Dear Editor,

The most recent map of the Preah Vihear temple area, from the Joint Communique of June 18, 2008, which is publicly available at: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/pdf/jointcommunique.pdf  

In a Letter to

the Editor, printed in The Phnom Penh Post on Friday, November 14, 

2008, Chan Veasna, of Cabramatta, NSW, Australia, requested that

"Thailand must use Cambodian maps". But the letter references only maps

of 1904 and 1907, and denounces that maps used by the Thai side "have

no legal basis under international laws".

Surprisingly, there is

no reference at all to the newest map, produced under the signature of

Var Kim Hong, senior minister in charge of border affairs of the

Cambodian Council of Ministers and attached to the Joint Communique of

June 18, 2008, which was signed by Deputy Prime Minister Sok An and

countersigned by Francoise Riviere, assistant director general for

culture of Unesco and the then-Thai minister of foreign affairs.

During the meeting both sides agreed as follows:

"The

Kingdom of Thailand supports the inscription ... of the Temple of Preah

Vihear on the World Heritage List proposed by the Kingdom of Cambodia,

the perimeter of which is identified as N. 1 in the map prepared by the

Cambodian authorities and herewith attached...

"...the Kingdom of

Cambodia accepts that the Temple of Preah Vihear be nominated for

inscription on the World Heritage List without at this stage a buffer

zone on the northern and western areas of the temple.

"The map mentioned in paragraph 1 above shall supersede the [other] maps."

The

Cambodian nomination file referenced the 1904 and 1907 maps, so the

Cambodian side clearly has agreed that these have been superseded and

replaced by the map of June 18, 2008. If Thais should use "Cambodian

maps", so should Cambodians - that is: the newest, official map of June

18, 2008, submitted to Unesco under the signature of the Cambodian

deputy prime minister.

Norbert Klein

Phnom Penh

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