A telephone conversation disclosed between the Thai Prime Minister and the Hun Sen of Cambodia about an aggravation of border disputes put the Thai government in crisis while its second coalition partner withdrew its support.
The Bhumjaithai party, holder of 71 seats in the lower room of 500 places in the Thai parliament, announced on Wednesday that it was withdrawn from the government of Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, leaving its coalition in power with only a thin majority.
The party said it was starting due to the impact on the nation of a private phone call between Paetongtarn and former Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen who was published for the first time by pro-Ambodian government media on Wednesday.
During the June 15 call, the Thai leader said that she was facing internal pressure on the border situation and urged Hun Sen not to listen to a Thai general who supervises the army in the border area.
“He just wants to look cool, by saying things that are not useful to the nation, but in truth, what we want is peace,” said Paetongtarn to Hun Sen by an audio clip interpreter disclosed, referring to the general.
She also urged Hun Sen to send her an SMS directly rather than publishing on social networks, saying that this makes the situation management more difficult.
Paetongtarn held a press conference on Wednesday where she confirmed the authenticity of the recording and defended her conduct. She said that she was trying to calm the tensions between Thailand and Cambodia who have increased since Thai forces killed a Cambodian soldier on May 28 near the borders of Thailand, Cambodia and Laos meet.
“It’s clear now [Hun Sen] wants popularity in the country, whatever bilateral relations, “she told journalists in Bangkok.” He told me that his popularity hesitated. “”
“I would no longer discuss in private because of mistrust,” she said.
Nationalist feelings
The two parties have intensified their military presence since the confrontation of May 28. The Thai army ordered shorter opening hours at border crossing points and Cambodia retaliated by blocking imports from Thai products.
Cambodia also asked the International Court of Justice of The Hague to reign over the demarcation of four areas on the disputed border of 800 kilometers (500 miles).
The dispute has delighted nationalist feelings.
In Phnom Penh, thousands of Cambodians, holding portraits of Hun Sen and his son, Prime Minister Hun Manet, joined a March organized by the state on Wednesday marking the birthday of Queen Norodom Monineath Sihanouk.
“The land of Cambodia!” We will not take the lands of others, we keep our land! ” Walkers sang, Reuters reported.
In Thailand, Paetongtarn ended up with serious political repercussions of the appeal disclosed. The criticisms have castigated the long -standing ties of his family with the Hun family in the power of Cambodia from the moment when his father, Thaksin Shinawatra, was Prime Minister. Thaksin, who was ousted in a 2006 military coup, returned from exile in 2023, a year before his daughter was down.
In the disclosed call, Paetongtarn, 38, is addressed to Hun Sen as “uncle” – a term that would be usual in Thai language by speaking to a older person who is a friend of the family. But analysts said his call to Hun Sen to ignore a general in the powerful soldiers of Thailand made her politically vulnerable.
Difficult to survive
“It is very difficult to see Prime Minister Paetongtarn survive this,” said Zachary Abuza, expert in Southeast Asia and Professor at the War College of Washington, at Radio Free Asia.
“She threw a superior officer of the Thai royal army under the bus, at a time when the military and royalist elites moved away from the great affair that saw her father, Thaksin Shinawatra, back from exile,” he said.
“I think that the military and the royalist establishment will feel the blood, now that it has been seen in the process of concluding an agreement and selling Thai national interests,” said Abuza, adding that, regardless of what is happening with the Government of Paetongtarn, “it is very difficult to see bilateral relations improve.”
Hun Sen said on Wednesday that he had shared the audio of the call with around 80 people from his political party, parliament, government and soldiers to avoid any misunderstanding and internal Cambodian purposes, Phnom Penh Post reported.
The flight of a private conversation without consent of the other party violates Cambodian law, including the penal code. It would also be largely considered to be a violation of the diplomatic protocol.
Edited by Mat Pennington.