Hun Manet calls for border demarcation and says US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace could ‘play a role’.
Thailand continues to occupy parts of Cambodia after multiple ceasefire agreements ended months of deadly fighting late last year, Cambodia’s prime minister has said.
“We still have Thai forces occupy[ing] deep into Cambodian territory in many areas. This is further beyond even Thailand’s own unilateral claim,” Hun Manet said in an interview with the Reuters news agency on Tuesday while travelling to Washington, DC, to attend a meeting of United States President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace.
“This is not an accusation, but it’s a statement of the facts on the ground,” he said in his first interview with international media since taking over as prime minister from his father in 2023.
Thailand did not immediately respond to the claims. Thai military officials have previously said operations were limited to reclaiming areas within Thai territory.
Thai troops placed shipping containers and barbed wire inside areas that Thailand had previously recognised as Cambodian territory, he said, rendering about 80,000 people unable to return home.
The alleged encroachment occurred after Cambodia and Thailand’s protracted border conflict last year killed dozens and displaced hundreds of thousands of people, fuelled nationalistic rhetoric and destroyed ancient temple sites.
Al Jazeera reporting and independent mapping efforts have shown the presence of Thai-placed shipping containers and barbed wire in several provinces, including Pursat and Banteay Meanchey.
Hun Manet called upon Thailand to begin border demarcation through the countries’ Joint Boundary Commission process, which lagged before Thailand’s national elections that saw a decisive win for Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and his Bhumjaithai Party.
“Now the election is done, we hope that Thailand can start, at least on a technical level … demarcating in the hot zone, so that we can go back to life,” Hun Manet said.
Trump’s Board of Peace could “play a role in helping de-escalation and restoring peace and stability” in Cambodia, he said, adding the group was a “valuable addition” to existing international mechanisms.
The US brokered a ceasefire deal between Cambodia and Thailand last October, but fighting broke out again within weeks. A new agreement spearheaded by China appears to have stuck since the start of this year.
Defends record
Hun Manet, 48, also reflected that Cambodia’s relationships with the US and China were “not mutually exclusive”.
Despite negative international attention on Cambodia’s human rights record, the country has maintained strong ties with the US in areas such as security cooperation, the Cambodian leader said.
“Democracy is not just defined by political party expression, but health, education, freedom of press and others,” he said.
Cambodia consistently ranks at the bottom of press freedom rankings. It was placed 161st among 180 countries by Reporters Without Borders last year. The effectively one-party state has shut down almost all independent media in recent years and regularly arrests journalists.
The prime minister also defended his response to Cambodia’s widespread “pig-butchering” cyber-scamming centres, which have garnered increasing international scrutiny.
“Yes, they exist,” he said. “Does that mean that we allow them, we endorse them, or we not do anything? No.”