An Open Letter to the Prime Minister of Thailand

A response to Thailand's remarks at the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly.

“Thailand has never sought conflict. But peace can only be built when we work together in earnest.”
— Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, UNGA81, 24 September 2026

Your Excellency,

I paid close attention to your speech at the United Nations. Your language about peace was carefully chosen, and I share the belief that Cambodia and Thailand must find a way to coexist without more bloodshed. Yet I was disturbed by the gap between what was said in New York and what Cambodian families have actually endured along the border.

Thailand has admitted to conducting airstrikes inside Cambodia. Civilians died and were wounded, entire communities were forced to flee, and homes and public facilities were destroyed. The Temple of Preah Vihear still shows artillery craters, shattered stonework and serious structural harm. These realities cannot simply be brushed aside while Cambodia is lectured about making a more “genuine effort” toward peace.

Cambodia should account honestly for any actions taken by its own forces. Thailand must do the same. Peace starts when each government is prepared to confront the consequences of its behaviour, especially when that behaviour crosses an international frontier.

The record cannot be rewritten from the UN podium

The evidence is already considerable. On 8 December 2025, Reuters reported that Thai fighter jets hit targets inside Cambodia. Thailand claimed the aircraft were striking military assets; Cambodia described the attacks as unprovoked aggression. Four Cambodian civilians were reported killed that day.

Reuters also cited Thailand's army chief of staff as saying the aim was to weaken Cambodia's military capability over the long term. The two governments disagreed about who reignited the fighting, but there is no genuine dispute that Thai air power was deployed across the border.

The Associated Press later reported additional strikes, including one near Poipet that Thailand acknowledged. Cambodia said bombs landed in a residential area and injured civilians. Thailand responded that the intended target was a rocket warehouse on the outskirts and that precautions had been taken. That disagreement matters and warrants an independent inquiry. It does not alter the fundamental fact that Thai aircraft dropped weapons on Cambodian soil.

The toll mounted quickly. Reuters reported in January that the two rounds of fighting had killed 101 people and displaced more than half a million. By May, the reported combined death toll approached 150. The figures shifted as official records were updated, but the scale was undeniable. This was a serious armed conflict, not a minor misunderstanding between border patrols.

The question of invasion and victimhood

Cambodia characterises the entry of Thai aircraft, artillery fire and troops into its territory as an invasion. Thailand rejects that term and insists it acted in self-defence. Some sections of the border remain undemarcated, and responsibility for individual clashes is disputed. Such questions must be resolved by evidence and law. They cannot be resolved by letting the militarily stronger side define every contested location and every use of force on its own terms.

This is precisely why your address at the UN was so hard for many Cambodians to accept. Thailand admitted to the airstrikes, yet your speech shifted the moral burden onto Cambodia. Families who have buried relatives, fled their homes or watched sacred and public sites damaged will inevitably ask how the country that sent fighter jets across the border can now speak as if it were the sole victim.

I raise that question directly, but without disrespect. It concerns the responsibility of a government and its armed forces. It deserves a clear answer, backed by records, access for observers and an investigation both sides can trust.

Preah Vihear is evidence carved into stone

The Temple of Preah Vihear is no ordinary battlefield structure. It is an eleventh-century masterpiece of Khmer architecture, inscribed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. In 1962, the International Court of Justice ruled that the Temple lies in territory under Cambodian sovereignty. In 2013, the Court clarified that Cambodia holds sovereignty over the entire promontory of Preah Vihear.

When Associated Press journalists visited in March 2026, they observed stone debris, artillery craters, scorched vegetation and extensive damage across the complex. Cambodia's Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts identified 142 damaged locations from the July fighting and a further 420 from December.

It reported that all five principal gateway pavilions were damaged, three of them severely. The Associated Press added an important caveat: an independent external assessment had not yet verified the full Cambodian inventory. The honest response to that gap is not to dismiss the damage, but to invite UNESCO and ICOMOS to examine it without restriction.

Thailand says Cambodian forces used the site for military purposes. Cambodia says Thailand deliberately attacked it. I do not ask readers to decide that dispute from political statements. I ask for an impartial examination. Whatever the final conclusion, a Cambodian monument of exceptional importance to the world was left gravely wounded, and no responsible government should be at ease with that.

Cambodia has repeatedly chosen diplomatic and legal channels

Cambodia signed on to the ceasefire arrangements reached in July and December 2025, worked through ASEAN and kept seeking dialogue. The UN Secretary-General urged both governments to protect civilians, honour the ceasefire and use peaceful mechanisms. In September 2026, the two countries also began a UN-backed conciliation process over their maritime boundary. Cambodia's readiness to use that process is concrete proof that it is willing to rely on law when bilateral talks stall.

Thailand has every right to present its evidence and to protect Thai civilians. Cambodia has the same right. I do not excuse harm to Thai families, and I do not believe nationalism should be used by either government to conceal uncomfortable truths. At the same time, fairness does not require us to overlook the disparity in military capacity, the use of fighter aircraft or where the bombs fell. Those details are central to accountability.

The commitments Thailand must make now

If the pledge voiced in your UN speech is sincere, Thailand should be prepared to take practical steps that both nations and the international community can verify:

• Independent investigation. Invite an impartial international fact-finding process to examine how hostilities began and were conducted, cross-border airstrikes, artillery use, civilian casualties and damage to civilian and cultural property.
• Full ASEAN observer access. Allow observers into every sensitive location relevant to the ceasefire, including areas where troop positions, barriers, roads or military works are disputed.
• No unilateral change on the ground. Halt new fortifications, barriers, excavation, road construction and troop build-ups in disputed or undemarcated areas until a verified agreement is reached.
• Safe civilian return. Guarantee that displaced Cambodian families can return voluntarily, safely and with dignity, with access to their homes, farms, schools, pagodas and community property.
• Heritage protection and restoration. Support a joint UNESCO and ICOMOS assessment of Preah Vihear and every affected heritage site, publish the findings and help fund restoration wherever responsibility is established.
• Accountability and reparation. Establish a credible process for compensation, reconstruction and individual accountability where independent evidence proves unlawful harm to civilians or destruction.
• Lawful border settlement. Resume effective demarcation work and accept adjudication, conciliation or other peaceful means of resolution.