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Death toll rises in Thai-Cambodian clashes despite ceasefire call

Death toll rises in Thai-Cambodian clashes despite ceasefire call

Thai residents evacuate from their homes following clashes between Thai and Cambodian soldiers in Sisaket province. (AP pic)
SAMRAONG : Thailand and Cambodia clashed for a third day on Saturday, as the death toll from their bloodiest fighting in years rose to 33 and Phnom Penh called for an 'immediate ceasefire'.
A long-running border dispute erupted into intense conflict involving jets, artillery, tanks and ground troops on Thursday, prompting the UN Security Council to hold an emergency meeting on the crisis Friday.
Cambodia's defence ministry said 13 people were now confirmed killed in the fighting, including eight civilians and five soldiers, with 71 people wounded.
In Thailand, the army said five soldiers were killed on Friday, taking the toll there to 20 – 14 civilians and six military.
The death toll across the two countries is now higher than the 28 killed in the last major round of fighting between 2008 and 2011.
Both sides reported a clash around 5.00am (2200 Friday GMT), with Cambodia accusing Thai forces of firing 'five heavy artillery shells' into locations in Pursat province, which borders Thailand's Trat province.
The fighting has forced more than 138,000 people to be evacuated from Thailand's border regions, with more than 35,000 driven from their homes in Cambodia.
After the closed meeting of the Security Council in New York, Cambodia's UN ambassador Chhea Keo said his country wanted a ceasefire.
'Cambodia asked for an immediate ceasefire – unconditionally – and we also call for the peaceful solution of the dispute,' he told reporters.
Border row
Thai foreign ministry spokesman Nikorndej Balankura said Friday, before the UN meeting was held, that Bangkok was open to talks, possibly aided by Malaysia.
'We are ready, if Cambodia would like to settle this matter via diplomatic channels, bilaterally, or even through Malaysia, we are ready to do that. But so far we have not had any response,' Nikorndej told AFP.
Malaysia currently holds the chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations regional bloc, of which Thailand and Cambodia are both members.
Acting Thai Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai has warned that if the situation escalates, 'it could develop into war.'
Both sides blamed each other for firing first, while Thailand accused Cambodia of targeting civilian infrastructure, including a hospital hit by shells and a petrol station hit by at least one rocket.
Cambodia has accused Thai forces of using cluster munitions.
At the UN, Cambodia's envoy questioned Thailand's assertion that his country, which is smaller and less militarily developed than its neighbour, had initiated the conflict.
'(The Security Council) called for both parties to (show) maximum restraint and resort to a diplomatic solution. That is what we are calling for as well,' said Chhea Keo.
The fighting marks a dramatic escalation in a long-running dispute between the neighbours – both popular destinations for millions of foreign tourists – over their shared 800km (500-mile) border.
Dozens of kilometres in several areas are contested, and fighting broke out between 2008 and 2011, leaving at least 28 people dead and tens of thousands displaced.
A UN court ruling in 2013 settled the matter for over a decade, but the current crisis erupted in May when a Cambodian soldier was killed in a new clash.
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When maps can lead to serious conflict: Another thorn in the Thai-Cambodian border dispute — Phar Kim Beng
When maps can lead to serious conflict: Another thorn in the Thai-Cambodian border dispute — Phar Kim Beng

Malay Mail

time33 minutes ago

  • Malay Mail

When maps can lead to serious conflict: Another thorn in the Thai-Cambodian border dispute — Phar Kim Beng

JULY 28 — In South-east Asia, borders are not just lines — they are living legacies of colonial cartography, shifting sovereignties, and unresolved nation-building. The latest escalation in the Thai-Cambodian conflict reveals how something as seemingly technical as a map scale can become a powder keg of geopolitical tension. At the centre of this intensifying dispute lies a bitter disagreement: Thailand insists on the use of a 1:50,000 map; Cambodia refuses anything but the 1:200,000 version. To the untrained eye, these figures may seem inconsequential. But for seasoned observers of regional politics, this divergence underscores a broader battle over historical legitimacy, territorial sovereignty, and competing national narratives. To understand the friction, we must start with the scales themselves. Thailand's preferred map, at a scale of 1:50,000, is a product of meticulous cartography developed by its Royal Survey Department with technical input from the United States. It is based on the Mercator projection, which privileges accurate distance and direction — critical for military, civil, and administrative functions. This map presents a high-resolution portrait of the Thai-Cambodian border: every ridge, river, road, and village finely rendered, leaving little to interpretation. In contrast, Cambodia clings to a 1:200,000 scale map, originally produced by France during its colonial rule. This map, though far less detailed — 1 centimetre equating to 2 kilometres — is deeply embedded in Cambodia's legal and historical identity. Anchored in the Franco-Siamese treaties of 1904 and 1907, the map is not only a symbolic relic but the very foundation of Cambodia's official border claims. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) famously drew upon this map when awarding Cambodia control of the Preah Vihear Temple in 1962. While the ICJ did not endorse the map's precision, its citation in such a landmark case fortified Cambodia's reliance on it. At the heart of the controversy is not just scale, but projection. Thailand's Mercator-based map distorts area but preserves direction and shape — ideal for navigation but problematic for representing equatorial landmasses. Cambodia's Sinusoidal projection, meanwhile, preserves area but distorts distances, especially at the edges. These divergent projections cannot be reconciled through simple overlay or conversion. The same stretch of land will appear in different locations depending on the map used. In areas like the Dangrek Mountains — home to contested temples, scam-infested outposts, and mine-laden terrain — the consequences of such discrepancies are not abstract. They are dangerous. An aerial view shows displaced people seeking shelter near a pagoda in Oddar Meanchey province, after fleeing their homes near the Cambodia-Thailand border July 26, 2025. — AFP pic Cambodia's rejection of Thailand's map stems from both technical incompatibility and principled opposition. Phnom Penh views Thailand's 1:50,000 map as a unilateral product — one not mutually agreed upon nor recognised in the 2000 Memorandum of Understanding that was supposed to guide border demarcation. By contrast, Cambodia sees its French-produced map as a jointly recognised baseline, affirmed through decades of diplomacy and legal proceedings. Cambodia further argues that Thailand's insistence on its newer map amounts to an ex post facto revision of territorial claims. Thailand, for its part, sees the Cambodian map as outdated, imprecise, and ill-suited to modern boundary work. Bangkok contends that the colonial-era map does not meet contemporary geospatial standards and was never intended for granular demarcation. Thai officials assert that sticking to such an antiquated artifact is neither practical nor fair in a world where satellite imagery, GPS, and GIS tools offer pinpoint accuracy. Yet, what may appear fair in technical terms may be perceived as threatening in historical and emotional terms. Indeed, behind the disagreement over maps lies a deeper asymmetry of perception. For Cambodia, maps are instruments of justice — evidence of colonial wounds and international validation. For Thailand, they are tools of utility — meant to reflect ground realities, not memorialise imperial cartography. When these worldviews collide, diplomacy becomes cartographically constrained, and escalation becomes dangerously probable. This is not the first time borders drawn on paper have spilled into bloodshed. The 2008 clashes over the Preah Vihear temple led to military confrontations, international mediation, and UN involvement. The scars from that episode linger. And now, in 2025, we see history repeat itself — this time not just over temples, but over how to measure the land they sit upon. Therein lies a sobering truth: when two sovereign nations cannot agree on the very tools to define their borders, the prospect of peaceful resolution grows dim. Without consensus on the instruments of demarcation — whether satellite-generated or colonial-derived — negotiations are reduced to parallel monologues. Dialogue becomes doubly difficult when the conceptual foundations are misaligned. What then is the path forward? It is time Asean steps up — not to impose — but to facilitate a technological and diplomatic compromise. Third-party cartographic mediation, perhaps involving neutral institutions like the United Nations or regional geospatial experts, could help develop an integrated digital mapping framework that overlays both scales and projections. A hybrid platform could account for historical maps while reconciling them with modern data. What matters is not to erase history or override sovereignty, but to find common ground in shared facts. The Thai-Cambodian border dispute is not merely a technical disagreement. It is a geopolitical and psychological struggle over history, power, and identity. Until both sides can agree on the most basic of instruments — a map — their path to peace will remain dangerously convoluted. Because in South-east Asia, as this dispute reminds us, even maps can lead to war. And when they do, it is not the lines that bleed — but the people who live along them. *Phar Kim Beng, PhD, is the Director of the Institute of Internationalisation and Asean Studies (IINTAS) at the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). He served as a former Head Teaching Fellow at Harvard University and is a Cambridge Commonwealth Scholar. **This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.

Thai acting PM heads to peace talks in Malaysia, accuses Cambodia of bad faith
Thai acting PM heads to peace talks in Malaysia, accuses Cambodia of bad faith

Malay Mail

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Thai acting PM heads to peace talks in Malaysia, accuses Cambodia of bad faith

BANGKOK, July 28 — Thailand's acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said Monday he does not believe Cambodia is acting 'in good faith' as he departed for peace talks with the country's leader in Malaysia. 'We do not believe Cambodia is acting in good faith, based on their actions in addressing the issue,' Phumtham told reporters at Bangkok airport as cross-border clashes entered their fifth day. 'They need to demonstrate genuine intent, and we will assess that during the meeting.' — AFP

Backing Malaysian mediation, Asean urges ‘maximum restraint' in Thai-Cambodia clashes
Backing Malaysian mediation, Asean urges ‘maximum restraint' in Thai-Cambodia clashes

Malay Mail

timean hour ago

  • Malay Mail

Backing Malaysian mediation, Asean urges ‘maximum restraint' in Thai-Cambodia clashes

KUALA LUMPUR, July 28 — Asean foreign ministers have called for an immediate ceasefire between Thailand and Cambodia, expressing deep concern over the rising death toll and humanitarian impact along their contested border. In a joint statement, the ministers urged both nations to halt all hostilities and return to dialogue to prevent further casualties and destruction. The ministers pointed to the displacement of thousands and the damage to public property, warning that continued violence risks destabilising the region. 'We emphasise the need for both sides to exercise maximum restraint and undertake an immediate ceasefire,' the statement said. The crisis has escalated rapidly since a Cambodian soldier was killed in late May, triggering weeks of sporadic clashes that reignited last Thursday into the worst fighting in over a decade. More than 30 people have been killed so far, including 13 civilians in Thailand and eight in Cambodia, while over 200,000 have been forced to flee border areas. The joint statement reaffirmed Asean's commitment to resolving disputes through peaceful means based on the Asean Charter, the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC), and the United Nations Charter. The ministers expressed full support for efforts by Malaysia, the Asean Chair, to mediate the dispute and bring both sides to the negotiating table. Peace talks between Cambodia and Thailand were scheduled to begin in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, with US officials also present to assist in mediation efforts. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said officials from his State Department are in Malaysia to assist negotiations for a ceasefire. Thailand and Cambodia previously said their representatives would meet in Malaysia today for discussions.

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