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By The Son of the Empire

With the overeaction against Cambodia, the Thai government has decided to terminate the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) 2001 with Cambodia on Cambodia-Thailand Agreement for common exploitation of hydrocarbons.

Practically, I would like to express my great pleasure upon hearing this and warmly welcome this decision of the Thai government. Why?

Because if this 2001-MOU is determinated, Cambodia will have the full rights to apply the Siamese-French treaties 1907 without obstruction. On the other hand, if the 2001-MON is still active and recognized, most of the Cambodian benefits will be lost to that of Thailand as stated by the Cambodia’s Border Committee (CBC) as follows:

1.Notwithstanding the March 23, 1907 France/Siam Treaty, Thailand offered itself the right, to unilaterally review in the 60’s, the adjacent delimitation of its continental shelf that was more and more turned off its course toward the Cambodian Coastline. That action effectively enlarged the litigious zone to our expenses.

2.In 1995, the Royal Government of Cambodia did propose joint oil exploration with foreign firms, but the latter withdrew their investment projects due to the fact that the litigious demarcation zones issue was not settled. So far, it is not. At the time, Thailand itself asked Cambodia that any demarcation of respective maritime domains must be beforehand recognized by mutual consent.

3.Today, among zones being proposed in the June 18, 2001 Memorandum of Understanding, one of them is instead localized within our continental self, as defined by the 1907 France/ Siam Treaty and not in the crossing zone.

4.Any common exploitation could not be undertaken, on one hand, before an effective demarcation of contested zones, and on the other hand, without an oilfield is cut by the completely delimited common border. In the last case, the share should be based on a pro rata procedure that consists of taking account of the capacity of the oilfield or the quantity of reserves obtained and recognized after drillings, and not “at equal parts” as the Memorandum insinuated.

5.Previously, Thailand and Malaysia experienced a long period of litigation regarding the delimitation of their continental shelf. Both countries have put their point of honor to decades long negotiations before reaching a final agreement in 1994, following intense discussions over a joint exploitation of merely a few square kilometers small zone (the joint development areas) in 1995.

Furthermore, Thailand previously had just sett up a committee in order to negotiate with the Cambodia counter part which the Thai-VN model will be used in which Vietnam get 33% and Thailand 67% of the profit. This ambition of the Thai counterpart show not only being disrespect the spirit of 1907 treaties of Siam-France, but also the spirit of the 2001-MOU which stated that the profit of the exploration will be divided 50/50 over the overlaping area 27,000 square killometers.

In addition, I would gladly support the Cambodian government`s move to determinate the 2000-MOU with Thailand as well on the land boundary demarcation as a response to the greedy Thai to see who will be at the lost advantage. And the Cambodian government then should take a firm stance in resolving the conflicts with Thailand by using only the 1904-1907 Siamese-French treaties and the verdict of International Court in Hague, 1962.