Bangkok - Thailand on Tuesday denied claims that it had withdrawn its troops from a disputed border area with Cambodia, while maintaining it would not be the first to resort to force in the festering conflict with its neighbour. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday gave Thailand until noon Tuesday to withdraw all its troops from an area adjacent to the Preah Vihear temple on the Thai-Cambodian border or face a "large-scale conflict."
Cambodian border officials claimed that Thailand had withdrawn its troops from the disputed zone by mid-day Tuesday, but Thailand denied these developments.
"We are still there," Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat said after a meeting with Army Commander-in-Chief General Anupong Paochinda and foreign ministry officials.
"We will not be the side to use force first," he told a press conference. "We will try to use negotiations."
Thai foreign ministry officials expressed surprise at Cambodia's claims that Thailand had already withdrawn its troops from the area, which has been the source of an increasingly volatile spat between the two countries since July.
"We were quite surprised by the withdrawal claim, because we think of this territory as being in Thailand, so why would we withdraw," said Thani Thongphakdi, a deputy spokesman for the foreign ministry.
In a statement issued earlier Tuesday, the foreign ministry also expressed "surprise" at Hun Sen's fighting words, noting that it went against the "sprit of neighbourliness" between fellow members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN).
After his meeting with Thai Foreign Minister Sompong Amornvivat in Phnom Penh on Monday, Hun Sen told reporters that he had warned the Thais to withdraw their troops from the disputed area around the Preah Vihear temple or face fighting.
"They must move tonight or tomorrow. If they don't ... there will be fighting," he said.
Although Thailand and Cambodia are fellow members of ASEAN, the two neighbours have a long history of animosity.
Thailand and Cambodia nearly came to blows over the Preah Vihear temple in July, shortly after UNESCO named the ancient Hindu temple a World Heritage Site despite Thai objections.
The temple, the object of disputed claims between Thailand and Cambodia since the 1950s, was granted to Cambodia by a ruling of the International Court of Justice in 1962.
But land adjacent to the temple compound, including its main entrance on the Thai side, has been claimed by both countries.
Both sides beefed up their troops in the area, situated about 400 kilometres north-east of Bangkok, after some ultra-nationalist Thais crossed into the disputed zone in a show of protest against the UNESCO ruling.
The border conflict was calmed in August when both sides agreed to settle the matter through bilateral talks held by a joint border committee.
The talks have been hampered by repeated claims of incursions into Cambodian territory and by Thailand's chaotic domestic political situation.
Thailand's current government under the People Power Party (PPP) has had four different foreign ministers in four months - Noppadon Pattama, Dej Bunnag, Saroj Chawanavira and the current one, Sompong.
Cambodia has been pressing to have the border spat settled by a regional or international body, but Thailand has insisted it could be handled bilaterally.
