Him Rotha, Deputy Director of the Cambodian Centre for Regional Studies, believes that the current border situation is a “fragile” ceasefire that needs to be constantly monitored.
Relevant stakeholders, including the ASEAN Observer Team, from the Cambodian side have been monitoring the situation, he said, adding that installing barbed wires and containers is not a “good-faith act”.
“At the same time, it is very important that Cambodia and Thailand have peace with one another to provide a more conducive environment to cooperate effectively, including matters related to border demarcations based on existing treaties and conventions in line with the principles of international law,” Rotha said.
“With the decline of international laws and multilateralism, as witnessed in what happens around the world, I think the principle of international laws has its own limitations with the lack of proper and effective implementation mechanisms.”
However, he said that for small states like Cambodia, subscribing to international laws is the best available option. “Should all of these cases go through the world court, the law will be on those with strong legal cases,” Rotha added.