5 days ago
'Media distorted conflict remarks' by Nattaphon
Remarks by acting Defence Minister Gen Nattaphon Narkphanit that appeared to fault Thai troops and were issued after the Thai–Cambodian General Border Committee (GBC) meeting on Aug 7 in Kuala Lumpur were taken out of context by certain media to effectively rank as fake news, the Defence Ministry said.
Rear Admiral Surasan Kongsiri, a ministry spokesman, said on Tuesday some of the information that appeared in at least one media report had either been distorted, rendered incompletely, or taken out of context to paint a false picture. He said this could undermine domestic unity and the efficient management of the simmering border conflict.
Clarifying the issue, he said Gen Nattaphon had called for Cambodia's cooperation on two key issues that have yet to receive a response: the clearance of landmines in areas of conflict and along the border, to ensure the safety of citizens on both sides; and cooperation in combating transnational crime, especially online scams.
RAdm Surasan said none of these comments were intended, as per people's "personal interpretation", to conceal any facts.
Neither were they designed to protect Cambodian leaders from accusations they had violated the Ottawa Convention on the use of anti-personnel landmines, as well as the Geneva Convention regarding attacks on civilians and violations of humanitarian principles, he noted. Thailand has already submitted petitions detailing the violations of international principles by Cambodia to the United Nations Security Council, the Ottawa Convention Chair, and country donors to Cambodia for landmine clearance efforts, he added.
Gen Nattaphon also said after the GBC meeting: "From this joint meeting, the Cambodian side at the policy level (Ministry of National Defence) demonstrated sincerity towards the agreed-upon ceasefire measures.
"Therefore, the aforementioned ceasefire violations were acts carried out without order by the Cambodian local units in the area," he added, according to one media report.
