the Franco–Siamese Treaty of 1907

 The past year has seen considerable steps forward in the country’s relationships with Singapore and Indonesia. Varying degrees of dependence – and interdependence – dictate how Thailand approaches its neighbors. Attention naturally fixates on adjacent states, not least because the poorly demarcated frontiers of mainland Southeast Asia are a hotspot for armed confrontation and illicit businesses. Drug trafficking, cyber scam operations, and unregulated rare earth mining are all concentrated in this sub-region. But now is an opportune time to reflect on Thailand’s low-friction dynamics with Singapore and Indonesia, given their recent diplomatic momentum amid mounting global supply chain risks, and the Thai government’s pursuit of a more proactive foreign policy aimed at better communicating national interests. Early this month, Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong met in Bangkok for the fifth Thailand-Singapore Leaders’ Retreat – the h...

  Compulsory conciliation under UNCLOS could help both sides insulate sensitive negotiations from domestic political pressure.     The Gulf of Thailand forms the second axis of the Cambodia-Thai border dispute. The 27,000-square-kilometer Overlapping Claims Area has been disputed since 1972 and is estimated to hold some 1.6 billion barrels of oil and 17 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Thailand terminated the 2001 memorandum of understanding governing talks over the OCA in early 2026, after fighting along the two nations’ disputed land border in July and December 2025. The outbreak of war reignited historic territorial and political animosities between the two Southeast Asian states and resulted in a border closure that still persists. The immediate cause of the fighting was a calculated political leak by Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen of a private 17-minute telephone conversation with Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra. The recording exposed Paetongtarn ad...

 The process, convened under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, follows Thailand’s revocation of a 2001 MoU governing bilateral maritime talks. Cambodia and Thailand began compulsory conciliation proceedings in Singapore yesterday, aimed at resolving a long-running maritime dispute. The three-day session marks the opening of a process conducted under Article 298 and Annex V of the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which is intended to resolve the two nations’ overlapping claims in the Gulf of Thailand. After a closed-door session yesterday that was chaired by Katrina Cooper, the head of the Conciliation Commission, a public session took place today in which the Cambodian and Thai foreign ministers delivered opening statements laying out their governments’ respective positions. Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn told the Commission that his government’s objective was “to achieve a resolution that serves the peoples of both nations and contributes to peace...