Thailand exercised its right of reply on April 22 at the 2026 United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Forum on Financing for Development Follow-up, in response to a claim by Cambodia during the General Debate.
Cherdchai Chaivaivid, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Thailand to the United Nations, reiterated that Thailand has consistently supported peace-building, nation-building, and development in Cambodia since its independence in 1953.
He said Thailand provided support through Cambodia’s decades of conflict in the 1970s and 1980s, when Thailand hosted hundreds of thousands of Cambodian refugees fleeing the conflict at any given time, and about 1 million displaced persons in total over the course of the crisis.
Thailand also supported Cambodia through the Paris Peace Agreements of 1991 and its membership of ASEAN in 1999, helping to reintegrate Cambodia into the international community and global economy.
Since Covid-19, Thailand has provided more than US$17 million in technical assistance to Cambodia through development assistance, projects, and scholarships.
The ambassador said these efforts had produced a negative rate of return to the mutually beneficial relations Thailand had developed over the years.
He stated that in July and December last year, Cambodia initiated unprovoked and indiscriminate armed attacks on Thai territory. The attacks claimed 19 civilian lives, injured 51 others, displaced more than 400,000 people, and affected more than 400 hospitals.
Thailand was therefore obliged to exercise its inherent right of self-defence under Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations.
Cherdchai also said Cambodia had suffered gravely from landmines and received substantial official development assistance for mine clearance, yet continued to plant new ones.
As a result, border areas where people from both sides could have engaged in economic activities and development had become contaminated with landmines.
Cambodia hosted several online scam syndicates, he said, with estimated annual revenues as high as US$19 billion, equivalent to nearly 40% of the country’s GDP.
This had caused financial losses for victims worldwide, as well as tens of thousands of forced labourers and human trafficking victims. The ambassador added that the money was lost to crime at the cost of development.
In a separate incident, the Royal Thai Air Force briefed foreign military attaché assistants from 22 countries regarding recent military actions along the Thai-Cambodian border, reaffirming its commitment to restraint and civilian safety.
The story Thailand cites Cambodia attacks, scam syndicates in UN reply as seen on Thaiger News.
