Cambodia pushes back on Thai scam strikes, seeks to cool the border issues

Smoke rises over buildings following an explosion in the KK Park compound in eastern Myanmar, as pictured from Mae Sot District in Thailand's Tak Province on October 24, 2025. China is moving against the cyberscam tycoons making fortunes in Southeast Asia, driven by mounting public pressure and Beijing's desire to keep control of judicial processes, analysts say. In 2025, a series of crackdowns largely driven by Beijing -- which wields significant economic and diplomatic influence in the region -- saw thousands of workers released from scam centres in Myanmar and Cambodia and repatriated to their home countries, many of them to China. Now Beijing has turned its focus to the bosses at the apex of the criminal pyramids, netting its biggest player so far with the arrest and extradition of Chen Zhi from Cambodia in January 2026. -- Photo by Sarot Meksophawannakul / THAI NEWS PIX / AFP

PHNOM PENH (Bloomberg) -- Cambodia’s Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chanthol said his country wants to "lower the temperature” in its dispute with Thailand to protect a fragile ceasefire and pushed back against Bangkok’s assertions that the clash was a battle against scam centers operating over the border.

Thailand and Cambodia agreed to a ceasefire last month after the latest round of border clashes killed dozens of soldiers and civilians and displaced more than half a million people.