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View all search resultsPeaceful border talks require secure ground first
As Thailand prepares to engage constructively with the UNCLOS conciliation proceedings to resolve the border dispute with Cambodia, both sides must first ensure that the conditions on the ground are actually safe for our teams to work.
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Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul (right) greets Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet (left) alongside Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on May 7, 2026, after their trilateral meeting ahead of the 48th ASEAN summit in Cebu, the Philippines. (AFP/Ted Aljibe)
W
ith the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) conciliation proceedings between Thailand and Cambodia now formally underway, Thailand is preparing to engage constructively.
We would have preferred to resolve the matter directly with Cambodia. Direct diplomacy is usually faster, less cumbersome and, when there is sufficient political will, more effective. But Thailand is a state party to UNCLOS. We accepted the process and will take part in good faith, with the interests of the Thai people and our sovereign rights firmly in view.
That willingness to engage through international law should not be mistaken for a willingness to treat every dispute along the Thailand-Cambodia border as if it existed in a vacuum. It does not.
A boundary is not drawn on a blank sheet of paper. It is surveyed on actual ground by actual people, in communities that need to be safe enough for technical work to take place.
This is the point that risks being lost in the rush to convene the Joint Boundary Commission, because no technical or legal process can be separated from conditions on the ground. Before survey teams can do their work, the border must be sufficiently safe, stable and properly managed.
That means implementing the commitments already agreed by both sides on ceasefire and de-escalation, joint demining and cooperation against transnational crime. They are not optional confidence-building exercises to be pursued when convenient. They are what make credible border discussions possible in the first place.
Consider demining. Thai soldiers have been repeatedly injured by land mines along the border, including incidents involving mines that have been identified as newly laid. Just a few weeks ago, yet another Thai deminer lost a limb.
