Thailand, Cambodia seek to calm escalating dispute over US$300 billion seabed
Por Aidan Jones — South China Morning Post – News feed
Advertisement Thailand This Week in Asia Politics Thailand, Cambodia seek to calm escalating dispute over US$300 billion seabed
Both sides agreed to use a naval hotline and exercise restraint to ease maritime tensions after holding mediation talks at The Hague
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Aidan Jones in Bangkok Published: 10:43am, 20 Oct 2026 Thailand and Cambodia have agreed to dial down the rhetoric and use a hotline between their navy commanders to avoid flashpoints over a vast contested patch of energy-rich seas in the Gulf of Thailand, according to a UN-backed mediation panel at The Hague tasked with helping to settle the dispute between the neighbours. The Southeast Asian countries have also squabbled for decades over the demarcation of their 800km (500-mile) land border, where clashes last year killed scores on both sides and froze cross-border trade worth billions of dollars.
While an uneasy ceasefire agreed in December holds along the frontier, relations between Bangkok and Phnom Penh have plunged to a nadir, with both accusing the other of targeting civilians during the conflict and intermittent breaches of the truce.
Amid the rancour, competing claims have escalated over the Gulf seabed which holds oil and gas reserves worth an estimated US$300 billion.
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