Description: Following the latest border tensions between Cambodia and Thailand, Thai Prime Minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra and the influential Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen, conducted visits to border forces in their respective countries. Thailand recently imposed border crossing restrictions while Cambodia has cut trade ties while both countries continued dispatching military forces across their borders. Shinawatra relayed a message of unity while visiting border troops and stated she wanted to witness the government’s recent policy decisions on scam centers crackdown firsthand. Sen on the other hand was warmly welcomed as a political veteran in Cambodia and issued public statements of military preparedness as he was shown wearing a military uniform. The recent reciprocal escalatory measures further intensified the recently reignited border dispute and caused a spiraling political crisis in Thailand, where the political opposition has called for a parliamentary no confidence vote and a group of senators filed a motion allowing the Constitutional Court and a certain anti – graft body to investigate Shinawatra’s actions.
Impact: Thailand and Cambodia’s political dynasties are currently moving towards a direct confrontation over the century – long border dispute. Cambodia has effectively provoked the political crisis in Thailand by leaking the phone conversation between Shinawatra and Hun Sen, where she degrades the role of an influential border commander. Shinawatra is currently facing pressure on several fronts, being investigated by the Constitutional Court and holding on to a porous government coalition which is gradually navigating towards removing her from the office. Cambodia’s consistent military buildup across the border and linear confrontational narrative further signals potential armed confrontation. The codependency between Thailand’s political crisis and the border dispute could drag both countries towards war which would inflict a regional crisis already inflamed by the civil war in Myanmar.