26 November 1958

Thai-Cambodian relations suspended over temple dispute

Thailand and Cambodia ‘temporarily’ suspended diplomatic relations as a dispute over the ownership of the Phra Viharn Temple ruins and surrounding territory escalated.

‘There will definitely be no more border trade,’ declared the Revolutionary Party’s Lt Gen Praphas Charusathien. Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat inspected the temple’s stone ruins on November 28 and demanded Cambodians be blocked from entering the site.

Sarit ordered the Thai flag be flown above the zone along the border, saying Phra Viharn ‘belongs to Thailand, the Cambodians have no claim to it’.

Cambodia said it too was cutting links with Bangkok. Cambodia said the move was ‘not an official breaking-off of relations’. Cambodia also filed a legal claim to Phra Viharn, but a suspicious Praphas said the Cambodians may have done so after ‘interference and intervention by Beijing’.

26 November 1958

Thai-Cambodian relations suspended over temple dispute

Thailand and Cambodia ‘temporarily’ suspended diplomatic relations as a dispute over the ownership of the Phra Viharn Temple ruins and surrounding territory escalated.

‘There will definitely be no more border trade,’ declared the Revolutionary Party’s Lt Gen Praphas Charusathien. Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat inspected the temple’s stone ruins on November 28 and demanded Cambodians be blocked from entering the site.

Sarit ordered the Thai flag be flown above the zone along the border, saying Phra Viharn ‘belongs to Thailand, the Cambodians have no claim to it’.

Cambodia said it too was cutting links with Bangkok. Cambodia said the move was ‘not an official breaking-off of relations’. Cambodia also filed a legal claim to Phra Viharn, but a suspicious Praphas said the Cambodians may have done so after ‘interference and intervention by Beijing’.