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Prime Minister Hun Manet said on Wednesday that the U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had met and requested the Thai side to stop escalating tension and territorial disputes, and respect the ceasefire agreement. In the meantime, Hun Manet has asked the U.S. to help facilitate and expedite the task of the Joint Boundary Commission’s (JBC) team to demarcate the border.
Recalling the meeting, Hun Manet said the assistant to the U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia scheduled an “urgent meeting” with him three days ago to discuss the border issue.
“He [the assistant] informed me that the U.S. Secretary of State has spoken to Thailand, asking them to cease any activities that could escalate tensions and action [seen as] an attempt to expand and claim Cambodian territory,” Hun Manet said at the 80th anniversary of the University of Health Science.
According to him, the U.S. also asked Thailand to abide by the Kuala Lumpur Peace Accord, which was negotiated and signed by Cambodia and Thailand, and which clearly specifies that demarcation must be measured in accordance with existing treaties and agreements using the JBC mechanism.
“He met me and asked Cambodia to confirm that Cambodia will not take any action to escalate tensions. I said Cambodia has never done so, never done anything to raise tensions, and we did not initiate [hostilities],” Hun Manet said.
A ceasefire in December last year ended weeks of clashes along much of the countries’ shared border that killed more than 100 people and displaced nearly a million on both sides. Phnom Penh has repeatedly accused Thai forces of occupying Cambodian territory in several border zones and sought a JBC meeting, which Bangkok has postponed.
Since February this year, Cambodia’s JBC has several times informed the Thai side to resume stalled talks on the border demarcation.
Separately, Cambodia and Thailand began last month to address their maritime boundary dispute under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea to iron out a longstanding dispute centered on overlapping claims in the Gulf of Thailand, believed to hold up $300 billion worth of natural gas and oil resources.
The U.N.-backed process was initiated by Cambodia after Thailand unilaterally withdrew from a 2001 agreement that provided a framework for talks on the disputed area.
Thai Defense Ministry spokesperson Surasant Kongsiri and the Thai embassy in Cambodia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sophal Ear, a Cambodian-American political scientist and professor at Arizona State University, said the U.S. has “meaningful leverage” over Thailand because the latter values its security relationship, economic relationship and broader standing with Washington.
“I would distinguish leverage from control. Washington cannot order Thailand to accept a particular boundary line or compel the Thai government to implement a JBC outcome,” he told CamboJA News via email.
However, he said, he would be skeptical of the use of the word “force” in the context of the U.S.’s request to Thailand. “External pressure may get governments back to the negotiating table [but] it cannot manufacture agreement over sovereignty,” Sophal added.
He opined that the deeper issue is that institutions such as the JBC are only as effective as the political willingness of both governments to use them. “While the JBC can provide the technical machinery for demarcating the border, it cannot create the political will to demarcate it. That is the gap Cambodia is asking Washington to help fill.”
On a different topic, Hun Manet said nearly $60 million has been allocated to develop about 5,000 temporary housing units, including shelters for displaced people, implementing social assistance and building infrastructures.
The government has been giving 100,000 riel (approximately $25) per month to displaced families, plus 28,000 riel ($7) monthly for each family member, and other benefits.
In Banteay Meanchey province, families who were not able to cultivate their land received an additional 200,000 riel per month.
During the conflict last year, the government intervened to ease the burden on households and families of frontline soldiers affected by it by urging financial institutions to defer loan repayments. Some 61 financial institutions deferred $200 million loan principal and interest payments for displaced families and waived penalties exceeding $2 million. For frontline soldiers, 77 financial institutions deferred repayment of about $48 million.
The U.S. embassy in Phnom Penh did not respond to questions at the time of publication.
