Phnom Penh: The Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts on April 22, 2026 issued a statement with the following summary:
In accordance with the official letters dated January 30, 2026 and April 13, 2026, and April 22, 2026, the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts Please continue to protest in the strongest terms against the presence and continued illegal activities of the Thai authorities at Takrabei Temple and the surrounding area, which are located within the sovereign territory of Cambodia. Despite repeated protests from the Royal Government of Cambodia, the Thai authorities continue to organize public gatherings, facilitate visits, and carry out various activities in the area. These activities are a serious violation of Cambodia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and are illegal.
The Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts strongly opposes the recent activities, including infrastructure construction and the presence of the Thai authorities, which are all actions that create a fait accompli. All these actions are serious violations of the Franco-Siamese Treaty of 1907, the treaty’s implementing documents related to border delimitation and demarcation, including the 1:200,000 scale map and the minutes of the Boundary Delimitation Commission and the Boundary Demarcation Commission between Indochina and Siam, as well as the 2000 Memorandum of Understanding, the 2003 Technical Procedures and Master Plan, the United Nations Charter, and the fundamental principles of international law. These activities also violate the jurisdiction of the Joint Boundary Commission (JBC) of the two sides.
The Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts strongly protests the presence of senior Thai officials, including the Minister of Culture and the Minister of National Defense of Thailand, at the Takrabei Temple, as well as the organization of activities at this location on April 22, 2026. The presence of these high-ranking officials has demonstrated the character of reinforcing illegal activities and undermining efforts to resolve the issue peacefully and through negotiations.
The Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts calls on the Royal Thai Government to immediately cease all activities at Takrabei Temple, remove all authorities from the site, and cease all ongoing activities. Cambodia reaffirms its strong commitment to resolving the issue peacefully through existing bilateral mechanisms, in particular the JBC mechanism.
