FM to fly to Canada to attend Unesco meeting

"Thailand's position is that we withdraw our support for the Cambodian proposal to list the temple as a World Heritage Site," Noppadon told a press conference.

He will soon fly to Quebec where the 21-member World Heritage Committee is meeting July 2 to 10 to approve new sites. He will be accompanied with National Security Council chief, and director of the army's Survey Department, he said, Noppadon said, adding that the Unesco is scheduled to consider the World Heritage listing on July 6 or 7.

Bangkok's position to oppose the Khmer proposal to Unesco followed the Central Administrative Court's order of injunction which put all hold on Thai government's moves concerning the temple. The injunction thus effected the Thai support for the Cambodia's proposal.

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 in Quebec this week.

Preah Vihear is still on the agenda for the World Heritage Committee, according to UNESCO.  

"Proposed cultural sites from the Asia-Pacific region include: the Sacred Site of the Temple of Preah Vihear (Cambodia), Fujian Tulou (China), Historic Monuments and Sites in Kaesong (Democratic People's Republic of Korea), Mountain Railways of India - serial extension to include the Kalka Shimla Railway- (India), the River Island of Majuli in midstream of the Brahmaputra River in Assam (India), Cultural Landscape of Bali Province (Indonesia), Hiraizumi - Cultural Landscape Associated with Pure Land Buddhist Cosmology (Japan), Sulamain-Too Sacred Mountain (Kyrgyzstan), Historic Cities of the Straits of Malacca: Melaka and George Town (Malaysia), and Chief Roi Mata's Domain (Vanuatu)," said a UNESCO.

Noppadon said Thailand has already reinforced the security at the Cambodian embassy in Bangkok while Cambodian government did the same to the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh.