BANGKOK — Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s attempt to ease the Thailand-Cambodia border tensions has backfired, with a leaked 17-minute audio of her phone call with Hun Sen leading to a court decision to suspend her from prime minister duties.
The audio above contains excerpts from the conversation, which Paetongtarn said was intended for Thailand’s national interests. The excerpts have been selected and translated by Nikkei Asia.
The audio was taken from a Facebook post on Hun Sen’s official account, in which he confirms that the conversation took place on June 15. They spoke in Thai and Khmer, respectively, through a translator.
English transcript follows:
Paetongtarn: I have to talk to you [Hun Sen] regarding the border issue. We are on the same page. Both His Excellency Hun Sen and I want peace for the two countries.
I don’t want Uncle to listen to those on the opposite side. Because if you listen to them, like the commander of the 2nd Army Region, they are all from the opposite side. And after listening, I don’t want His Excellency to feel displeased or angry, because truly, that’s not our intention at all.
Because right now, they just want to look cool, so they’ll say things that aren’t beneficial to the nation. But the truth is, we want peace to happen, just like before any of the clashes at the border.
His Excellency Hun Sen, please, have some sympathy for your niece. Because lately, people in Thailand are all telling me to go be prime minister in Cambodia (laughs).
(laughs) Honestly, if there’s anything His Excellency wants, please just tell me. I’ll take care of it.
Hun Sen: Now, what [Cambodia] wants is for all the border to be reopened as normal. That is all Cambodia wants, and it is the first step.
Paetongtarn: OK, same here.
Hun Sen: We Cambodians really want to take everything back to normal, but the Thai side has not taken such steps. Cambodia was not the first to close the border; it was the Thai side that closed it first. So, why is Thailand not yet reopening the border? You don’t need to ask me for that. If the Thai side settles everything back to normal, the Cambodian prime minister will follow their lead.
Paetongtarn: We are ready. Actually, we can certainly open it for you. But it needs to be seen as an announcement of a mutual agreement that we’re opening it, doesn’t it? Otherwise, if I say, “I give in, I give in, I give in to everything you want,” then it’s me who suffers. Because now, it’s gone beyond the checkpoints, to the issues before that.
Hun Sen: OK, before putting down the phone, I want to make the point that we Cambodians only have one demand: We want Thailand to reopen the border as normal. Then, we will follow suit after. This issue does not need to be negotiated between Cambodia and Thailand because Thailand took the first move on closing the border. So Thailand needs to reopen it on its own.
For Cambodia’s part, we will follow your steps.
Paetongtarn: Yes. That’s OK. That’s fine. Then I will inform you as soon as possible about how it all goes.
Hun Sen: I will await your response
Paetongtarn: Thank you very much. Thank you, Your Excellency Samdech, too.
