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34 With this type of team the activities of the first Southeast Asian style regional cultural cooperation project commenced. We the collaborators from the 4 nations were in accord over the fact that we had a mission to save the four major cultural heritage sites of Southeast Asia, namely Borobudur, Sukhothai, Bagan, and Angkor, and pass them on to future generations. In actual fact our work consisted in the following. Through comparative research on the archaeological sites, a research that was both scientific and technical, we would get local researchers and experts of each nation to present the characteristics of each archaeological site, their unique historical background, and the process of cultural formation of each ethnic group. Concurrently, we would confirm their similarities and common facets as Southeast Asian regions. Through this joint research, experts and researchers from the nations created a network of trust for “people” who safeguard the ruins, and with this, the first step in global cooperation towards the protection of the archaeological sites commenced. We have held international symposiums on archaeological sites by rotation. The first was held in Tokyo, where the Japanese team made a presentation on the current state of the Angkor monuments and the Pol Pot regime, as well as the local situation in Cambodia where people awaited aid owing to the civil war that followed. It was at this time that the S.O.S. Angkor monuments relief, the “Sophia Appeal” (1985), was adopted, an issue that is dealt with in the following pages. The second was at Borobudur (1985), the third in Sukhothai (1986), the fourth in Bagan (1987), and the fifth in Northeast Thailand (1990). These international symposiums were held with the participation of local researchers. The sixth was a recapitulated symposium that was held in Tokyo in 1991. In this symposium were present representatives dispatched by the UNESCO, UNDP (United Nations Development Program), and ICCROM (International Centre for the