to attend the ASEAN Plus Defence Ministerial Meeting in Laos on Tuesday, while Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra might not be ready to chair the weekly Cabinet meeting, as she has just returned from the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit in Peru.
“So I think the Cabinet is unlikely to consider Thai candidates to sit on the JTC as proposed by the Foreign Ministry,” Phumtham said.
The JTC will be set up to hold talks on the overlapping claimed areas in the Gulf of Thailand within the framework of the memorandum of understanding signed by the two governments in 2001.
On the calls by groups of nationalists for the Thai government to cancel the so-called MOU44, Phutham said there is nothing to cancel or revoke in the MoU.
He said the MoU simply registered claims by both sides without any agreement, so there is nothing to cancel.
