Latest news with #Thai-Cambodia
The Diplomat
15-07-2025
- Business
- The Diplomat
Moving a Mafia State: Why Thailand's Punch Lands Harder Than America's
If you want to influence the Cambodia's regime, you must pressure its criminal economy – not just its formal trade. Over the past few weeks, both Thailand and the United States have ratcheted up the pressure on Cambodia, each seeking to influence the kingdom's behavior in line with their respective domestic interests. But the contrast between their approaches – and their likely effectiveness – is striking. The U.S., true to form, opted for blunt force: a threatened 36 percent tariff on all Cambodian exports, announced last week by President Donald Trump as punishment for Phnom Penh's 'persistent' trade barriers and 'unfair' practices. Thailand, too, is taking a (less characteristically) blunt tack, imposing costs on the regime in the wake of the Thai-Cambodia border dispute and ensuing fallout. It has shut border crossings, cut utilities, blocked Cambodian labor access, and then, last week, issued an arrest warrant for a powerful ruling-party senator and seized Thailand-based assets that Bangkok has linked to online scamming operations. The scope of this argument does not extend to the legitimacy of either the American or Thai grievances with Cambodia. My point is more about the how. One party has demonstrated astute awareness of the kingdom's political economy and the other has not. Results are likely to follow accordingly. Over the past five years, the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) has evolved from merely corrupt and repressive into a paradigmatic and globally damaging mafia state – perhaps the world's most durable. Putting its other predatory interests aside for a moment, CPP ruling elites own, protect, and profit from an industrial-scale cybercrime economy that generates an estimated $12-$19 billion annually – an amount that dwarfs the value of its licit industries (including its low-margin, tariff-vulnerable garment sector) and is equivalent to roughly half its formal GDP. Scam compounds dot the landscape, guarded by armed security, surrounded by barbed wire, and shielded invariably by corrupt ties to political elites. This is not crime exploiting a 'governance gap.' It is governance by criminality. Thailand has seen this reality up close, particularly in Poipet, the notorious border town where scams and casinos dominate. For years, it has more or less tolerated the status quo, benefitting from its own cross-border flows of cash, labor, and goods. But recent mutual antagonisms – including a deadly border skirmish and Hun Sen's escalating interference in Thai politics – appear to have crossed a line for Bangkok. Over the past month, Thailand has struck back hard, first through nationalist posturing over the border dispute, and then through a series of unprecedented moves targeting the Cambodian regime's true vulnerabilities. This culminated last week when Thai authorities raided 19 properties, seized luxury cars, froze assets, and issued an arrest warrant for a key Cambodian scam patron. Kok An, the so-called 'Godfather of Poipet,' is a CPP senator, close associate of the Hun dynasty, and one of Cambodia's wealthiest men. He is also one of the 28 political elites highlighted by respondents to my May 2025 study as meriting international accountability for their role in the scam industry. (The list is included in Appendix A to the report.) While it would be tremendously gratifying to see the remaining 27 actors get the same treatment, it remains to be seen how far Thailand is willing to take this approach. Indeed, Thailand's own elites are enmeshed with Cambodia's so this knife of accountability will likely only cut so deep. Yet, whatever its limitations, Thailand's strategy has demonstrated something Washington seems unwilling to acknowledge: the Cambodian regime will not be moved through traditional diplomatic means or pressure on its formal economy alone. The State Department's approach to tariff negotiations, like so much U.S. diplomacy before it, fails to distinguish between the façade and the true engine of the state-party. Garment exports – the main target of U.S. trade policy – employ hundreds of thousands of workers but contribute only peripherally to the ruling elite's survival strategy. Indeed, tariffs risk collapsing the country's last licit industry and hurting ordinary Cambodians, pushing the regime deeper into its own criminal ecosystem and further into Beijing's orbit. This potential tariff-induced labor disruption certainly makes Phnom Penh nervous, but the CPP has repressed garment workers before and – with all the coercive power in the country consolidated into its hands – will do so again. The 'state-society schism' is vast in Cambodia and the voice of the people holds little sway. The scam economy is far less expendable to the CPP elites, who have also fully captured Cambodia's formal institutions. Accordingly, it is difficult to imagine senior party officials putting up much resistance in trade negotiations were their tariff-proof cash cow (defrauding Americans via slave labor) meaningfully pressured. That's why Thailand's moves strike closer to the mark, hitting the criminalized patronage networks that actually sustain the CPP. And, to be clear 'hitting' those networks doesn't mean cozying up to the regime or hoping against reason that their efforts to deny, obfuscate, or repress their way out of mounting international pressure will now somehow abate. Despite its paper-thin posturing, this is a hostile, criminal regime and we need to move past protracted suspended disbelief about its true nature. Just because Prime Minister Hun Manet is touting his latest 'high-level taskforce to combat scams' (the third such artifice enacted in the last year alone), the embassy will not somehow now manage to 'protect American citizens' or 'hold perpetrators accountable' via 'close cooperation with Cambodian law enforcement.' None of this suggests that Washington should abandon engagement altogether. But it does imply that if the U.S. wants to make progress – whether on trade, human rights, or regional security – it must start asserting its leverage through adversarial (as opposed to purely dialogical) diplomacy where the regime is most vulnerable: its vast poly-criminal enterprises. This indicates need for a strategic pivot away from status quo carrots and 'collaboration.' That means aggressively pursuing transnational accountability for its scam-linked elites and their networks – targeted asset seizures, public exposure campaigns, and transnational investigations into money laundering through casinos and real estate. It means strengthening regional cooperation with neighboring states to disrupt these networks collectively rather than piecemeal. Most critically, it means abandoning the illusion that the Cambodian regime can be swayed by treating it like a normal trading or diplomatic partner. It is not. The CPP is a sophisticated criminal enterprise wrapped in a flag. And, it has made clear that it will protect its illicit economies at all costs – because those economies are what, in turn, protect it. If you want to move such a regime – to end a border dispute, balance a trade deficit, uphold basic universal commitments to rights, or any other end – you have to hit it where it hurts.
American Military News
09-07-2025
- American Military News
Amnesty accuses Cambodia of ‘gross failure' to stop rampant abuses in scam centers
This article was originally published by Radio Free Asia and is reprinted with permission. Cambodia's online scamming industry is a cesspool of 'mass scale' rights abuses where hundreds suffer torture, forced labor, human trafficking, and slavery in at least 53 scam centers across the country, a new report says. The Amnesty International report, released Thursday, says it is a human rights crisis enabled by state complicity. A map showing the 53 scamming compounds in Cambodia documented by Amnesty International. (Copyright Amnesty International, 2025) Cambodia and neighboring Laos, Myanmar and Thailand have seen a massive proliferation of scam compounds that rely on a large pool of trafficked labor and are run by organized crime groups whose links to powerful local interests allow them to operate with impunity. The Amnesty report – which is based on interviews with 423 victims of Cambodia's scamming industry – documents what it calls abuses on a 'mass scale' since 2022. It says thousands of migrant workers or trafficked persons, including children, have been confined in prison-like compounds and kept within restraining physical spaces while being forced to carry out online fraud or gambling. Survivors described to Amnesty being held in cages within compounds with extensive security measures designed to prevent escape, including perimeter walls topped with razor wire or electric fencing, guarded gates, and armed security personnel. This image released by Amnesty International on June 26, 2025, as part of a report on scam centers in Cambodia shows the 'eastern perimeter wall of a scamming compound in Phnom Penh that is heightened and angled towards the interior with barbed or razor wire on the inside to prevent climbing.' (Copyright Amnesty International, 2025) Several compounds operated 'dark rooms' used to punish and torture workers who failed to meet work targets, or attempted to contact authorities. Electric shock or stun batons were routinely used against adults and children in at least 19 scam centers, Amnesty found. 'While the main perpetrators of the abuse are organized criminal groups, the Cambodian state has grossly failed to take adequate steps to stop the widespread human rights abuses despite being made aware of such abuses – in many cases, repeatedly,' Amnesty said. 'The state's failure to comply with its international legal obligations and responsibilities demonstrates acquiescence and points to complicity in these human rights abuses,' Amnesty added in its report titled 'Slavery, Human Trafficking, and Torture in Cambodia's Scamming Compounds.' The report's release comes days after Thailand's prime minister described Cambodia as 'a hub of world-class criminality and a national threat' because of the scam centers and closed its land border with Cambodia. That action came amid a Thai-Cambodia territorial A spokesperson for the Cambodian government on Thursday called the Amnesty report 'exaggerated' and rejected allegations of government inaction, referring to a task force led by Prime Minister Hun Manet that was set up in January, Reuters reported. Radio Free Asia did not immediately receive a response to its request for comment from the Cambodian government. Hun Manet has previously declared zero tolerance of human trafficking and a determination to tackle online scamming. He says that Thailand is politicizing the issue. Earlier this year, scam compounds drew global attention after Chinese TV actor Wang Xing was rescued from Myanmar's notorious KK Park in Myawaddy, near the border with Thailand, after scammers lured him to Thailand from where he was taken across the river into Myanmar. Chinese actor Wang Xing, left, shakes the hand of a Thai police officer after being released from a Myanmar scam center, in Thailand's Mae Sot district, Jan. 7, 2025. (Royal Thai Police via Reuters) Human trafficking Almost all the scam center workers Amnesty interviewed had been lured using deceptive recruitment tactics and false promises of legitimate job positions, competitive salaries, and accommodation. After they had been recruited, many told Amnesty they crossed international borders illegally by boats or by traversing rivers and jungles, until they were sold to different scamming compounds where they were then confined and exploited. Many of them, including children as young as 14, were trafficked from Myanmar, Thailand, China, Vietnam, Taiwan, and even between different scamming compounds within Cambodia. Van is one such example. The Vietnamese boy, who was 15 years old at the time, was trafficked to a scamming compound in 2023 by his friend after they entered Cambodia through a jungle path at night. Van, who spent a year in the center, was subjected to torture and other ill-treatment by bosses, he told Amnesty. Tu Anh Tu, who was lured from Vietnam to a Chinese-run scam center on top of Cambodia's Bokor Mountain in early October 2024, shows the bruises he received after being beaten at the scam center in Cambodia. (Tu Anh Tu) Another survivor, a Thai woman named Yathada, told Amnesty she was recruited on the pretext that she would have a job in administration. She too was made to cross the border at night. One survivor from China told Amnesty he had answered what he thought was a legitimate job posting on a Chinese job forum, but was later told the job was no longer at the location advertised in China. He was driven to a town on China's border with Vietnam and put on a boat to be trafficked to Cambodia. Another Chinese man, Yutai, told Amnesty that he was trafficked from compounds in Myanmar via car and boat into compounds in Cambodia, without needing to go through any immigration checkpoints. Alleged scam center workers and victims sit on the ground during a crackdown operation by the Karen Border Guard Force (BGF) on illicit activity at the KK Park complex in Myanmar's eastern Myawaddy township on Feb. 26, 2025. (AFP) State complicity Amnesty noted that despite one or more police or military interventions at 20 of the 53 scamming compounds it identified, the human rights abuses continued unabated at these centers afterward. Another 18 of the 53 scam centers appear to have never been investigated by the government and only two have shut down after state intervention, Amnesty said. This image released by Amnesty International on June 26, 2025, as part of a report on scam centers in Cambodia shows 'caged windows behind high walls of a scamming compound with three rungs of barbed or razor wire.' (Copyright Amnesty International, 2024) The remaining 13 appeared to have been subjected to some level of intervention but Amnesty said it was unable to determine whether human rights abuses continued to take place in those centers. In addition to the 53 confirmed scam compounds in 16 cities and towns, Amnesty identified 45 more suspicious locations with similar security features. It called on the Cambodian government to launch thorough and effective investigations on all of them. Amnesty also sought urgent steps to identify and remove public sector involvement in human trafficking and to properly identify and assist victims, and provide support and remedy to those who have suffered abuse. The rights group further urged foreign governments to press the Cambodian government to investigate and charge individuals responsible for committing international crimes of enslavement and torture and other ill-treatment. Edited by Mat Pennington. Updated with comments from the Cambodian government.
Bangkok Post
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Bangkok Post
Border relations improving, says regional army chief
The mood on the Thai-Cambodia border has shown signs of improvement since the May 28 clash that sparked tensions, with the militaries of both countries maintaining communication to prevent further misunderstandings, according to Lt Gen Boonsin Padklang, commander of the Second Army Region. 'Sometimes misunderstandings occur following changes in patrol routes or troop rotations, but these can be resolved through adequate communication to foster better understanding. There have been no new incidents up to now,' he said on Wednesday. He was speaking during a visit to Thai troops stationed along the border in Surin, Si Sa Ket and Ubon Ratchathani provinces. When asked whether he expects the border situation to continue improving, Lt Gen Boonsin said it would largely depend on Cambodia's policy — particularly given that the neighbouring country has already taken the dispute to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Thailand has said it does not recognise ICJ jurisdiction in the case, pointing to a memorandum of understanding between the two countries that specifically calls for disagreements to be sorted out through bilateral talks. ICJ proceedings could take years, and Thai military forces will continue their duties along the border as needed. As long as there are no new major provocations, the situation is expected to remain under control, Gen Boonsin added. Citing informal communication between battalion and company commanders on both sides, he said both countries are now looking forward to resuming formal talks through the Thai-Cambodian Regional Border Committee (RBC). Hun Sen trolls Thaksin Meanwhile, former Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen has hit back at Thai authorities for launching a crackdown and investigation into Kok An, a Cambodian businessman linked to him. Thai police raided several locations this week but were unable to find Kok An, who owns a number of buildings said to house major gambling and scam centre operations in Poipet, across the border from Aranyaprathet in Sa Kaeo province. Hun Sen said the Thai judiciary should also investigate former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, as 'everyone knows' Thaksin has even closer ties to him — 'so close that he has a reserved room at my residence in Cambodia'. 'Thailand drops a rock on its own foot! I sincerely congratulate the Thai authorities and police for launching operations to crack down on online crimes within their territory,' he wrote. 'This effort helps reduce the flow of cybercrime into Cambodia — crimes that have long flourished unchecked across Thai soil.' The Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau (CCIB) launched raids on 19 locations across Bangkok, Samut Prakan and Chon Buri on Tuesday, following a Criminal Court arrest warrant for Kok An, who is accused of supporting scam operations in Poipet.
Bangkok Post
06-07-2025
- Politics
- Bangkok Post
Pheu Thai says no political impasse
Thai politics has not yet reached a stalemate despite rising tensions and growing speculation about a potential new political alliance between two opposition parties, says Pheu Thai deputy leader Chousak Sirinil. Responding to questions about whether the political situation may pave the way for a partnership between the People's Party (PP) and the Bhumjaithai (BJT) Party, Mr Chousak said such a scenario would only be possible if Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra is removed from office. He said that a petition against Ms Paetongtarn, who is currently suspended from performing duties as the PM, is still under review by the Constitutional Court and no ruling has been issued. The court suspended Ms Paetongtarn as it reviewed a leaked audio clip of her private conversation with Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen about the Thai-Cambodia border row. Her remarks in the clip sparked ethical questions. Mr Chousak expressed confidence Ms Paetongtarn would be able to clarify the matter in court while noting that the political climate may be obscuring the facts and legal issues related to the case. He also dismissed as unlikely the rumours of a political deal between the PP and BJT to back BJT leader Anutin Charnvirakul as a "temporary" prime minister. "It sounds very strange. Is it possible to propose someone as PM without joining the government? I don't think this will actually happen." He said Pheu Thai had not considered the possibility of Ms Paetongtarn being removed from office, adding she has the full support of the party as she goes through the court process. Nan Boonthida Somchai, spokeswoman for BJT, rejected the speculation about Mr Anutin becoming PM, saying the party is now in the opposition and is focused on its role in scrutinising the government's performance and making laws. The party left the Pheu Thai-led government last month following the leak of the phone conversation between Ms Paetongtarn and Hun Sen. Ms Nan insisted Mr Anutin has never expressed any interest in taking over the premiership as suggested by some Pheu Thai members and added the political situation has not reached a dead end. "BJT has never proposed any plan to form a new government. However, the party remains open to cooperating with all political parties to ensure that parliament continues to serve as the key mechanism for resolving political issues."
The Star
04-07-2025
- Politics
- The Star
Thai-Cambodian border measures to remain unchanged: Phumtham
BANGKOK: Interior Minister Phumtham Wechayachai (pic) stated on Friday (July 4) that the measures at the Thai-Cambodian border will remain unchanged, with no easing of border crossings. Phumtham made this statement following a National Security Council (NSC) meeting, where Deputy Defence Minister Gen Natthapon Nakpanich reported on the situation at the Thai-Cambodian border. He summarised that tensions remain high, and as a result, the existing measures will stay in place. The NSC acknowledged and expressed gratitude to the Ad Hoc Centre for Thailand-Cambodia Border Situation for its ongoing efforts. Phumtham added that Natthapon had been appointed to find a resolution to the issue. When asked whether discussions had included the possibility of relaxing border measures, Phumtham confirmed that no such talks had taken place, reiterating that no decision had been made about opening the border gates. "Natthapon is already the government's representative in the Thailand team, so from now on, any discussions on finding a solution will continue until we reach a decision on how to proceed," he said. He also clarified that the final decision on resolving the Thai-Cambodia border tensions and whether to open or close border crossings will still need to be presented to the NSC for further consideration. Phumtham also addressed the appearance of a video on the "Army Military Force - สำรอง" page, which showed Cambodian soldiers armed with machine guns attempting to encroach on Thai territory. The incident reportedly led to a verbal altercation when Thai rangers intervened, though no conflict ensued. Phumtham stated that he had not seen the video and was not aware of the situation, adding that no official report had been submitted regarding the incident. When asked whether this issue was raised at the NSC meeting, Phumtham did not respond and promptly left for his vehicle. - The Nation/ANN
