Q&A: Why is Cambodia widening the fight despite its disadvantage?

July 27, 2025 — Three days into the Thai-Cambodian border crisis

The Questions

• Why has Cambodia expanded the battlefield to cover nearly every part of the land and maritime borders?
• Why is Cambodia escalating the conflict when it clearly lacks the manpower, military hardware, and endurance to match Thailand?
• What exactly is Cambodia’s strategic plan?

The Answers

• Cambodia appears intent on escalating unrest across all areas it claims sovereignty over.

At this point, the international community is well aware of the border conflict.

• The objective is to draw the attention of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), hoping it will intervene by issuing a resolution or deploying observers, thereby pressuring the two countries to enter negotiations.

If negotiations begin, Cambodia can bring the territorial dispute to the table.

Analysis

• Should the fighting escalate or become prolonged, the question of “who fired first” will become less relevant.

The international focus will shift to the scale of conflict and civilian casualties, rather than who started it.

• Cambodia is opening new fronts in areas where it claims sovereignty—many of which it has previously submitted to the International Court of Justice (ICJ)—to frame the violence as stemming from unresolved territorial disputes.
• The aim is to internationalise the issue, pushing for ICJ intervention or third-party mediation.

Cambodia is reportedly frustrated by the outcome of the UNSC meeting, which yielded no favourable resolution and saw no major power explicitly support its position.

Worse still, several governments have criticised Cambodia’s attacks on civilian targets.

In response, Cambodia is now accelerating military offensives to reclaim as much territory as possible—and provoking Thailand to expand its strikes deeper into Cambodian territory.

• The goal: accuse Thailand of using offensive military measures rather than defensive ones, thereby casting Thailand as the aggressor and shifting the diplomatic upper hand to Cambodia.

Thailand’s Strategy

• Thai military operations have successfully reclaimed nearly all contested territory.
• Cambodia’s combat capability has been steadily degraded.
• Cambodian troop morale has suffered significant blows.
• Thailand is now focused on strengthening long-term defensive positions.
• Caution is being exercised to avoid falling into the trap of appearing as the aggressor or using overt offensive force.
• Thailand is seeking to reopen negotiations—but under terms that do not place it at a disadvantage. This means both sides would have to return troops to their original positions prior to the conflict.