Sam Rainsy says Hun Sen escalates tensions with Thailand

Cambodian opposition figure Sam Rainsy has blamed former prime minister Hun Sen for escalating tensions with Thailand, accusing him of breaching trust and spreading what he called baseless allegations against him amid the conflict between the neighbouring countries.

In a Facebook post on 13 October, Rainsy, who lives in exile abroad, said he had given no media interviews over the past six to nine months except to Radio Free Asia (RFA) and Television Free Asia (TFA).

“Yet some people have deliberately attributed to me statements I have never made about Cambodia’s conflict with Thailand,” he wrote.

Rainsy said Hun Sen bore responsibility for worsening tensions with Thailand, describing his disclosure of a private telephone conversation with then Thai prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra as a “disgraceful breach of trust”.

He also condemned Hun Sen’s remarks about influential Thai political figures, including former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and current Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul.

“Hun Sen possibly has personal disputes over business dealings with those political figures,” Rainsy wrote, without providing further details.

He further alleged that Hun Sen’s protection of online scam networks operating along the Cambodian-Thai border had given Thailand a pretext to intervene under the banner of combating criminal activities that also threaten Thai interests.

“Rather than acknowledge his own responsibility for aggravating the conflict, Hun Sen is spreading baseless allegations against me to divert attention from his reckless actions,” he wrote