A Thai view from Amarat Wongvilai:

It’s quite simple, isn’t it? This is something Cambodia needs to take action on and then it will end. There is no need to save face as Cambodia doesn’t even have any anymore.

Reply from Youk Chhang: The purported “simplicity” of the Thai proposal reminds me of another “quite simple” proposal that was made in 1938. In exchange for a pledge of peace, the country of Czechoslovakia ceded its control over a German-populated border region (the Sudetenland) to then Nazi Germany.

Like today’s Thai proposal for peace, this proposal was argued to be a reasonably necessary, and perhaps even a “simple”, compromise to secure peace in Europe. The rest of this story, however, is the history of World War II. Thailand is not Nazi Germany, nor is this conflict the precursor to a world war. However, Thailand’s conditions for peace are nothing less than a screen for the continuation of war.

Thailand’s claims on sovereign Cambodian territory have no basis under international law nor can Thailand find any international support, so what we are witnessing, in simple terms, is the violation of international law, the violation of a US-brokered peace agreement, and the bullying of a neighboring, sovereign ASEAN nation. You cannot negotiate at the point of a gun, nor can Thailand claim its conditions for a ceasefire are remotely acceptable while it has already violated its obligations under the US-brokered ceasefire agreement.

The current situation carries the potential for an escalation of war that is far greater than the border areas between Thailand and Cambodia, and the risk of a dramatic escalation that will impact the whole region and possibly the world grows by the day. This conflict must end, and not by the “simplistic” conditions set forth by the Thai government.

Ref.: Cambodian Scholar: Thai Ceasefire Conditions ‘Mock International Law’ as Attacks Continue https://www.kampucheathmey.com/kpt-english/1039099

Youk Chhang is Director of Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam)

w: www.dccam.org

e: dccam@online.com.kh

December 18, 2025