Overview
- Delegations from Bangkok and Phnom Penh exchanged opening statements before a five‑member UNCLOS conciliation commission at the PCA office in Singapore as the formal process to try to settle their overlapping maritime claims.
- The contested area covers roughly 27,000 square kilometres of the Gulf of Thailand and is believed to hold significant oil and gas resources that the Thai energy ministry has valued in the hundreds of billions of dollars.
- Cambodia initiated the conciliation after Thailand unilaterally terminated the 2001 memorandum of understanding meant to manage the overlapping claims, and both governments say they will cooperate with the commission.
- Any recommendations from the UNCLOS conciliation are advisory only, not legally binding, and the commission is expected to take about a year to issue its findings.
- Relations remain tense after two rounds of armed clashes in 2025 that caused deaths and large displacements, and analysts say both leaders are using legal and diplomatic moves to protect sovereignty, signal strength to voters, and shift leverage.