Bangkok – The Cambodian Prime Minister thanked Thailand for not having allowed his territory for being used to “interfere” in Cambodian affairs while a human rights group accused the two governments of leading a repressive “swap interchange” to silence the dissidents of the other.
Prime Minister Hun Manet thanked during an official visit to Phnom Penh by Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra marking the 75th anniversary of modern diplomatic ties, which began in 1950.
Manet and Paetongtarn have signed cooperation agreements on the development of labor and labor skills, road maintenance, cross-border bridges and control of transnational pollution.
The relationship between the two neighbors is sometimes turbulent. They had occasional violent clashes on territorial disputes. But there has been an increasingly flexible attitude between them with regard to the treatment of personalities from the political opposition who take shelter on the soil of the other.
“I would like to thank Thailand for its basic policy for not allowing individuals to use Thai territory to interfere with internal affairs and activities that have created dangerous situations for Cambodia. The Cambodian government will practice the same policy,” Manet told a joint press conference.
Human Rights Watch called this kind of cooperation in more and more cooperation on Tuesday. He accused the two governments of engaging in a “swap exchanger” or reciprocal arrangements targeting dissidents and opposition figures.
He said that “the two governments have facilitated assaults, kidnappings, forced disappearances and the forced return of people to their country of origin where their lives or freedom are in danger”.
“Prime Minister Paetongtarn is expected to support his Cambodian counterparts to end the transnational abuses who discredit the two countries around the world and to put their relationship in place of respectful assistance of rights,” said Elaine Pearson, director of Asia at Human Rights Watch.
Since a military coup in 2014 in Thailand by the head of the weapon then against an elected government, Bangkok has been accused of cooperation with authoritarian governments in neighboring countries of the detention and repatriation of dissidents, in particular Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.
The rights defending group said that Thai authorities have frequently used immigration charges to justify the illegal expulsion of Cambodian dissidents and activists without any guarantee of regular procedure, including those recognized as refugees by the United Nations Refugee Commissioner.
There have also been incidents in which Thai nationals have been targeted in neighboring countries. An eminent pro-democracy activist, Wanchalearm Satsaksit, was kidnapped by armed men at Phnom Penh in June 2020 and has not been seen since.
Human Rights Watch also pointed out that the Cambodian authorities did not stop the suspects responsible for killing Lim Kimya, a former Cambodian opposition legislator in Bangkok on January 7, 2025. The Bangkok Criminal Court issued arrest mandates against two Cambodian nationals who are both linked to official Cambodian government officials.
Edited by Mat Pennington.