PHNOM PENH: Senate president Hun Sen has informed the attendees of the 2nd Inter-Parliamentary Speakers’ Conference (ISC-2) how Thailand used the global issue of online scams to attack Cambodia and occupy part of its sovereign territory.
He also highlighted how modern warfare is often waged under different pretexts, destroying the rules-based order for immediate interests.
Speaking at the conference on Thursday (Aug 27), in Phnom Penh, Hun Sen warned that modern conflicts have expanded to target the very foundations of the public’s livelihoods, turning public assets — such as roads, bridges, religious sites, schools and oil refineries — into active battle zones.
The conference has brought together parliamentary leaders from multiple nations, including Pakistan, Malaysia and Myanmar, as well as delegations from Australia and Russia, among others.
“One form of modern warfare in this era is the exercise of extra-territorial jurisdiction over cross-border crimes, such as online scams, as a pretext for the illegal occupation of another nation’s territory,” Hun Sen declared.
“This is exactly the situation regarding the Cambodia-Thailand border conflict, where our land is now occupied under the claim that parts of our territory were linked to scam operations,” he added.
Although he did not mention a specific agreement, he claimed that Thailand has violated ceasefire agreements, seemingly seeing them as being limited to “just on paper”.
He described other forms of conflict, including trade wars, that often utilise customs barriers to impose sanctions and withdraw previously granted trade preferences, and technology wars which feature intense competition for control over advanced semiconductors and critical cyber-security infrastructure.
Hun Sen also noted how resource protectionism on natural assets, such as energy and rare earth minerals, is driving intense global competition, forcing vulnerable nations into a web of systemic insecurity.
“A deeply concerning evolution in this context is the violation of international law by powerful actors who exercise exclusive rights of self-defence and launch unjustified pre-emptive strikes. This systemic security threat has utterly destroyed the dream of collective security,” he said.
“As a result, these risks have triggered a dangerous global arms race, as vulnerable nations realise that international treaties alone cannot protect them from external aggression,” he added, warning that systemic security anxiety could lead to the total collapse of the international non-proliferation framework.
“We have become targets of such pressure and attacks under the guise of complex issues, such as the application of double standards regarding human rights, environmental standards and cross-border crimes like online scams.
“These international accusations unfairly overlook the structural vulnerabilities and limited development capacities of our countries; instead, they apply the high standards of wealthy nations to judge, sanction and isolate nations that are still struggling to recover from historical conflicts,” he said.
Hun Sen suggested that trade and the economy have been weaponised, with rules changing unpredictably from day to day, and that nothing can be guaranteed anymore.
“In short, those who established the rules are now the ones destroying them,” he said, calling for the restoration of the rules-based order, UN Charter, Asean Charter and other relevant international tools. - The Phnom Penh Post/ANN
