Phnom Penh: Mr. Pen Bona, spokesperson for the Royal Government, said that the Royal Government and the Cambodian leadership have been making great efforts and actively to protect the territorial integrity of both land and sea borders and to protect the rights of refugees through peaceful diplomatic means and based on international law.
In a statement on the Cambodia-Thailand border situation on August 8, 2026, the Royal Government Spokesperson recalled the Royal Government’s activities and position on land and sea border work that Samdech Maha Bovardhei Hun Manet, Prime Minister, on June 2, 2026, announced the start of the use of the forced mediation mechanism under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to resolve overlapping maritime claims with Thailand.
He said that this decision was made because for more than 25 years, Cambodia and Thailand have had a bilateral framework to seek a peaceful resolution of overlapping maritime claims, namely the 2001 Memorandum of Understanding or MoU, which reflects a shared understanding that the two countries should work together to resolve maritime boundaries and develop resources in the overlapping maritime claims area peacefully and for mutual benefit. But unfortunately, the Thai side has decided to unilaterally walk away from this bilateral framework despite Cambodia’s request and urging the Thai side to reconsider.
As for the land border, the spokesperson stated that as a peace-loving country, Cambodia respects and strictly and faithfully implements the ceasefire and the spirit and content of the joint declaration of December 27, 2025, especially point 3, where the two sides agreed to assign the task to the Joint Border Commission (JBC) to immediately measure the border between the two countries in accordance with existing agreements, in accordance with international conventions, treaties and laws.
Mr. Pen Bona stated that Cambodia has adhered to a peaceful solution through diplomatic negotiations because armed conflict cannot resolve the border issue. It is in this sense that Cambodia firmly stands in protecting the Cambodian-Thai international border line left by the Indochina-Siamese Border Commission, respecting the principles of international law, the principle of the invariable border line (Uti Possidetis Juris), respecting the French-Siamese Convention, the map and demarcation record of the Indochina-Siamese Border Demarcation Commission, as well as the agreements and related documents that the two parties have agreed to in the past.
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