Can JBC talks move the needle on resolving Thai-Cambodian border disputes?

The long-anticipated meeting of the Thailand-Cambodia Joint Boundary Commission (JBC) is scheduled for June 14 in Phnom Penh, but the prospects of a breakthrough are bleak.

Despite heightened hopes, the talks are unlikely to resolve the simmering territorial disputes that flared up into a military confrontation recently.

Thailand reactivated the JBC on June 10 with the key mission of deliberating and negotiating issues related to the land boundary between the two countries, including the survey and formal demarcation of boundary markers, to prevent future conflicts.

The Thai side is led by veteran diplomat Prasat Prasatwinijchai, a former Thai ambassador to Phnom Penh.

It includes senior officials from the National Security Council, the armed forces, legal experts from the foreign ministry, and map specialists from the Royal Thai Survey Department.

Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai has named Supreme Commander Songwit Noonpakdee as an advisor to the commission.

Established under the memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the survey and demarcation of the land boundary signed in 2000, the JBC has not been officially convened since the 2013 interpretation by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) of its 1962 judgement in favor of Cambodia in the Preah Vihear Hindu temple case.

A brief military clash in the disputed area adjacent to Chong Bok in the Nam Yuen district of Ubon Ratchathani province on May 28 killed a Cambodian soldier and ignited a new round of territorial conflict between Thailand and Cambodia.

Sudden eruption of tensions

A meeting between Thai army chief Pana Claewplodtook and his Cambodian counterpart Mao Sophan at Chong Chom border checkpoint on May 29 agreed to address the boundary dispute at the JBC.

The Thai authority enforced border crossing restrictions on June 7 before negotiations between 2nd Army Region deputy commander Nat Sri-in and Cambodia’s deputy army chief Srei Duek led to adjustment of troop deployment to avoid confrontation and reduce tensions.

Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa said that he had issued guidelines and instructions to the JBC to persuade the Cambodian side to recognize that Thailand had already taken steps to ease tensions in the area to some extent.

The task before the JBC

The crucial role of the JBC is to ensure that the negotiations on June 14 provide greater clarity on the boundary line, he said.

The objective for both sides is to reach a mutual and clear understanding regarding the boundary, which would pave the way for a sustainable resolution of the border issue, he added.

Everything must be clarified further—specifically on where exactly the boundary lies between the two countries, Maris said.

“The most important matter that the chairman of the JBC has been asked to firmly uphold is that the negotiations must stand resolutely on the principle of national sovereignty, and under no circumstances shall Thailand concede even a single inch of its territory,” Maris told reporters.

Rangsiman Rome, chairman of the House of Representatives’ Committee of Border Affairs and Security, called a closed-door meeting on June 12 with agencies involved with security matters to assess the situation and plans to deal with Cambodia.

There needs to be a joint strategic discussion involving the foreign, defense, and interior ministries, and the prime minister, on what actions have been taken so far and what the approach would be for the upcoming JBC negotiations, he said.

“It appears that Cambodia is reluctant to attend the JBC meeting—could this be because we lack leverage? If we want our negotiation tools to be effective, we must build as much negotiating leverage for Thailand as possible, and this will require support from all parties,” Rangsiman told reporters.

While Deputy Defense Minister Nattapon Nakpanit was present at the meeting, the foreign ministry excused itself from sending any representative to the committee meeting, saying they needed to prepare for the coming JBC meeting, according to a source at the parliament.

The ICJ still haunts

While Cambodia showed its readiness to host the coming JBC meeting, Prime Minister Hun Manet posted on his Facebook page on June 1 that his government was preparing to take the boundary dispute in the Emerald Triangle, the Hindu sanctuary of Ta Moan Thom, Ta Moan Tauch, and Ta Krabei to be settled by the ICJ, leaving other insensitive areas for the JBC.

On June 8, Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn wrote to Maris urging the Thai government to consider joining Cambodia in referring the latest border disputes to the ICJ, as bilateral talks may no longer suffice to come up with a lasting solution.

Many undemarcated border areas and unsolved issues have become a source of recurring misunderstandings and tensions and led to unfortunate incidents, such as the May 28 clash, Sokhonn said in his letter.

Maris responded promptly, saying that Thailand has not recognized the jurisdiction of the ICJ since 1960. “We absolutely will not accept this jurisdiction, and instead we will address the issue through a bilateral dialogue framework that is the most effective and appropriate mechanism,” he said.

Thailand has regarded the ICJ’s 1962 judgement and its 2013 interpretation of the previous verdict as historical pain for the loss of its territory to a country that was once considered its tributary state.

Right-wing pressure

The upcoming JBC meeting will be taking place amid pressure from right-wing nationalists in Thailand, after former yellow shirt protest leader Sondhi Limthongkul made several demands for the government to scrap the 2000 MOU, reject the ICJ's jurisdiction, and insist on Thai sovereignty over the Emerald Triangle, Ta Moan Thom, Ta Moan Tauch, and Ta Krabei Hindu temples.

If the situation in the disputed border areas worsened, the military must enforce martial law to take over the government to prevent conflict of interest due to the deep connection between the Shinawatra and Hun families, he said.

In 2008, Sondhi and his yellow shirt protesters had detonated conflicts with Cambodia over the country's plan to list the Hindu temple of Preah Vihear as a UNESCO World Heritage Site as a pretext to oust Thaksin Shinawatra’s proxy government led by Samak Sundaravej.

Sondhi threatened to call street protests to oust the government unless Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s administration complied with his demands.

Former red-shirt leader Jatuporn Prompan, who is now associated with his former rival Sondhi, said if Cambodia insisted on referring the Emerald Triangle and the three sandstone temples to the ICJ, the government must terminate the 2000 MOU in a bid to make a new one for a better deal.

They view the MOU as a weak point as it recognizes the 1904 and 1907 Siam-Franco treaties, as well as a French-drawn map of scale 1:200,000 that shows many sandstone temples, not only Preah Vihear, as located in Cambodia.