A fierce disagreement retains the 2 nations on edge

[ad_1] Jonathan Head South East Asia correspondent in Bangkok

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/5ace/live/26df8a80-7da7-11f0-9bf0-839449dfa85e.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/5ace/live/26df8a80-7da7-11f0-9bf0-839449dfa85e.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/5ace/live/26df8a80-7da7-11f0-9bf0-839449dfa85e.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/5ace/live/26df8a80-7da7-11f0-9bf0-839449dfa85e.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/5ace/live/26df8a80-7da7-11f0-9bf0-839449dfa85e.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/5ace/live/26df8a80-7da7-11f0-9bf0-839449dfa85e.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/5ace/live/26df8a80-7da7-11f0-9bf0-839449dfa85e.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/5ace/live/26df8a80-7da7-11f0-9bf0-839449dfa85e.jpg.webp" loading="eager" alt="Getty Images A Cambodian soldier stands on guard near a destroyed building at the border between Thailand and Cambodia. He watches a team of soldiers and officials inspecting the site. " class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Getty Photographs A fragile ceasefire between Thailand and Cambodia has held whilst they commerce recent accusations each day

The weapons alongside the forested Thai-Cambodian border have been silent for 3 weeks now.

However a fierce disagreement continues to be being waged by each nations, as they search to win worldwide sympathy and shore up public help at house. And a commonly-held view in Thailand is that they're shedding.

"The notion is that Cambodia has appeared extra agile, extra assertive and extra media savvy," mentioned Clare Patchimanon, talking on the Thai Public Broadcasting System podcast Media Pulse. "Thailand has at all times been one step behind."

The century-old border dispute dramatically escalated with a Cambodian rocket barrage into Thailand on the morning of 24 July, adopted by Thai air strikes.

Since then a military of Cambodian social media warriors, backed by state-controlled English language media channels, have unleashed a flood of allegations and inflammatory studies, lots of which turned out to be false.

They reported {that a} Thai F16 fighter jet had been shot down, posting pictures of a aircraft on hearth falling from the sky - it turned out to be from Ukraine. One other unfounded allegation, that Thailand had dropped poison gasoline, was accompanied by a picture of a water bomber dropping pink hearth retardant. This was actually from a wildfire in California.

Thailand responded with official statements of its personal, however usually these have been simply dry shows of statistics, and so they got here from a number of sources – the navy, native authorities, well being ministry, international ministry - which didn't at all times seem like coordinating with one another.

Bangkok didn't get throughout its argument that Cambodia, whose rockets marked the primary use of artillery and had killed a number of Thai civilians, was chargeable for the escalation.

It's no secret that the elected Thai authorities, centred on the Pheu Thai get together of controversial billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra, has an uneasy relationship with the Thai navy.

That was made a lot worse in June when Hun Sen, the previous Cambodian chief and an previous buddy of Thaksin's, determined to leak a non-public telephone dialog he had with Thaksin's daughter, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra. She had appealed to him to assist resolve their variations over the border, and complained that the Thai military common commanding forces there was opposing her.

The leak brought about a political uproar in Thailand, prompting the constitutional court docket to droop her, and badly weakening the federal government simply because the border disaster escalated.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/da9d/live/31cb5af0-7da2-11f0-8701-ef823735961d.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/da9d/live/31cb5af0-7da2-11f0-8701-ef823735961d.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/da9d/live/31cb5af0-7da2-11f0-8701-ef823735961d.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/da9d/live/31cb5af0-7da2-11f0-8701-ef823735961d.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/da9d/live/31cb5af0-7da2-11f0-8701-ef823735961d.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/da9d/live/31cb5af0-7da2-11f0-8701-ef823735961d.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/da9d/live/31cb5af0-7da2-11f0-8701-ef823735961d.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/da9d/live/31cb5af0-7da2-11f0-8701-ef823735961d.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Hun Sen/ Facebook Hun Sen in a half-sleeved blue shirt at his desk, talking on the phone. " class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Hun Sen/ Fb Cambodia's former chief Hun Sen has taken to Fb usually to accuse the Thais of violating the ceasefire

Hun Sen has no such difficulties. Technically he has handed energy to his son, Hun Manet, however after working the nation for practically 40 years it's clear he nonetheless holds the reins.

The military, the ruling get together and the media are firmly below his management. His motives for burning his friendship with the Shinawatras are unclear, but it surely appears he was making ready for a bigger battle over the border.

From the beginning Hun Sen posted always, in Khmer and English, on his Fb web page, taunting the Thai authorities, together with photographs that confirmed him in military uniform or poring over navy maps.

Against this essentially the most seen determine on the Thai aspect has been the mercurial 2nd Military commander Lt. Gen Boonsin Padklang. He is similar officer Paetongtarn had complained about, and his bellicose nationalism has gained him loads of followers in Thailand however has additionally undermined the federal government's authority.

"Hun Sen could be very sensible," says Sebastian Strangio, creator of Hun Sen's Cambodia, a definitive account of the way in which his management has formed the nation.

"He has used this asymmetrical tactic of widening the divisions that exist already in Thailand. And the truth that Cambodia is so good at enjoying the sufferer has given it one other highly effective weapon in opposition to Thailand within the worldwide enviornment."

Thai officers admit they're struggling to counter the techniques utilized by the Cambodian aspect.

"That is completely completely different from how info wars have been waged earlier than," Russ Jalichandra, vice-minister for international affairs, advised the BBC.

"What we're saying should be credible and in a position to be proved. That is the one weapon we are able to use to combat on this battle. And we have now to stay to that although it appears generally we aren't quick sufficient."

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/6354/live/2c4af0b0-7da5-11f0-8701-ef823735961d.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/6354/live/2c4af0b0-7da5-11f0-8701-ef823735961d.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/6354/live/2c4af0b0-7da5-11f0-8701-ef823735961d.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/6354/live/2c4af0b0-7da5-11f0-8701-ef823735961d.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/6354/live/2c4af0b0-7da5-11f0-8701-ef823735961d.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/6354/live/2c4af0b0-7da5-11f0-8701-ef823735961d.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/6354/live/2c4af0b0-7da5-11f0-8701-ef823735961d.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/6354/live/2c4af0b0-7da5-11f0-8701-ef823735961d.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="BBC/ Jonathan Head A Thai soldier wearing blue protective gear and a blue helmet demonstrates how they detect and handle mines - but it's not a real one on site. One of the Thai soldiers was injured by a PMN-2 less than 100 meters from there on 9 August." class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> BBC/ Jonathan Head A Thai explosives skilled demonstrates detect mines near the place a Thai soldier was injured by a landmine on 9 August

Thailand has at all times insisted its border dispute with Cambodia ought to be resolved bilaterally, with out outdoors intervention, utilizing a Joint Boundary Fee the 2 nations established 25 years in the past.

However Cambodia desires to internationalise the dispute. It was the primary to refer the escalating battle to the UN Safety Council final month. It has additionally requested the Worldwide Courtroom of Justice to rule on the place the border ought to lie. This has introduced Thailand with a dilemma.

The official motive Thailand provides for rejecting ICJ involvement is that like many different nations it doesn't recognise ICJ jurisdiction. However simply as essential is a Thai collective reminiscence of loss and humiliation on the ICJ which cuts to the guts of the border dispute.

Each Thailand and Cambodia have enshrined nationwide tales of unjust territorial losses.

In Cambodia's case it's the story of a as soon as highly effective empire lowered to poverty by battle and revolution, and on the mercy of the territorial ambitions of its bigger neighbours.

Thailand's is a more moderen story of being pressured to sacrifice territories within the early twentieth Century to stave off French or British colonial rule. When Thailand agreed to a brand new border with French-occupied Cambodia, it allowed French cartographers to attract the map.

However when Cambodia grew to become an unbiased state in 1953, Thai forces occupied a spectacular Khmer temple referred to as Preah Vihear, or Khao Phra Viharn in Thai, perched on a cliff high which was imagined to mark the border.

The Thais argued that the French cartographers had erred in transferring the border away from the watershed, the agreed dividing line, placing the temple in Cambodia.

Cambodia took the dispute to the ICJ, and gained.

The court docket dominated that, regardless of the map's flaws, Thailand had didn't problem them within the previous half century.

The then-Thai navy ruler was shocked by the end result, and needed to assault Cambodia, however was persuaded by his diplomats to grudgingly settle for the decision.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/1c60/live/dddec1f0-7da3-11f0-8701-ef823735961d.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/1c60/live/dddec1f0-7da3-11f0-8701-ef823735961d.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/1c60/live/dddec1f0-7da3-11f0-8701-ef823735961d.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/1c60/live/dddec1f0-7da3-11f0-8701-ef823735961d.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/1c60/live/dddec1f0-7da3-11f0-8701-ef823735961d.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/1c60/live/dddec1f0-7da3-11f0-8701-ef823735961d.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/1c60/live/dddec1f0-7da3-11f0-8701-ef823735961d.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/1c60/live/dddec1f0-7da3-11f0-8701-ef823735961d.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) Cambodian officials point to what appears to be broken steps leading up to an old Khmer temple - rubble from broken stones can be seen in the picture. " class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Cambodian Mine Motion Centre (CMAC) Cambodian officers level to what they allege is injury to the Preah Vihear temple from Thai shelling

Thailand's sensitivity over its 1962 loss now makes it politically not possible for it to simply accept an ICJ function in resolving the remaining border disputes.

That has allowed Hun Sen to painting Thailand as defying worldwide regulation.

Thailand is now countering the Cambodian narrative with a more practical one in every of its personal: using landmines.

Each nations are signatories to the Ottawa Conference banning using anti-personnel mines, and Cambodia has a traumatic legacy of being one of the vital mined nations on this planet, for which it has acquired plenty of abroad funding.

So Thailand's accusation that Cambodian troopers have been laying new anti-personnel mines alongside the border, inflicting a number of accidents to Thai troopers, is an ungainly one for the federal government in Phnom Penh.

Initially Cambodia dismissed the allegation, saying these have been previous mines left from the civil battle within the Nineteen Eighties. The Thai authorities then took a gaggle of diplomats and journalists to the border to point out us what they've discovered.

Laid out on a desk within the jungle, only a few hundred metres from the border, was a set of munitions that Thai demining groups say they recovered from areas previously occupied by Cambodian troops.

We have been confined to a small clearing, marked off by pink and white tape. Wherever past that, they mentioned, was unsafe. On the drive in alongside a muddy monitor we noticed Thai troopers in camouflaged bunkers hidden within the timber.

Among the many munitions have been dozens of thick, inexperienced plastic discs concerning the diameter of a saucer. These have been Russian-made PMN-2 mines which include a big amount of explosives - sufficient to trigger extreme limb injury - and are troublesome to deactivate. Some gave the impression to be model new, and had not been laid.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/96aa/live/7e6bd4f0-7da4-11f0-8701-ef823735961d.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/96aa/live/7e6bd4f0-7da4-11f0-8701-ef823735961d.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/96aa/live/7e6bd4f0-7da4-11f0-8701-ef823735961d.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/96aa/live/7e6bd4f0-7da4-11f0-8701-ef823735961d.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/96aa/live/7e6bd4f0-7da4-11f0-8701-ef823735961d.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/96aa/live/7e6bd4f0-7da4-11f0-8701-ef823735961d.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/96aa/live/7e6bd4f0-7da4-11f0-8701-ef823735961d.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/96aa/live/7e6bd4f0-7da4-11f0-8701-ef823735961d.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="BBC/ Jonathan Head Ten landmines are laid out on a table covered with a camoflauge print cloth. The mines are green and have a cross pattern atop them. Some have soil on them, indicating that they have been recently dug up." class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> BBC/ Jonathan Head Russian-made PMN-2 mines the Thai military says have been laid lately by Cambodian troopers

The preliminary pictures of those prompted Cambodia to dismiss the Thai claims as unfounded as a result of the arming pins had not been eliminated.

Nevertheless, we have been proven different mines which had been armed and buried, however clearly lately – not within the Nineteen Eighties.

Thailand is asking for motion in opposition to Cambodia by different signatories to the Ottawa Conference, and is asking nations which help demining programmes in Cambodia to cease funding them.

It argues that Cambodia's refusal to confess laying mines or to agree on a plan to take away them demonstrates an absence of fine religion in resolving the border dispute.

Cambodia has fired again by accusing Thailand of utilizing cluster munitions and white phosphorus shells, which aren't banned however may pose a risk to non-combatants; the Thai navy has acknowledged utilizing them however solely, it says, in opposition to navy targets.

Cambodia has additionally printed footage of what it says is injury to the Preah Vihear temple, a World Heritage Web site, by Thai shelling, one thing that the Thai navy has denied.

The incessant volleys of accusations from each nations make any progress on their border dispute unlikely.

Hun Sen and his son have benefited politically from having the ability to depict themselves as defenders of Cambodian soil, however the battle has made the political challenges confronted by the Thai authorities even worse.

It has stirred intense animosity between Thai and Cambodian nationalists. A whole lot of hundreds of Cambodian migrant employees have left Thailand, which can hit an already struggling Cambodian economic system.

"Each side are describing the border as a sacred dividing line between their nations", says Mr Strangio. "The symbolism is vastly essential. This cuts to very deep questions of nationwide identification, and it is one thing that neither aspect can afford to take a step again from for the time being."