"The deteriorating situation is very bad for the relations between our two countries, and therefore, I would like to ask Your Excellency to take measures to ease the tensions and order the Thai troops to withdraw from the areas of the Keo Sikha Kiri Svara Pagoda near the Preah Vihear Temple," said the premier.

These troops have encroached on Cambodian territory on July 15, 2008 and have since increased in the numbers rather withdraw, he said.

"I was very pleased to talk with you on the telephone on the night of July 16, 2008. It is important that we, representatives of our two states, have still reaffirmed the ongoing good neighborly relations and long-lasting cooperation, so that we could resolve the problem through negotiations as well as setting the meeting schedule between Your Excellency and His Excellency Tea Banh on July 21, 2008," Hun Sen said in the letter.

Earlier Tuesday, three Thai protesters were arrested for jumping an immigration checkpoint to reach the Preah Vihear Temple. Thai troops then came to fetch them, thus triggering face off with Cambodian military there.

The protesters trespassed the border with intention to reclaim the 11-century classic Khmer-style temple, which the International Court of Justice awarded, together with the land it occupies, to Cambodia in 1962. The decision has rankled the Thais ever since.

The temple straddles the Thai-Cambodian border atop the Dangrek Mountain and was listed as a World Heritage Site on July 7 by the UNESCO's World Heritage Committee.

(Xinhua News Agency July 18, 2008)