News24 | Cambodia takes Thailand to UN over $300 billion Gulf of Thailand dispute

Cambodia initiated a UN-backed dispute resolution process on Tuesday with neighbour Thailand over overlapping maritime claims in the Gulf of Thailand, where undersea energy reserves are valued at around $300 billion.

The Southeast Asian nations have disputed maritime territories and the demarcation of their 800km land border for decades, a legacy of the French colonial era.

The two sides agreed to a ceasefire deal in December after two rounds of deadly border clashes, but they have repeatedly accused each other of truce violations.

The move by Cambodia to begin the mediation process, taken under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), followed Thailand’s cancellation last month of a 2001 bilateral agreement on overlapping maritime claims and energy exploration.

Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said his government had revoked the memorandum of understanding, known as MoU 44, due to a long-standing stalemate in implementing it.

READ | Violence flares up between Thailand and Cambodia, as nearly one million displaced

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said on state-run TVK on Tuesday that his government had submitted a formal notice to Thailand and the UN secretary-general to “begin compulsory conciliation proceedings” under UNCLOS.

“Both Cambodia and Thailand stand to gain from a fair and lasting settlement agreed with the guidance of the international expert conciliators.”

Thailand’s energy ministry has estimated future revenues from oil and natural gas in the nations’ overlapping claims area to be worth around $300 billion.

The neighbours’ long-standing border dispute erupted into fighting in July and December, killing dozens of people and leaving several areas in border provinces claimed by both nations under Thai control.

Cambodia has repeatedly demanded the withdrawal of Thai forces from these areas and slammed Thailand over damage to several heritage temples sustained during the fighting.

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