Cambodia seeks urgent JBC border talks in Siem Reap after ceasefire
Cambodia’s SSBA says it sent a diplomatic note seeking an urgent JBC meeting in Siem Reap in early Jan 2026 to resume surveying and demarcation work
Cambodia has sent an urgent diplomatic letter to Thailand seeking a special meeting of the Joint Boundary Commission (JBC), reaffirming it will not accept any border line created by military deployments and insisting on existing treaty maps as the basis for demarcation.
Reports said that on December 29, 2025, Cambodia’s Secretariat of State Border Affairs (SSBA) sent a diplomatic note to Thailand’s JBC proposing an urgent special session in the first week of January 2026 in Siem Reap, Cambodia, to push forward long-delayed work on field surveying and boundary demarcation.
The statement said the discussions would focus on several sensitive areas that have repeatedly faced problems, including:
- Boundary markers 42–47: around Chouk Chey Village (Nong Chan) village and Prey Chan (Nong Ya Kaew) village, O Bei Chorn Commune, O Chrov District, Banteay Meanchey
- Boundary markers 52–59: around Boeng Reang and Kam Rieng communes, Kam Rieng district, Battambang
- Boundary markers 33–37: around Boeng Trakuon, opposite Ta Phraya district, Sa Kaeo in Thailand, including the Thmor Da permanent border checkpoint
Cambodia reiterated its long-standing position that border work must be based on the Franco–Siamese conventions and treaties, as well as maps and records from the Indo-China–Siam demarcation process. It concluded by stating it “will not accept any change to the border line caused by the use of force,” signalling that it rejects any attempt to use military presence to alter boundary realities.
The diplomatic move comes just days after Thailand and Cambodia reached a ceasefire agreement on December 27, which included a key provision tasking the JBC with resuming field work as soon as possible to reduce tensions in affected border areas where civilians live.
The proposed Siem Reap meeting in early January is being closely watched as a test of whether “sustainable peace” can take hold through technical mechanisms—or whether it will become a new round of diplomatic confrontation.
