VZCZCXRO0337
OO RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHPF #0631 2131121
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 311121Z JUL 08
FM AMEMBASSY PHNOM PENH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK IMMEDIATE 2595
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING IMMEDIATE 2528
RUEHBS/AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS IMMEDIATE 0078
RUEHHI/AMEMBASSY HANOI IMMEDIATE 4060
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UNCLAS PHNOM PENH 000631 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
PARIS PLEASE ALSO PASS TO US MISSION TO UNESCO, NSC FOR 
PHU, DEPT FOR D, EAP, AND L 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV UNESCO SCUL MOPS PBTS TH CB
SUBJECT: PREAH VIHEAR: GAG ORDER? 
 
REF: BANGKOK 2294 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: The Cambodian government circulated the 
same summary of Monday's Siem Reap meeting as provided by the 
RTG to Embassy Bangkok (Ref A.)  Throughout this busy, 
post-election week, Cambodian officials have been notably 
silent on the subject of Preah Vihear.  Prime Minister Hun 
Sen told the press that Cambodia is prepared to draw back 
troops from the disputed area at the same time that Thailand 
does, but avoided any lengthy discussion of when such 
withdrawals might begin.  A senior contact explained this 
reticence as giving the Thai government room to maneuver 
vis-a-vis their domestic critics, but expressed hope that a 
follow-on bilateral meeting will be confirmed for August 7. 
The situation on the ground remains a stalemate.  End 
summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Ministry of Foreign Affairs Secretary of State Long 
Visalo, who has participated in both rounds of bilateral 
negotiations, told the DCM July 30 that his government has 
imposed "an instruction of silence" about ongoing bilateral 
negotiations on Preah Vihear.  Visalo noted that the Council 
of Ministers has distributed to diplomatic missions the press 
points jointly communicated by both governments following the 
July 28 bilateral meeting. Visalo said the RTG had asked the 
RGC not to talk too much about the issue while the new Thai 
FM seeks support within his government and more broadly for 
the way ahead mapped out in Siem Reap.  Visalo said other, 
more difficult issues had been discussed in the Siem Reap 
session -- such as the disposition of the squatter's village. 
 However, he said the RGC did not want to spoil the positive 
spirit or endanger the Thai ability to move ahead by 
previewing too much too quickly. 
 
¶3. (SBU)  While the usually voluble Visalo was notably 
reticient at the start of the conversation, he concluded with 
two "small worries."  First, he said Cambodian officials were 
actively engaged with Thailand to set a date for the next 
bilateral meeting.  They had proposed August 1, but that had 
not worked for the Thai delegation.  They were still waiting 
for information on whether August 7 would work.  Visalo 
expressed concern that the Thais were trying to quietly and 
slowly change the facts on the ground, and speculated it 
might be many months before the bilateral meetings resolved 
the "still-very real issue" of soldiers cheek-to-jowl in the 
disputed area.  He also expressed concern about what he 
described as Thai "comparability" -- citing as an example 
Thai insistence that if Cambodian monks remained in the 
pagoda, negotiated language must state that Thai monks would 
remain as well (despite the fact that there are no Thai monks 
there presently.)  The Cambodians continue to argue that the 
1962 ICJ decision -- and the Court's instruction's to 
Thailand to withdraw its troops -- resolves questions of the 
border placement in the Preah Vihear area.  But, they worry 
that as international attention to the standoff diminishes, 
the situation on the ground will become a prolonged and 
problematic stalemate. 
MUSSOMELI