RTA says Hun Sen lied, ordered provocative acts against Thailand

The spokesman for the Royal Thai Army (RTA) on Wednesday accused Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen of lying and said Cambodian forces had opened fire on Thailand under Hun Sen’s command.

RTA spokesman Maj Gen Winthai Suvaree said Hun Sen was the real commander of Cambodian troops, that he was behind Cambodia’s aggression against Thailand, and that he had distorted information to allege that Thailand started the border fighting.

Winthai was responding to Cambodian media reports quoting Hun Sen as saying he was now commanding the battles along with his son, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet.
 

The Cambodian media also quoted Hun Sen as accusing Thailand of aggression and of using heavy weapons to shell Cambodia. He was quoted as saying that Thailand was trying to provoke retaliation from Cambodian troops in order to end the ceasefire and tear up the joint declaration on peace.

The reports further quoted Hun Sen as telling Cambodian troops to exercise restraint and not to respond unless the “red line” was crossed.

But Winthai said everything Hun Sen claimed was a “total lie”.
He said the Thai military knew well that Hun Sen had held real command in Cambodia all along.

Winthai rejected accusations of Thai aggression and said Cambodia had started the fighting by mobilising troops and weapons into several areas inside Thai territory. He added that Cambodia had also laid large numbers of landmines on Thai soil along the border.

He noted that since the ceasefire in late July, Cambodia had repeatedly carried out acts of provocation and used landmines to harm Thai military personnel. There was clear evidence of Cambodia’s use of landmines, he said, and these provocations had prompted Thailand to suspend the joint declaration on peace. As a result, he argued,

Cambodia was the side that had deliberately torn up all agreements through its own actions.

Winthai said Cambodia had not exercised the restraint it claimed, judging from what had happened. On December 7, Cambodian troops “inhumanely” opened fire on Thai soldiers without warning, he said.

Over recent days, Cambodia had heavily shelled Thai border areas with heavy weapons of all kinds, affecting many civilians.

The spokesman said the RTA had the right to defend the country until hostility and aggression at the border ended, in order to protect sovereignty, territorial integrity and public safety in line with international law and humanitarian principles.

“The RTA hereby affirms that we did not start the violence, but we have a duty to respond to violations of our sovereignty as necessary, with appropriate measures,” Winthai said.