Cambodia Urges Thailand to Stop Delaying Land Border Talks
Cambodia Urges Thailand to Stop Delaying Land Border Talks
PHNOM PENH, 21 July 2026 — Cambodia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has rejected recent remarks by Thailand’s foreign minister linking Cambodia’s maritime conciliation process under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to negotiations over the two countries’ land border, calling on Bangkok to resume land boundary delimitation without further delay.
In a statement issued on Monday, the ministry was responding to comments made earlier this week in Beijing by Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow, who reportedly said Cambodia’s decision to initiate the UNCLOS conciliation mechanism had “closed the door” to negotiations on the land border.
Cambodia rejected that assertion, saying the maritime and land border issues are governed by separate legal frameworks and bilateral mechanisms.
The ministry stressed that Cambodia’s decision to pursue conciliation under UNCLOS relates exclusively to the maritime boundary dispute and has no bearing on the process of land border delimitation.
It described UNCLOS as a peaceful, internationally recognised mechanism for resolving maritime disputes and said its use should be viewed as a confidence-building measure rather than a source of concern for neighbouring countries.
According to the statement, the maritime conciliation process provides no legal or practical basis for suspending the work of the Cambodia-Thailand Joint Commission on Land Boundary Delimitation, which was established under the 2000 Memorandum of Understanding and reaffirmed in the ceasefire agreement signed on Dec. 27, 2025.
The ministry also noted that Thailand had previously withdrawn unilaterally from bilateral maritime negotiations despite Cambodia’s request that the talks continue.
Cambodia called on Thailand to stop creating what it described as excuses for deliberately delaying land boundary negotiations and urged Bangkok to return to the delimitation process in good faith.
The ministry added that there was no legal or practical justification for postponing the work of the Joint Commission while the UNCLOS conciliation proceedings continue in parallel.
The statement also referred to a resolution adopted by the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie (APF) on July 11, 2026, reaffirming support for Cambodia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and calling for the continuation of land boundary delimitation efforts.
Cambodia further said the international community expects Thailand to respect the International Court of Justice’s judgments in 1962 and 2013 concerning the Preah Vihear Temple case, as well as the land boundary framework established under the 1904 Convention and the 1907 Treaty, which both countries acknowledged in the 2000 Memorandum of Understanding.
The ministry concluded by stating that any indefinite delay in the land boundary delimitation process aimed at maintaining what it described as Thailand’s unlawful occupation of Cambodian territory would constitute a serious violation of the United Nations Charter and the ASEAN Charter.
