Welcome to Foreign Policy’s Southeast Asia Brief.

The highlights this week: Cambodia and Thailand agree to arbitration over their maritime dispute, former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra receives a royal pardon, the Malaysian central government feels the heat from two early state elections, and Singapore cracks down on vapes.

Welcome to Foreign Policy’s Southeast Asia Brief.

The highlights this week: Cambodia and Thailand agree to arbitration over their maritime dispute, former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra receives a royal pardon, the Malaysian central government feels the heat from two early state elections, and Singapore cracks down on vapes.

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Cambodia-Thailand Arbitration Masks Danger

Six months after fighting ended between Cambodia and Thailand, their relationship remains dangerously unsettled.

On June 5, Thailand said it will join the United Nations arbitration process launched by Cambodia to resolve the two countries’ maritime boundary dispute. At the same time, though, Thailand announced that bilateral efforts to resolve its contested land borders with Cambodia would be put on hold. Peace talks on the land border look stalled, and small skirmishes have taken place along the border. A third round of fighting looks unlikely—but certainly not impossible.

The cease-fire remains in place, but as recently as May, Thailand accused Cambodian soldiers of firing shots along the border. Cambodia has accused Thailand of occupying areas it previously accepted as Cambodian territory. Thailand has kept the border closed despite the economic cost. Now Thailand has an excuse to abandon the border peace talks it has been slow-walking for months. Association of Southeast Asian Nations attempts to keep Thailand and Cambodia moving toward a peace deal seem to have flopped. And without change, the border dispute will remain a frozen conflict, not a solved one.

Meanwhile, what of the maritime boundary dispute now facing arbitration?

The process now being launched is the compulsory conciliation provision of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). At stake is a stretch of water with an estimated $300 billion worth of energy resources under it, claimed by both Cambodia and........

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