Thailand has formally submitted its response to Cambodia’s 2 June notification to enter compulsory conciliation proceedings over their maritime boundary dispute under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), reaffirming its preference for maritime delimitation over joint development.

Thailand has formally appointed two former presidents of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea as its conciliators for its maritime dispute proceedings with Cambodia. The move marks the latest step in a compulsory conciliation process that emerged after Thailand moved to terminate the maritime MoU that had long served as the framework for bilateral negotiations. Prachatai brings together the key facts on how Thailand's push to scrap the maritime MoU with Cambodia led the two countries to compulsory conciliation under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

It has become clear that the Thailand-Cambodia maritime demarcation dispute will be subject to an international mechanism as Cambodia has recently invoked UN-backed compulsory conciliation in response to Thailand’s unilateral cancellation of a 25-year-old maritime MoU. Here’s all you need to know about the long-standing maritime dispute and the compulsory conciliation process.

Thailand has resolved to unilaterally cancel the 2001 maritime MoU with Cambodia, moving forward with international mechanisms to address the maritime disputes. Cambodia swiftly responded, reaffirming its commitment to pursue “compulsory conciliation” under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

The National Security Council of Thailand (NSC) has backed the unilateral cancellation of the bilateral maritime MoU with Cambodia. Thailand will instead negotiate with its counterpart through other mechanisms to settle long-standing Thai-Cambodian maritime disputes.

As Cambodia repeatedly presses for border talks, its renewed push to convene the Joint Boundary Commission (JBC) has exposed growing unease within Thailand, which insists that internal processes are prerequisites.

In foreign policy during his second term, Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has vowed to secure the country's borders by building a border wall, and addressing border issues with the neighbouring countries, according to the government’s policy statement.

The Thai Navy has seized a Cambodian fishing boat and arrested its crew after they were allegedly found to have entered Thai waters illegally, prompting a protest from Cambodia that the act, in an area that Cambodia claimed as its territory, was illegitimate. The maritime boundary is one of the simmering tensions on the Thai-Cambodian land border.

Following the armed clashes between Thailand and Cambodia, online platforms have emerged as a new battleground for Thais. This new phenomenon is now significantly shaping public sentiment towards the war and the neighbouring country, with the traditional institution, the military, sometimes orchestrating activities behind the curtain.

Amid the intensifying tensions between Thailand and Cambodia, online nationalist sentiment in both countries has been growing stronger. Although netizens on both sides of the border are demanding tit-for-tat retaliation, many still reject the war.

The latest armed clashes between Thailand and Cambodia have intensified and expanded to several contested border areas, while the death toll has risen on both sides.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has expressed concerns over the renewed armed clashes between Thailand and Cambodia, urging both countries to avoid further escalation as tensions escalated along the border.