Security Is the Key to Resolving the Thai-Cambodia Border Conflict

“The first step is security: uphold the ceasefire, reduce military risks, clear mines, strengthen law enforcement, and cooperate against criminal networks.”

U.S. President Donald Trump (right) claps as Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet (center) and Thailand’s Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul (left) shake hands after signing the Kuala Lumpur Accord at the ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Oct. 26, 2025.

With UNCLOS conciliation proceedings between Thailand and Cambodia now formally under way, 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, the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea. 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. They do 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 Cambodia’s push 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. These measures are what make credible border discussions possible in the first place.

Consider demining. Thai soldiers have repeatedly been injured by landmines along the border, including incidents involving mines that have been identified as newly laid. Just a couple weeks ago, yet another Thai deminer lost a limb. Whatever political narrative one prefers, a mine does not become less dangerous because a meeting has been scheduled. Nor can a Joint Boundary Commission survey team be expected to work in an area potentially littered with mines.

Joint demining is a practical prerequisite to constructive talks. It is also an obligation rooted in the commitments that both Thailand and Cambodia have undertaken bilaterally and internationally, including under the Ottawa Convention. If both sides are genuinely committed to resolving border problems peacefully, making the ground safe for the people expected to do that work should hardly be controversial.

The same logic applies to transnational crime. A border is not secure if criminal syndicates can exploit weak enforcement, traffic people across it, and operate industrial-scale scam networks with........

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