Thailand bombs Cambodia military targets: Why tensions between two nations are rising

Tension is rising between Thailand and Cambodia.

The two countries have long been at odds over their 800-kilometre border.

Now, the issue is threatening to spiral out of control following a week of clashes at the border.

This after the countries troops clashed at the border leaving nearly a dozen Thai soldiers dead and one civilian injured.

Thailand also deployed several fighter jets to hit targets in Cambodia

Both countries have accused each other of instigating the clashes.

But what happened? Why are tensions between the two nations rising?

The Thai-Cambodia border dispute

First let’s take a look at the border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia.

Both countries are located in Southeast Asia.

The origins of the border tensions go back to the early 1900s.

This is when Cambodia was being ruled by France.

Thailand, which was then known as Siam, was an independent nation.

The French in 1907 demarcated the border between Thailand and Cambodia.

The border was meant to follow the natural demarcated line between the two nations.

However, Thailand later disputed this.

When the Second World War broke out, Japan occupied the territory.

Thailand regained control of those territories during the war.

However, after Japan surrendered to America the control of the territories reverted to Cambodia.

The two countries have spent much of the next century embroiled in border disputes.

Though the countries have attempted to sort out the issue repeatedly – including forming a Joint Boundary Commission in 2000 – not much has been gained.

Ownership of temples in particular has been a tricky subject.

One major historical landmark, an 11th century Hindu temple called Preah Vihear, or Khao Phra Viharn in Thailand, has been the subject of much debate between the countries.

The International Court of Justice awarded the temple to Cambodia in 1962, but Thailand has continued to lay claim to the surrounding land.

In 2003, rioters torched the Thai embassy and Thai businesses in Phnom Penh over an alleged remark by a Thai celebrity questioning jurisdiction over Cambodia’s World Heritage-listed Angkor Wat temple.

Ta Moan Thom and Ta Muen Thom are some of the other temples that fall in these disputed areas.

Tension escalated in 2008 after Cambodia attempted to list the Preah Vihear temple as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

This resulted in skirmishes over several years and at least a dozen deaths, including during a weeklong exchange of artillery in 2011.

The incident, a major flareup left a dozen dead and thousands displaced.

Then, in 2013, International Court of Justice yet again reaffirmed its decision after being moved by Cambodia.

Yet again the ICJ again ruled in its favour, saying the land around the temple was also part of Cambodia and ordering Thai troops to withdraw. The decision, needless to say, did not go down well in Thailand.

Thailand has said it doesn’t accept the jurisdiction of the ICJ and that any conflicting border claims between the two should be solved by the existing bilateral mechanism.

Cambodia has said it considers the matter closed and it refuses to engage with Thailand on the subject.

Tensions between the two countries ignited yet again in February.

At this time, Cambodian troops and their family members entered an ancient temple along the border in one of the disputed areas.

They sang the Cambodian national anthem, leading to a brief argument with Thai troops.

This exchange went viral – causing much outrage in both nations.

Then, in May, an exchange of gunfire across the border left a Cambodian soldier dead. The soldier was killed at the Emerald Triangle—the place where Cambodia, Thailand, and Laos meet.

Cambodia claimed Thai soldiers had fired upon a military post at the border.

However, Thailand claimed its soldiers were only defending themselves and that Cambodian soldiers shot first.

The incident left both sides infuriated.

Then, in June, a political row flared up between the two countries that left Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra suspended.

A phone call between Shinawatra and Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen on 15 June was leaked to the media.

Hun Sen wrote on Facebook post that he recorded the conversation and had shared it with at least 80 people.

In the call, the two were heard talking through a translator discussing the tensions at the border, and about whether they should lift restrictions imposed after the deadly clash.

Paetongtarn during the call referred to Hun Sen – an old friend of her father Thaksin Shinawatra, who himself was prime minister of Thailand – as uncle.

Paetongtarn urged Hun Sen to pay no heed to a Thai regional army commander who had publicly criticised Cambodia over the border dispute. She even referred to him as “an opponent.”

She said Hun Sen she would try to “manage” whatever he wanted.

Critics claimed  Paetongtarn went too far in appeasing Hun Sen, and that what she said, especially her comments about the army commander, damaged Thailand’s interests and image.

Paetongtarn has since apologised.

However, she has insisted that her remarks were merely  but said she didn’t do any damage to Thailand, arguing that her comments were a negotiating tactic.

What about the latest flare-up?

The latest flare up began last week.

This came after a series of landmine explosions in the disputed areas left at least more than a handful of Thai soldiers severely injured.

Thailand has claimed the first incident occurred on July 23 in its Ubon Ratchathani province.

However, Cambodia claimed the explosion occurred in Preah Vihear province.

On July 16, a blast in a different area left three Thai soldiers injured.

One of the men lost a foot.

Cambodia has many landmines left over from its civil war decades ago, numbering in the millions according to de-mining groups.

Thailand has accused Cambodia of placing new Russian-made landmines and anti-personnel mines in the disputed area – a claim that Phnom Penh has rubbished.

Thailand has claimed that Cambodia has violated the Ottawa Treaty – which bans the use and production of anti-personnel mines.

Cambodia has claimed that the soldiers had veered off mutually agreed patrol routes and triggered a mine left behind from decades of war.

Cambodia’s defence ministry accused Thailand of violated a 2000 agreement “regarding the use of agreed paths for patrols."

Then, on Thursday, things escalated quickly.

Clashes between the soldiers of both nations at the border left at least 11 Thai civilians and one soldier dead,

Another 24 civilians and seven soldiers were injured.

Cambodian officials claimed that Thai soldiers fired upon their troops at Prasat Ta Muen Thom unprovoked.

They claimed that their troops returned fire after 15 minutes.

Paetongtarn claimed Cambodia’s troops had “initiated the use of arms and fired into Thai territory — impacting both officials and innocent civilians.”

Then, a Thai F-16 fighter jet bombing targets in Cambodia – a move authorities in Cambodia decried as a dangerous escalation.

Of the six F-16 fighter jets that Thailand readied to deploy along the disputed border, one of the aircraft fired into Cambodia and destroyed a military target, the Thai army said.

Both countries accused each other of starting the clash.

“We have used air power against military targets as planned,” Thai army deputy spokesperson Richa Suksuwanon told reporters. Thailand also closed its border with Cambodia.

Cambodia’s defence ministry said the jets dropped two bombs on a road, and that it “strongly condemns the reckless and brutal military aggression of the Kingdom of Thailand against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Cambodia”.

“Cambodia has always maintained a position of wanting to resolve issues peacefully, but in this case we have no choice but to respond with armed force against armed aggression,” Prime Minister Hun Manet wrote on Facebook.

The skirmishes came after Thailand recalled its ambassador to Cambodia late on Wednesday and said it would expel Cambodia’s envoy in Bangkok.

Thailand’s foreign ministry said Cambodian troops fired “heavy artillery” on a Thai military base on Thursday morning and also targeted civilian areas including a hospital, leading to civilian casualties.

“The Royal Thai Government is prepared to intensify our self-defense measures if Cambodia persists in its armed attack and violations upon Thailand’s sovereignty,” the ministry said in a statement.

Thai residents including children and the elderly ran to shelters built of concrete and fortified with sandbags and car tires in the Surin border province.

“How many rounds have been fired? It’s countless,” an unidentified woman told the Thai Public Broadcasting Service (TPBS) while hiding in the shelter as gunfire and explosions were heard intermittently in the background.

Cambodia’s foreign ministry said Thailand’s air strikes were “unprovoked” and called on its neighbour to withdraw its forces and “refrain from any further provocative actions that could escalate the situation”.

But the dispute between the countries goes far beyond border claims.

The two countries have had a deep-seated cultural enmity that has its roots from centuries ago, when they were large and competing empires.

In more modern times, bad feelings have lingered, as Cambodia’s development, hindered by French colonialism and, in the 1970s, the brutal rule of the communist Khmer Rouge, has fallen well behind Thailand.

Both have fought over claims on cultural products ranging from boxing, mask dancing, traditional clothing and food.

With inputs from agencies