Thailand steps up its protest against Cambodia on Friday by deciding to cancel a bilateral agreement on the overlapping continental shelf area with Cambodia.
The decision came one day after Thailand downgraded its bilateral relations with Cambodia to protest Cambodia's appointment of ex-Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra as its economic adviser.
Abhisit government recalled its ambassador to Cambodia on Thursday and suggest their female envoys and the families to return home.
Cambodia immediately followed suit by recalling its ambassador to Thailand.
Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said in a phone-in interview from Tokyo on Friday that Thailand decided to revoke Thai-Cambodia memorandum of understanding on the overlapping continental shelf area signed in June 2001 under premiership of then PM Thaksin.
"The MoU was pushed by Thaksin and he knew the details of the negotiations. We cannot negotiate anymore based on this MoU as it will affect our economy and security," he said.
Kasit was attending the two-day Mekong sub-region summit in Japan.
Kasit said there was not much progress made since the MoU was signed, therefore, the government felt that it should be scrapped so that it can find new ways to start afresh in dealing with the Cambodian side.
The joint agreement allows Thailand and Cambodia, which share 26,000 square kilometres of overlapping area, to delimit and develop as a joint development area for oil and gas exploration.