Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow insisted today that the scope of the compulsory conciliation process with Cambodia under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) should be limited to maritime boundary delimitation.
He rejected Cambodia’s proposal that the process should also cover joint development of the disputed territorial waters.
Speaking to Bangkok-based diplomats at the Foreign Ministry, Sihasak said Thailand objected to Cambodia’s decision to resort to the compulsory conciliation process, as their border dispute should be settled bilaterally.
However, Sihasak said Thailand is prepared to join the process and is preparing the list of its two conciliators to the independent commission to be tasked with examining the facts and the legal positions of the two sides.
On June 2, Cambodia formally notified Thailand and the Secretary-General of the United Nations that it had initiated the compulsory conciliation proceedings following the Anutin government’s decision to abrogate Memorandum of Understanding (MOU 44) regarding overlapping maritime claims in the Gulf of Thailand. Cambodia has also appointed two experts to the conciliation commission.
Sihasak defended Thailand’s withdrawal from the MOU since bilateral talks under it in the past over 20 years have made no progress.
He said both Thailand and Cambodia have now ratified UNCLOS, which should provide a new venue for negotiations to settle the maritime claims. However, he said priority should be given to bilateral talks before resorting to the compulsory conciliation process.
Sihasak said Cambodia’s move to a compulsory conciliation process contravenes the spirit of the agreement that Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and Prime Minister Hun Manet reached at the recent ASEAN Summit in the Philippines.
He said the two leaders then agreed to take steps to build trust and confidence between the two countries that would lead to the restoration of their diplomatic relations.
