Two days after the December 27 immediate ceasefire brought a halt to fighting, Cambodian authorities have contacted Thai boundary officials to hold discussions on continuing surveying and demarcation work.
While such work has been requested, the Cambodian Joint Boundary Commission (JBC) stressed the Kingdom will not acknowledge any changes brought about through aggression.
“The JBC Cambodia side will not recognise any alteration of the boundary line resulting from the use of force,” it said.
A diplomatic note has been sent to the Thai side of the Joint Commission on Demarcation for Land Boundary (JBC) proposing to convene an “urgent and special meeting” either this week or next week in Siem Reap.
The JBC is the primary bilateral diplomatic and technical mechanism used by Cambodia and Thailand to resolve land border disputes.
According to a press release by the State Secretariat of Border Affairs, the JBC Cambodian side requested the meeting to resume the surveying and emplacement of temporary markers on terrain between Boundary Pillars No 42–47, located in the areas of Chouk Chey and Prey Chan villages, in Banteay Meanchey province’s O Chrov district.
Work should also resume in the segment between Boundary Pillars Nos 52–59 in Boeung Reang and Kam Rieng communes in Battambang province’s Kam Rieng district.
Cambodia also suggested discussing the surveying and emplacement of temporary markers on terrain in the segment between Boundary Pillars No 33–37 in the Boeung Trakuon area.
Surveying should also be carried out at the Thma Da International Point of Entry, as well as the O Phluk Domrei and Chor I border areas, all located in Thma Da commune in Pursat province’s Veal Veng district.
According to the State Secretariat of Border Affairs, the Cambodian JBC has also requested the same processes for other border areas.
“The State Secretariat of Border Affairs wishes to reaffirm to compatriots and the general public that the JBC Cambodian Side firmly upholds its position in safeguarding the Cambodia-Thailand International Boundary as inherited from the Commissions of Delimitation of the Boundary between Indo-China and Siam,” the press release stated.
It added that the position remains in “full respect of international law, the principle of intangibility of frontiers, the Franco-Siamese conventions and treaties, the maps and the procès-verbaux of the Commission of the Abornement of the Boundary between Indo-China and Siam, as well as all relevant agreements”.
The JBC Cambodia side will “continue to conduct land surveying and boundary demarcation works with the JBC Thai Side at the earliest, with a view to achieving lasting peace along the border,” it concluded.
