SURIN, Thailand/ODDAR MEANCHEY, Cambodia – Thailand has vowed to continue military operations in its border conflict with Cambodia, with its foreign minister saying that earlier comments made by US President Donald Trump – including that the latter had brokered a ceasefire between the two sides – did not reflect an accurate understanding of the situation.
As fighting extended into a sixth day, Cambodia’s Information Ministry accused Thailand of escalating its attacks on villages and civilian infrastructure in the early hours of Dec 13, saying that the Thai military deployed fighter jets to bomb a hotel and two bridges in Veal Veng district in western Pursat province.
“Thai forces have not stopped and are still continuing the bombing,” Cambodia’s Defence Ministry said.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, meanwhile, said he has
requested the deployment of the ASEAN Observer Team
, led by the Malaysian chief of defence forces, to monitor developments on the ground in an effort to support de-escalation and promote transparency.
The mission will be complemented by satellite monitoring capabilities provided by the US government, with findings to be presented at the ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting on Dec 16.
Thailand’s aerial assault came just hours following Mr Trump’s claim that he had successfully negotiated a truce after speaking with both Thai Premier Anutin Charnvirakul and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet on Dec 12.
“They have agreed to cease all shooting effective this evening, and go back to the original peace accord made with me, and them, with the help of the great prime minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim,” Mr Trump posted on Truth Social. He was referring to a joint declaration signed between Thailand and Cambodia in Kuala Lumpur in October, which expanded on an earlier ceasefire agreed upon after five days of fighting in July.
Mr Trump added that a “roadside bomb that originally killed and wounded numerous Thai soldiers was an accident, but Thailand nevertheless retaliated very strongly”.
It is unclear which incident the US President was referring to. In November, Mr Anutin suspended the peace deal after accusing Cambodia of planting fresh landmines in dense jungle, severely injuring patrolling Thai soldiers. Both sides accused each other of firing first in an exchange of gunfire on Dec 7, which preceded Thailand’s launch of air strikes on Dec 8 that sparked the
resumption of hostilities
between the two South-east Asian neighbours.
Responding to Mr Trump in a Facebook post, Mr Anutin said that “it’s definitely not a roadside accident”.
“Thailand will continue to perform military actions until we feel no more harm and threats to our land and people. I want to make it clear,” he added in the Dec 13 post. “Our actions this morning (Dec 13) already spoke.”
In Cambodia, the news of intense aerial bombing made the failed truce even harder to take.
“President Trump helped broker a ceasefire, but Thailand did not listen – they are still violating it and firing,” said Ms Chuob Chanthea, a 30-year-old cook who lost her income after the casino she worked at in O’Smach, in Oddar Meanchey province, was shelled by Thai forces.
“I plead with Mr Trump to talk to the (Thai) prime minister to make a real ceasefire,” she said.
The deployment of US satellite monitoring capabilities follows a Cambodian request, Mr Hun Manet said, for the US and Malaysia to use their “intelligence-gathering capabilities”, such as satellite imagery, to determine which side began shooting first on the afternoon of Dec 7. “This method may be the easiest and most transparent method to verify the facts,” he said in a Facebook post on Dec 13.
The Cambodian Prime Minister said he held telephone discussions with Datuk Seri Anwar on Dec 11 and with Mr Trump on Dec 12 to “find ways to bring a ceasefire” between Cambodia and Thailand and “get both sides back to implementing the Kuala Lumpur Joint Declaration”. He made no mention of a ceasefire being successfully reached.
At a subsequent media briefing on Dec 13, Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow said Thailand was concerned that some of the points in Mr Trump’s Truth Social post “don’t reflect an accurate understanding of the situation and some of the points are inconsistent with the facts”.
He took issue with Mr Trump’s implication that Thailand’s retaliation had been excessive, saying that it was proportionate. He also said the US President was referring to the landmine incidents but mischaracterised them as “roadside bombings or accidents”, despite being corrected while making the same mistake during his phone call with Mr Anutin.
Temporarily displaced Cambodians who set up camp on pagoda grounds in Cambodia’s Banteay Meanchey province.
ST PHOTO: MAY WONG
“President Trump, in his phone conversation with the Prime Minister, and also in his tweet, described the landmine incidents – seven of them so far, I remind you – as roadside bombings or accidents. Now, these incidents are definitely not accidents,” Mr Sihasak said.
“And Thai soldiers have been severely wounded. They’ve lost part of their limbs, and we pointed this out in the conversation yesterday with President Trump.”
It remains to be seen whether Mr Trump will take umbrage at Thailand’s comments and its rebuffing of his ceasefire overtures, or if he will seek to leverage negotiations by invoking ongoing trade talks.
Along with the observer mission, Mr Anwar also urged Thailand and Cambodia to exercise maximum restraint and proposed a ceasefire with effect from 10pm local time on Dec 13.
But having drawn a line in the sand, Mr Anutin faces limited room to back-pedal from his hardline stance and seek a compromise to de-escalate the heated conflict, especially with elections on the horizon. Parliament has been dissolved, paving the way for snap polls in Thailand by early February, about a month earlier than anticipated.
Displaced villagers resting at an evacuation centre in Si Sa Ket province in Thailand on Dec 12.
PHOTO: EPA
“It’s quite a tricky landscape for Anutin, because (the) majority of his supporters, or even the broader Thai electorate, I would argue, seem to prefer a firm stance on the Cambodian issue,” said Mr Napon Jatusripitak, who is director of the Center for Politics and Geopolitics at the Bangkok-based Thailand Future Institute think-tank, and coordinator of the Thailand studies programme at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute.
Back in Cambodia’s Oddar Meanchey province, 21-year-old farmer Y. Phalin said he was anticipating a long stint at the temporary displacement camp he has been sheltering at since Dec 8.
“Maybe we will have to stay away longer, as this fighting is bigger than before,” he said. “I don’t have any belief in the ceasefire anymore.”
