Thailand-Cambodia Border Dispute: It’s all about the oil
by Morentalisa (morentalisa.hutapea@gmaill.com)
During 2011, the ASEAN has been preoccupied by the issue of Thailand-Cambodia armed conflict. The conflict has caused several people to die, hundreds of civilian and military were injured and tens of houses were burnt. The intense fire shooting by both sides has also disturbed economic activities nearby the border. Various actions have been conducted to produce cessation. In December 2011 both parties agreed to hold cease fire and started a peace process.
The original conflict was related to Preah Viheah temple, which was located in the border of Thailand and Cambodia. But is it true that the main issue only related to the 900 years old temple?
Thailand and Cambodia has a long history of border crisis and tensions. The other area is the gulf of Thailand. The Gulf of Thailand, the maritime border of Cambodia and Thailand, provides compromising wealth sources for both countries. Deep in the ocean are precious sources of energy, such as oil and the abundant natural gas. Unfortunately, not only rich in natural gas and oil, the gulf also rich in overlapping claims from the neighboring countries Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Malaysia and Thailand. The effort to determine maritime borders in the gulf is difficult. The concept of water and seabed border is a new concept in international relations, so there has been little reference for states to determine their water borders. High political tension between the two countries made this issue even more complicated.
The discovery of oil and natural gas in the gulf worsened these conditions. As the prediction of oil and gas reserve raised, the tension followed behind. For Cambodia, their problem with Thailand significantly irritates them. An offshore area of 2,600 square kilometers known with overlapping Claims Area (‘OCA’), are in dispute between this two countries. Actually the OCA is bounded by the Cambodian claim of 1972 (western boundary) and the Thai claim of 1973 (eastern boundary line), as well as the 1991 Cambodian-Vietnam maritime border (southern boundary).[2] But it is very hard for Cambodian to get a resolution with Thailand compared to Vietnam. The Thai government realized the urgency of Cambodia to work on the OCA and played their cards well to get compatible access toward another disputed border.
Meanwhile, the Cambodian government got extremely excited to explore and develop several oil blocks, which lay on the OCA. Their desire to develop the site found disagreement by the Thai Government and created tension with the Cambodian government. The Cambodian government accused the Thai government for delaying the talk over the border dispute settlement while they were desperately in need to tap the offshore oil block in the disputed area.[3]
There have been several efforts by the Cambodian government to resolve the dispute over their water border dispute. In 2000 Cambodia proposed that the issue of sovereignty be shelved so that joint development could begin.[4] But these talks and negotiations failed to bring agreement on the table.
A power shift in Thailand heavily influenced the situation. The previous Thai leader, Thaksin Shinawatra, had a close relation with Hun Sen, Cambodia’s current prime minister. Under his leadership the dispute between Cambodia and Thailand was overcome by issuing a memorandum of understanding (MOU). After Mr. Abhisit Vejjajiva took the power replacing Thaksin, Thailand decided to review the MOU in order to protect the Thai judicial system and the benefits of the Thai people.[5] Many people suspected this decision was highly related with Hun Sen’s announcement that he appointed Thaksin as his economic adviser to the Cambodian government.[6] This situation plus the recent conflict of the ancient Preah Vihear temple escalated the tension between the two countries and it seems now very difficult to see the future solution of this problem. A number of diplomatic and military sources in Thailand have suggested that discussions on the maritime border issue cannot truly begin until some compromises have been reached on the temple issue.[7]
New development
The Cambodian Foreign Minister Mr. Hor Namhon announced on 20th December 2010 that Cambodia and Thailand would start to talk about oil and gas development in the disputed areas between Thailand and Cambodia in the Thailand Gulf. This is a big step from the Cambodian Government to process the oil from the disputed waters as soon as possible.
Some critical issue such as revenue sharing needs urgently to be negotiated. The latest discussion over the OCA, Cambodia and Thailand failed to agree on some sensitive issues such as the division of states revenue from oil exploitation.
The government of Thailand has proposed to separate the OCA vertically. The Thai government suggested having revenue sharing with 80/20 to Thailand on the western side of the OCA and 80/20 to Cambodia on the eastern side of the OCA.[8] But the Cambodian Government objected that proposal since there are some concerns that the western part of the OCA contains more oil and gas then the eastern part. The Cambodian government proposed to create oil blocks in the OCA and take a revenue sharing with 50/50 share. So far, there has no agreement on the revenue sharing.
Despite the up and down historic relations with Thailand, it is very clear that the Cambodian Government hardly tried to find a solution on this issue. In December 2010, the Cambodian prime minister, Hun Sen visited Thailand for a discussion with Thai’s government about this issue. The movement of Cambodia is a significant sign of the urgency of oil income for the Cambodian Government. The Cambodian government has announced that 2012 will be the year of Cambodia’s massive oil production. It was expected that the oil production in 2012 would boost government income from oil and gas revenues flowing to the national budget. It has a worrisome effect for international society. Accompanying by secretive tradition and high corruption ranking, some analyst argue that the massive income flow to Cambodia will worsen the corruption situation in Cambodia. Despite warning from the international society, especially from civil society that the negative implication of massive oil income which will create a “resource curse”, the Cambodian Government still stand firm on the plan to scoop the benefit of oil and gas exploitation. They said that the income will boosting economic growth and provide Cambodian people with ultimate welfare. “We will make sure oil is a blessing, not a curse,” said Hun Sen.[9]
[1] Nguyen Hong Thao, “Joint Development in the Gulf of Thailand,” IBRU Boundary and Security Bulletin 1999, p.80
[2] “The struggle between Thailand and Cambodia over oil and gas resources,” acceded from http://www.clc-asia.com/analysis/the-struggle-between-thailand-and-cambodia-over-oil-and-gas-resources/, 4 January 2010
[3] Nayan Chanda, “Cambodia and Thailand: So Much Oil, So Hard to Get,” acceded from unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/…/UNPAN001665.pdf, 4 January 2010, 10.57, p.3
[4] Ibid, p.1
[5] “Thailand scraps oil and gas MoU with Cambodia,” acceded from http://www.aseanaffairs.com/thailand_news/ties/thailand_scraps_oil_and_gas_mou_with_cambodia, 4 January 2010 at 13.17 WIB
[6]“ Thai PM Abhisit adamant to review Thailand-Cambodia MoU,” acceded from http://enews.mcot.net/view.php?id=12698&t=2 4 January 2010, at 13.36 WIB
[7] “The struggle between Thailand and Cambodia over oil and gas resources,” loc.cit
[8] “The struggle between Thailand and Cambodia over oil and gas resources,” loc.cit
[9] Ian MacKinnon, “Cambodia welcomes its oil wealth, but will it do more harm than good?” Acceded from http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/mar/05/oil.cambodia, 4 January 2010