11:00 AM, January 05, 2026
Intervention by H.E. Pen Bona, Royal Government Spokesperson
Samdech, Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen, Good morning!
The Spokesperson for the Royal Government of Cambodia would like to inform the general public and the international community as follows:
1. The Royal Government of Cambodia continues to protest strongly against the ongoing presence and illegal occupation by Thai military forces in certain areas of Cambodian legitimate territory along the border. The Thai military’s occupation is an unlawful act with no basis under international law. The continued presence and occupation through threats and the use of force by the Thai side are entirely contrary to fundamental and irrefutable principles of international law.
2. Any territorial control, administrative acts or purported authority exercised as a result of such conduct are without legal effect and incapable of generating rights. Such actions by the Thai armed forces are in stark contrast to Thailand’s commitment to peacefully resolving disputes in the spirit of the Joint Statement of the 3rd Special Meeting of the General Border Committee dated December 27, 2025, as well as the spirit of previous agreements. The placement of container ships and the installation of barbed wire are unacceptable acts of violation of the international boundary between the two countries.
3. The Thai military has been relentlessly destroying civilian houses and infrastructure on Cambodian sovereign territory. These destructions were carried out during their full-scale military operations from 7 to 27 December 2025, targeting Cambodian civilians. The Thai military continued its acts of destruction on civilian targets by deploying both mechanical forces and personnel even after the ceasefire came into effect. Additionally, Thai soldiers have fenced off the land and houses of many innocent Cambodian civilians while continuously destroying, stealing, and looting their properties in the most anarchic manner possible. Such actions not only caused severe loss and damage to civilian properties and infrastructure but also hindered the return of displaced civilians to their homes and normal livelihoods, which clearly contravenes the spirit of Point 4 of the Joint Statement adopted on December 27, 2025.
4. The Spokesperson for the Royal Government of Cambodia condemns in the strongest terms the grave violations of international law and international humanitarian law, the grave human rights abuses, and the looting of properties belonging to Cambodian civilians by Thai soldiers. Cambodia demands that Thailand immediately cease all such hostile military activities and calls on the Thai side to firmly honor the mandate of the Joint Boundary Commission of the two countries to demarcate the boundary based on existing agreements and international law.
5. Cambodia maintains a firm position in safeguarding the Cambodia-Thailand international boundary as inherited from the Commission of Delimitation of the Boundary between Indo-China and Siam, in full respect of international law principles, the principle of intangibility of frontiers (Uti Possidetis Juris), the Franco-Siamese conventions and treaties, the maps, and the procès-verbaux of the Commission of the Abornement of the Boundary between Indo-China and Siam, as well as all relevant agreements and documents mutually agreed upon by both parties. Cambodia reiterates that it will not recognize any alteration of the boundary line resulting from the use of force.
6. The deployment of container ships and barbed wire, as well as the planting of national flags in areas illegally occupied by Thai forces, clearly demonstrates the violation of Cambodia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, while the demolition of innocent civilians’ homes is a serious violation of international law and international humanitarian law. Worse, the evidence shows that the Thai military committed the act of looting civilian property in the area it surrounded, which is an unacceptable, inhumane act and prohibited under international law.
