Hun Sen tells Cambodia not to hold bilateral talks with Thailand on maritime dispute

Cambodian Senate President and Acting Head of State Hun Sen posted on Facebook on Tuesday, saying Thai media had reported on May 11 that Thailand’s foreign minister had said that, under the Convention on the Law of the Sea, after the cancellation of the 2001 Memorandum of Understanding, the process must continue within the framework of the Convention, involving several stages, and that the primary method should first be negotiations between the two parties.

“If this report accurately reflects the words of the Thai Foreign Minister, then the phrase, ‘the primary method should first be negotiations between the two parties,’ clearly contradicts Thailand’s own actions. Thailand unilaterally cancelled the MOU 2001, thereby already dismantling the framework for bilateral negotiations concerning the overlapping maritime claims,” Hun Sen said.

He added: “In my capacity as Acting Head of State, I would like to remind the Royal Government not to engage in any bilateral negotiations with Thailand on maritime issues, and instead to proceed directly to the mechanisms provided under the 1982 UNCLOS without waiting for any agreement from the Thai side.”

Hun Sen also said: “On 6 May 2026, I already reminded the government once not to create a new bilateral mechanism to replace the old bilateral mechanism that Thailand had cancelled. We regret Thailand’s cancellation of the MOU 2001, but we also thank Thailand for helping us move toward using international mechanisms instead.”

The 2001 MOU had served as a key framework for Thailand and Cambodia to manage talks over overlapping maritime claims, an issue tied not only to sovereignty but also to potential energy resources in the Gulf of Thailand. Hun Sen’s latest remarks signal a harder Cambodian position after Thailand’s cancellation of the agreement, shifting the focus away from bilateral talks and towards international legal mechanisms under UNCLOS.