Cambodia points to attachés’ July ’25 visit as international witness to An Seh sovereignty

Cambodia points to attachés’ July ’25 visit as international witness to An Seh sovereignty

Foreign military attachés accredited to Cambodia visited the An Seh border area two days after the July 2025 ceasefire, with the Cambodian government saying the mission provided international witnesses to the aftermath of the fighting and reinforced evidence that the area remains under Cambodia’s sovereignty and effective administration.

The An Seh area, in Preah Vihear province’s Choam Khsant district, was occupied by Thai forces during the renewed clashes of December, with Thai forces placing razor wire and shipping container barricades and destroying civilian infrastructure.

Minister of Information Neth Pheaktra highlighted the July 30, 2025, visit in a social media post, saying it followed the ceasefire that took effect at midnight on July 28 and the alleged “treacherous handshake” incident, in which Cambodia claims 18 of its soldiers were detained after being approached by Thai troops under the appearance of reconciliation.

According to the minister, the visit was attended by foreign military attachés stationed in Cambodia, alongside domestic and international journalists, allowing diplomats to observe the situation on the ground firsthand.

“The mission provided a direct view of the realities on the ground and became an important form of international witness to the consequences of the Thai military’s armed aggression from July 24 to 27, 2025,” Pheaktra wrote.

The minister said Thai forces had attempted to advance into and seize the An Seh area during the four-day July clashes but failed to achieve their objective.

Instead, he said, the fighting left visible destruction, including damage to a local hermitage and a statue of Lok Ta Oum, a spiritual site revered by Cambodian communities.

According to the minister, the destruction served as evidence of the use of armed force on Cambodian sovereign territory.

He stressed that the presence of foreign military attachés at An Seh was “not an ordinary visit”, but a direct observation of the post-ceasefire situation.

“What they witnessed provides living testimony to the consequences of the Thai military’s actions and confirms that the An Seh area lies under the sovereignty and effective administration of the Kingdom of Cambodia,” he wrote.

During the field visit, officials from the State Secretariat of Border Affairs briefed the visiting diplomats on Cambodia’s legal and historical basis for its territorial claim over An Seh.

According to the officials, An Seh falls within Cambodian territory based on historical records and internationally recognised cartographic evidence, including the 1:200,000-scale maps and the procès-verbaux (PVs) of the Indochina-Siam Boundary Commission from 1908 and 1919.

The officials also argued that Thailand’s own unilaterally produced L7017 map, at a scale of 1:50,000, is consistent with locating the An Seh area on the Cambodian side of the border.

Pheaktra said the combination of documentary evidence and Cambodia’s continued administration of the area reinforced the country’s position that An Seh is part of its sovereign territory.

“The visit by foreign military attachés was therefore more than a ceasefire-monitoring mission,” he wrote.

“It provided international witnesses with direct access to the facts on the ground and reinforced the evidence that the An Seh area forms part of Cambodian territory,” he added.

The minister argued that the conclusion rests not only on Cambodia’s effective administration of the area but also on historical boundary records, official maps and what he described as supporting evidence contained in Thailand’s own cartographic materials.

The visit came amid heightened diplomatic attention following the Cambodia-Thailand border clashes of July 2025 and efforts to monitor implementation of the ceasefire that ended four days of fighting.

In a separate post earlier this week, Pheaktra revisited the alleged handshake incident, saying it raised concerns about confidence in the ceasefire after Cambodia alleged that Thai troops detained 18 Cambodian soldiers following a handshake shortly after the truce came into effect.

Cambodia has repeatedly maintained that An Seh is an integral part of its territory and has called for respect for existing border agreements, historical boundary records and international law in resolving disputes with Thailand.

-Phnom Penh Post-