Bangkok - Thai Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama defended on Friday the government's signing of an agreement for a joint bid, with Cambodia, to have the controversial Preah Vihear border temple listed as a World Heritage Site with the United Nations. The temple affair has caused a huge political row in Thailand with critics accusing the troubled government of "selling off" Thailand.
Noppadon told the Constitutional Court the joint communique signed earlier was an international agreement that did not require parliamentary approval.
Nevertheless, he reaffirmed that he would fly out Saturday to Quebec to attempt to block the listing, at least until the row dies down in Thailand.
The parliamentary opposition and street protestors have latched on to the border row as a way to bash the government.
Some critics say the foreign minister has been keen to butter up the Cambodians so that his former boss, ex-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, can get contracts in Cambodia.
The 21-member World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is in session in Quebec until July 10 to approve new sites.
Thailand blocked Cambodia's efforts to list Preah Vihear, a centuries-old Hindu temple perched on a cliff that defines the Thai- Cambodian border, in both 2006 and 2007 on the grounds that the inscription map included a 4.6-square-kilometre piece of land in the temple compound that is still subject to a border dispute.
Cambodia was awarded Preah Vihear by a World Court ruling in 1962 - making some sceptics in Bangkok wonder what the political fuss is about.
Cambodia redrew the map in May to exclude the disputed territory, and on June 17 won the Thai government's backing for the UNESCO site proposal but the issue became highly politicized during street protests and a censure debate against Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej and his cabinet.
The Thai cabinet decided to backtrack on support for the controversial temple's listing this week to obey an Administrative Court order made last weekend.
It is unclear whether the government change in stance on the listing will derail Cambodia's proposal to list the temple at UNESCO's meeting.
Although the World Heritage Committee cannot approve a site that is subject to a border dispute, Cambodia may argue that since it altered its map the temple is no longer under dispute.
