PM Hun Manet: Cambodia Did Not Start the Border Conflict, Thailand Fired First

PHNOM PENH — Oct. 7, 2026: Prime Minister Hun Manet has rejected claims that Cambodia provoked the border conflict, stating that Thai forces fired first — killing Cambodian soldiers on Cambodian soil — and that Cambodia acted only in self-defence.

Speaking on the morning of Oct. 7, 2026, at the 80th anniversary of the University of Health Sciences, the inauguration of two new academic buildings and a graduation ceremony, the Prime Minister said: "Some say this conflict happened because of Cambodia — that it was because of something we said on May 25. We did nothing. While we were at peace, they came and shot our Cambodian soldiers on our own land. Citizens across the country demanded a response. Later, they insulted us, saying Cambodians were poor, with no fuel, no electricity, no internet — remember that? So we responded: if you look down on us, we will take measures."

PM Hun Manet said that during the conflict some Cambodians abroad claimed the government was indecisive, referring to an incident on June 6. But he said the tensions began on May 28, when Thai forces started pushing Cambodian soldiers out of Ta Moan temple, leading to clashes.

"We are not the ones who started this — I want to make it clear: they shot us first," he said. "We tried hard to stay at our positions, including our homes and our pagodas. Let me be clear: Cambodia does not want war. We want to protect our rights, freedoms and sovereignty."

The Prime Minister said the fighting displaced around 700,000 people. Cambodia negotiated a halt to the fighting on Dec. 12, 2025, he said, and a clear condition was set on Dec. 27 — a ceasefire, with each side holding its positions, alongside discussions on border demarcation.

"If there were no third point on border demarcation through joint measurement, we would not have stopped fighting — we would still be fighting," PM Hun Manet said. He stressed that the third point remains unfinished by both Cambodia and Thailand, and that the 2000 MOU and the Joint Boundary Commission mechanism have not been scrapped. What remains, he said, is the joint demarcation that both sides agreed to carry out.

Reported by The Khmer Today