(Phnom Penh): The Royal Government of Cambodia formally lodged the strongest protest against the visit of the Thai prime minister to the An Seh area in Choam Ksan District, Preah Vihear Province, on 23 August 2026, according to a press release seen by Fresh News on Wednesday (Aug. 26).

According to the press release, the unauthorised visit constituted a deliberate attempt to assert illegitimate claims over Cambodia's sovereign territory, an area that has been illegally occupied by Thai armed forces since last year. The Royal Government of Cambodia emphasised that no legal right can arise from an unlawful act; therefore, the illegal occupation of Cambodia's sovereign territory cannot be legitimated by a visit from the Thai prime minister.

The visit amounted to a grave violation of Cambodia's sovereign territory as defined and delimited by the 1:200,000 scale maps produced by the Commissions of Delimitation of the Boundary between Indo-China and Siam and Item I of the Joint Statement of the 3rd Special General Border Committee (GBC) Meeting on 27 December 2025, which explicitly prohibits provocative actions that may escalate tensions along the border. The Royal Government of Cambodia underscored that neither a unilaterally drawn map nor any visit premised on such a map can alter the internationally recognised boundary.

The Royal Government of Cambodia re-emphasized that it does not accept any boundary line or territorial claim unilaterally asserted by Thailand. The aforementioned visit shall not prejudice the legal rights or position of Cambodia with respect to its international boundary.

The Royal Government of Cambodia demanded that Thailand cease such actions in the above-mentioned areas, as well as any other areas unlawfully occupied by Thai armed forces since last year, with a view to de-escalating the situation, fostering mutual trust, and facilitating peaceful settlement of disputes, thereby restoring peace, stability and good-neighbourly relations along the Cambodia-Thailand border.

Cambodia remains committed to resolving all boundary disputes with Thailand, as with all its neighbours, exclusively through peaceful means, in line with international law and existing bilateral agreements, while firmly upholding its principled position that borderlines must not be changed by force.
=FRESH NEWS