What does the unresolved battle of maps along the Thai-Cambodian border mean?
Schedule
Wed, 12 Nov, 2025 at 07:00 pm
UTC+07:00Location
Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand - FCCT | Nana Plaza, BR
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[Members free, non-members 450 baht, students 150 baht.]President Donald Trump called it a “momentous day for South East Asia” that would save “millions of lives” when he presided over the signing of the Kuala Lumpur Peace Accord between Thailand and Cambodia last month in the Malaysian capital.
Nobody can dispute that Trump’s tariff threats had already had a sobering effect on the two sides in the worst conflagration seen between two ASEAN member nations in the regional grouping’s nearly 60 years.
Hypernationalists on both sides have been kept at bay, and heavy weapons have been pulled back, but the border is still closed and the thorny issue of its demarcation remains largely unresolved.
The root of the dispute is usually traced to a map drawn up by imperious French colonialists in the early 20th century and to rulings subsequently issued by the International Court of Justice at The Hague that went in Cambodia’s favour.
But how is it in the 21st century, with pinpoint accurate mapping technology available, that two sovereign nations cannot even agree on which map to use? This is not a dispute anybody along the border – many of whom have relatives on the other side – benefits from or wants, so what still stands in the way of a final resolution?
Confirmed panelists:
Pou Sothirak is senior adviser to the Cambodian Center for Regional Studies in Phnom Penh, an independent non-profit foreign affairs think tank. A member of the royalist FUNCINPEC party Sothirak was Cambodia’s Minister for Industry, Mines and Energy from 1993 to 1998, and was also elected to represent Siem Reap province in 2003. He was Cambodia’s ambassador to Japan from 2005 to 2009.
Thongchai Winichakul is professor emeritus of Southeast Asian history, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and author of Siam Mapped – a history of the geobody of a nation. He is chief senior researcher at the Japanese Institute of Developing economies, and was president of Michigan’s Association for Asian Studies in 2013.
Moderator: Dominic Faulder, FCCT board member and Nikkei Asia associate editor.
Members who wish to book in advance should email [email protected] or call the FCCT office on 02-652-0580.
Non-members can use this link: https://www.ticketmelon.com/fccthai/
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