BORDERING ON HATRED

 Posted by Frenchie

THAILAND VS CAMBODIA

After attacking its Cambodian neighbor in 2025, Thailand annexed a swath of its territory, forcing hundred of thousands of civilians into an exodus and partially destroying Angkoran artifacts including the Temple of Preah Vehar, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage. What are the stakes of this invasion ?  It is all about the drawing of the border line between the two countries established in 1907.

Thailand spends an annual budget of six billions dollars per year for its defense, which is seven times the amount of Cambodia, whose troops are equipped with outdated equipment.

 This a world where the law of the jungle prevails. Where a State can raise a flag on its neighbor's land, destroying historical temples and fortifying its positions without fearing any condemnation or sanctions for its actions.

Pacta sunt servanda  (treaties must be respected) claimed the 1967 Vienna Convention. Obviously another time, another place. The conflict that oppose Thailand and Cambodia does not appear as a front page headline, but it has impacted the civilian population, killing people and throwing thousands of families on the roads to exile. 

An uneven fight.

On the 24th of July 2025, fighting exploded between the two kingdoms. This is not a novelty, but this time the combat is particularly violent. The forces are radically uneven. The Royal Thai Army (RTA) is comprised of 245 000 men, well equipped with a modern arsenal: tank, a modern artillery, as well as a Navy and Air Force. Against them 75 000 Cambodian poorly equipped troops, with Soviet Union age old disparate weapons, no Air Force and no anti air defense. Following the first initial assault by Thai troops, a precarious cease fire is reached under the hospices of Donald Trump. On December 7th of the same year, Thailand breaks the cease fire. This time the fighting last twenty days. The Thai Army seized a dozen of border sites to the North and West of Cambodia. In the process, they leveled down the Angkoran Temple of Ta Krabi and heavily damaged the Temple of Preah Vehar. In a communique published on February 18th 2026, Thai General Winthai Suvaree, spokes-person for the RTA confirmed what many military observers had already noted, by revealing that the Thai air to ground attacks had been planned well in advance.

The impact of these attacks in human losses is still not very clear. At this time, Cambodian authorities have claimed 130 dead, while unofficial sources put the number at four times that much, to which you have to add several hundred of severely wounded, as well as half a million displaced civilians. Since then, the RTA troops are waiting behind a network of bunkered containers, set up well outside the internationally recognized border lines, in Cambodian territory. These enclaves vary in size, but they are on average around 12km2, a territory that covered many villages and farmland, now abandoned. 

Thailand is rewriting its National History, by officially denying the anteriority of the Khmer Empire.

The roots of the disagreement

Nine months after the end of the fighting, about 80 000 civilians still have not been authorized to return to their houses. Until now Pagodas in the North and West of the Kingdom have been sheltering thousands of people who have lost everything. In the area of the steep hills of Mt Dankrek, the Thai Army is holding up the high ground, following the established military theory, that whoever holds the high ground, controls the low ground. Following the second Thai offensive in December, Cambodian troops have been pushed down in the valleys, where they deployed uneasily alongside the main roads. Ever since the last cease fire of December 27th, the front has remained frozen there.

While the Cambodians lost substantial territory, they fought courageously, despite being completely outgunned. The Thai Air Force conducted in depth strikes against roads and bridges, but also against Pagodas and homes which had no military value. War crimes have been, and continue to be committed. If you consult Thai social network, you discover a world replete with social insults, scenes of looting filmed and distributed by Thai soldiers themselves. 

Once upon a time, the Khmer Empire ruled the Indochinese peninsula from the IXth to the XVth century. At its peak, during the rule of  Jayaraman VII (1181-1218) its territory extended over the whole of Siam (Thailand), Laos, the Annam and the Mekong Delta. Later, in 1431, a Siamese army of the kingdom of Ayutthaya, conquered Angkor, sacked it and pilfered its riches, forcing the Khmers to flee. A somber period of 400 years, when Cambodia is occupied and vassalized, follows.  Ultimately in 1795, Siam annex the western Khmer territories including the site of Angkor Wat. Ever since the end of WWII which saw Siam claiming neutrality, while tacitly aligning with the Axis powers, Thailand has systematically attempted to re-write its own National narrative. Its official Historiography completely brushes over the existence of the Khmer Empire which it describes as a Siamese early civilization, in order to build a modern identity, constructed on borrowed fame, despite an undeniable corpus of Archeological evidence to the contrary.

This deliberate re-writing of History is not a simple quarrel of school textbooks, instead it is the foundation of modern Thai Nationalism, propped up by a systematic government propaganda. Over the years, it has become the fuel for a tenacious and murdering hatred. This revisionism of History is targeting the eradication of the memory of ancient Khmer Civilization for the stated goal of  seizing its archeological sites and appropriating its glorious past. On the other side of the coin of the carefully groomed image of the tourist postal card, you find instead the disturbing but very real face of a militaristic regime.

The Thai armed forces exert a major economical and political influence on the country.  Speculating generals portray themselves as the guardians of the three pillars of Thai Society: The Monarchy, Law and Order, and Buddhism. This is a voluntary Caste, that is repressive and which easily morphs into a Junta at the first sign of instability. This Caste did not hesitate to do so on 12 different occasions, since the implementation of the Constitutional Monarchy in 1932. Its last Putsch took place in May of 2014, which led to a sophisticated tightening of political rule. A Junta governed the country until 2019. The institutions were tightly locked in through the means of a new Constitution in 2017, which gave the RTA control of the Thai Senate.

 Despite this, three successive members of a single family: the Shinawatra, were able to become Prime Minister, giving civil society a voice, and tempering down the repressive ardor of the generals of the RTA. The first two were overthrown by Military Putsches, while the third one Paetongtarn Shinawatra, was removed on August 29th 2025, under the guise of "lack of ethics " following a phone conversation with the former Cambodian leader Hun Sen. It was the spark that set fire to the powder keg. The political error of the young female PM was not to have made the call, following a long held family tradition, but rather to have suggested during that call, a possible legalization of money games by the Thai legislature. This would have threaten to compete with the network of Cambodian border Casinos, owned by the Oknha.

The Oknha are Cambodian oligarchs close to the Phnom Penh regime. This proposition was of course unacceptable for Hun Sen, who promptly release the tapes of the conversation to the Thai press, creating a scandalous storm, leading to the prime minister being expelled.

Two opposing powers.

Hun Sen unseen consequence of his dubious maneuver, was the arrival into power of the far right movement: " The Party for Thai Pride", a radically xenophobic group whose leader Anutin Charnvirakul, has the backing of the most radical generals. Among them Boosin Padklang, the commander of the Eastern Military Region. Today's Prime Minister Charnvirakul, started the war under the pretense of "Buddhist Morale". While General Padklang directed the operations in an onslaught of military might and extreme brutality.

By nature Cambodia is not really bellicose.  It suffered too much during the CIA secret wars in the early 70s, and the subsequent genocidal Khmer Rouge regime. The collective memory of the country is still bearing the deep scars of these conflicts. Yet Cambodia is suffering from an unspoken malaise. In August 2023, Hun Sen ceded power to his son, Hun Manet (a West Point graduate) after 38 years of unilateral authoritarian rule.  A dynastic power which let the country fall under the influence of Chinese Triads. Among the intimate circle of the Hun family, the Oknha. 40% of the Cambodian GDP is held by these conglomerates. A proxy oligarchy with some of its members having close ties to the Chinese Mafia.

Among them: Ly Yong Phat, nicknamed the "King of Koh Kong", after his take over of this southern province, by practicing forced expropriations. Under the guise of economic development, the use of financial extraction made his fortune. In 2024, the OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control) from the US Treasury department, revealed that the walls of the Casinos of the LYP group were hiding "pig butchering" operations. An online boiler room scam intent on spoiling unsuspecting victims. These operations use captive individuals forced to work in detention, and unable to leave. Ly Yong Phat was accused of Human traffic, Forced Labor and Cyber Crimes, all his assets in the US were seized, his bank accounts were frozen.

Another dubious character is Chen Zhi, who is the perfect incarnation of dirty money management. Arriving from China at the age of 28 years old he created the Prince Group. Through this front, he transformed the resort city of Sihanoukville into a Chinese speaking enclave, filled with neon lights and girls bars. Money is flowing freely, and he soon gains access to the Hun Clan. Not long after, in 2020, a royal decree bestow on the Prince Group the title of Okhna.

The operation took such dimension, that in 2024 the UN released two successive reports, highlighting a "humanitarian crisis" within the Prince Group, which hid the slave like conditions of their scam centers, as well as the existence of clandestine banking operations geared towards the fei chien, a Chinese expression meaning flying money. Basically a cash laundering operation, with the help of crypto money. An international counter-operation led jointly by the British authorities and the FBI, ultimately brought a record breaking confiscation of US $ 15 billions in Bit coins.

Ultimately Zhi was arrested by the Cambodian police in January 2026 and extradited towards China. A few days later in Beijing, General Zhang Uxhia, Vice President of the Central Military Commission was arrested on suspicions of having been Zhi's mentor. This purge took place at the initiative of Xi Xinping who was being embarrassed with rumors tied to the Macao Triad 14k.

A silent annexation.

The Thai love to use the term Scambodia to describe their neighbor, and used it freely to justify their invasion. While it is true that Cambodia is, or at least was, a crossroad for online fraud, the latest statistics from the UN and Interpol about drug dealing and crime in general, give us a larger perspective about the region. Even during the hay days of the criminal oligarchs in Cambodia, they produced only 20% of the illegal trades within the Mekong regions. A revenue source believed to be around US $ 40 billions per annum. Most of that illegal trade is tied to the government of  Myanmar (formally Burma) controlled by a Junta, very ideologically and financially close to the Thai generals and the Special Economical Zone of the Golden Triangle in Laos, at the border of Thailand.

Faced with an abnormally large private debt of 90% of GDP, the Thai banking industry is confronted to  a huge demand for liquidity., which threaten a disastrous crash of the whole Thai banking system. Forensic accounting experts are suggesting that the Thai economy which is a lot more diversified than Cambodia, and aligned on the US $,  is under less scrutiny by international crime watch organizations, a fact that has led to Thailand becoming the main regional actor in money laundering for southeast Asia.

The reality of the reshuffling of the regional maps remains largely hidden behind the moral declarations of prime minister Charnvirakul and the also very real humanitarian challenges highlighted by the UN reports. It certainly is becoming clear that the goals of Bangkok are more geared towards controlling the flux of the illegal regional trades, rather than fighting it. This is a perfect demonstration of shadow theater, where appearances are more important than reality.

The central question about the occupation of Cambodia's territory, continues to be its temporary status, versus a total annexation. Article 42 of the Hague Convention defines the occupation by a military power, as being responsible for the civilian and humanitarian duties of the occupying force. Unfortunately the lack of enforcement of said article, in other theaters of occupation in Western Asia, does not encourage a positive forecasting. In fact on the frontline of the conflict, the famous fog of war does not give enough cover for the radical plans put in place by Thailand.

The Thai armed forces have been observed modifying the topography of the occupied territory, as well a slough of other modifications. In violation of the cease fire accords, Thailand has requisitioned civilian companies to bulldoze villages and open roads. In Preah Vihear, the military is building a road towards the Pagoda of Keo Sikha Kiri Svarat located 500 meters below the Angkor Temple, already heavily damaged by repeated bombing.

 This is part of a double prong approach by the Thais.  On a tactical level, it is creating a cauldron where the Cambodians are entrapped. On the Strategical level, it is preparing for a economic integration of the area. The tourism flux, could in a near future be enjoying the Angkor sites directly from Thailand, thanks to this historical revisionism.

Everywhere the Thais are systematically erasing all the outward signs of Khmer sovereignty. A symbolic example is the removal by the Thais of a Shiva Statue in the Temple of Ta Krabey, basically razed to the ground, but totally controlled by the RTA, under the laughable pretense, that it was an illegal symbol on Thai territory.

Redrawing existing treaties.

Behind the narrative of Thai propaganda, relayed to a T by the media, with words like dispute and quarrel Bangkok is hiding a much more serious issue of legal reality. Tempering down the real conflict between the two countries, ends up hiding a core principal of international law. Uti possidetis juris. Literally: you own what was yours. This dogma guaranteeing the stability of post colonial Nations strengthen the concept of the borders inherited from History. A guarantee of peace set in the stones of old treaties. During the 19th century, the Khmer Kingdom was just a shadow of what it once had been. Its territory which had been dismembered, one piece at the time, was witness of yet another conflict, between Annam and Siam 1841-1845.

Squeezed between the Elephant and the Dragon, the King of Cambodia, Norodom the 1st, turned towards France, and its leader Napoleon III for assistance. On August 11th 1863 Norodom signed the Treaty of Oodong, which made Cambodia a Protectorate of France. Both Siam and Annam turned back. Ultimately in 1904 and 1907 several treaties between Siam and France ceded back to Cambodia its western territories and the temples of Angkor Wat.

An International Commission armed with the technical tools of the time drew to the best of their abilities the border, which until today is the only recorded official border legally recognized between the two countries. Never less, since the independence of Cambodia in 1953, Thailand has been disputing this border. Thailand concentrated its dispute on the Temple of  Preah Vihear. In 1962, a ruling of the ICJ (International Court of Justice) confirmed the sovereignty of Cambodia over this territory. In 2008 after the recognition of the Angkor Wat Site, as a UNESCO world heritage, the tensions are rekindled. In 2013 the ICJ, once again recognized the Cambodian claim over the whole of Angkor Wat.

Following the 2025 bloody events, Phnom Penh once again addressed itself to the Hague for a final resolution on its 820km border with its Thai neighbor. At this time Bangkok's government refused to recognize the competency of the ICJ, just like it did not recognize the 2008 Treaty of Oslo on the illegality of the use of submunition bombs. Bombs Thailand used freely during its invasion of Cambodia, against civilian targets and World Heritage Sites.

A Damocles sword.

The Cambodian government is hoping for a diplomatic solution, a dream which does not appear realistic, in a world where the law of the jungle is overcoming the international laws established during the last 120 years. The Association of South East Asian Countries continues to observe in silence. France has promised to make its historical documents available, but remains in an uncomfortable neutral position. The US and China have remained silent on the subject. This environment is not leading to optimism for a diplomatic solution. It now has been over 52 years since the military occupation of 38% of Cyprus (a EU member)  by Turkey. This particular military take over was sanctioned by five UN resolutions, but neither the UN nor the EU have been able to sway Turkey. The most flagrant example being Israel attacks on virtually all its neighbors, and its colonization of foreign territories, despite more than 40 UN resolutions, over the last 75 years, while the world remains silent.   ( until recently)

Conclusion

The ultra national organizations established at the beginning of the 20th century have been reduced to just taking notes of the fait accompli and filing official protests. The pleas of Cambodia for an international recognition of its territory, most likely shall fall on deaf ears. This is what most countries have learned from the dismantling of the rules and treaties put in place after WWII. In a  fast increasing tipping of the balance of powers worldwide, this is one more conflict not to overlook. In the meantime, many of the neighboring countries are impacted by illegal immigration from these countries at war.

References:

Radio Free Asia

LeFigaro

UN report on Human trafficking

Interpol reports

The Diplomat

France, Ministere des Affaires Etrangeres