Cambodian – Thai border dispute The Cambodia – Thailand border dispute began in June 2008 as the latest round of a century - long dispute between Cambodia and Thailand involving the area surrounding the 11th - century Preah Vihear Temple , located in the Dângrêk Mountains between the Choam Khsant district in the Preah Vihear province of northern Cambodia and the Kantharalak district ( " amphoe " ) in the Sisaket province of Northeastern Thailand . According to the Cambodian ambassador to the United Nations , the most recent dispute began on July 15 , 2008 when about 50 Thai soldiers moved into the Keo Sikha Kiri Svara pagoda vicinity which he claims is located in Cambodia ' s territory about 300 meters from the Temple of Preah Vihear . < ref name = " http : / / www . un . int / " > http : / / www . un . int / cambodia / Bulletin _ Files / July08 / Letter _ 18 _ Jul . pdf < / ref > Thailand claims the demarcation has not yet been completed for the external parts of the area adjacent to the temple , which was judged to be Cambodian a 9 to 3 decision of by the International Court of Justice ( ICJ ) in 1959 . By August 2008 , the dispute had expanded to the 13th century Ta Moan temple complex 153 km west of Preah Vihear , where Cambodia has accused Thai troops of occupying a temple complex it claims is on Cambodian land . The Thai foreign ministry denied that any troops had moved into that area until several were killed in an encounter in April 2011 . An agreement was reached in December 2011 to withdraw troops from the disputed area . Background . The Preah Vihear temple area has been the subject of often rancorous debate within Cambodia and Thailand and between the countries since the late 19th century . The temple complex was built during the 9th and 10th centuries C . E . under the auspices of the Khmer Empire . As the empire reached its zenith and began a slow decline , the Ayutthaya Kingdom began to grow into the modern state of Thailand . Siam and Vietnam expanded into Cambodian territory in turn during the Ayutthaya , Thonburi and Rattanakosin eras . The Franco - Siamese treaty of 1867 forced Siam to renounce suzerainty over Cambodia , with the exception of Battambang , Siem Reap , Banteay Meanchey and Oddar Meancheay provinces , which had been officially incorporated into the Kingdom of Siam . During the 1904 state visit of King Rama V to France , Siam agreed to cede the four provinces to France in exchange for regaining Thai sovereignty over Trat Province and Amphoe Dan Sai of Loei Province , which had been occupied by France . In 1907 the Thai - Cambodian border was mapped by the French on behalf of a bilateral border commission . According to the 1904 agreement , the border would follow the natural watershed between the countries . However , the resulting map deviated by showing Preah Vihear Temple as being in Cambodia , even though it is on the Thai side of the watershed . Unaware of this , Thailand accepted the map for official use . The Thais discovered the error when they made their own survey in the 1930s , but the ICJ ruled that they had waited too long to protest and lost the temple by " acquiesance " . Immediately prior to World War II , the Thai government attempted to negotiate an adjustment of the border with French Indo - China . However , this came to an end with 1940 French surrender to Nazi Germany . The government of Field Marshal Plaek Pibungsongkram then pressed the colonial government of French Ind - China for the return of territory Thailand had lost in the 1904 and 1907 exchanges : Battambang Province of Thailand ( modern day Battambang Province and Pailin municipality , Cambodia ) , Phibunsongkhram ( modern day Siem Reap , Oddar Meancheay and Banteay Meanchey provinces , Cambodia ) , Nakorn Champasak Province ( modern day Champassack Province , Preah Vihear Province , Cambodia ) and Saiyaburi province of Laos ( modern day Xaignabouli , Laos ) ; " ( See map below ) " The French colonial government refused to comply and fighting broke out along the border . In December 1940 Pibun Songkram ordered an outright invasion of French Indo - China , starting the French - Thai War . The Thai army and air force was better equipped and had the advantage of numbers against the Colonial French forces ; they pushed back the French Foreign Legion and French colonial troops with kittke difficulty . However , the more modern French Navy caught the Thai fleet by surprised and won a decisive victory in the Battle of Koh Chang . Imperial Japan intervened to mediate the conflict , concerned that the conflict would affect their own plans for Southeast Asia . A general armistice was declared on January 28 , 1941 . On May 9 a peace treaty was signed in Tokyo , the French being coerced by the Japanese into relinquishing their claim on the territories demanded by Thailand . On December 7 , 1941 , a few hours before the attack on Pearl Harbor , Japan demanded the right to move troops across Thailand to the Malayan frontier . Before the Thais could respond , the Japanese Invasion of Thailand invasion began across the Cambodian border and a seven points along the sea coast . The Thai forces resisted courageously , but were soon getting the worst of it . After only six or seven hours , Thailand ' s deeply worried Prime Minister Plaek Phibunsongkhram arrived in Bangkok and ordered an immediate ceasefire . Japan was reluctantly granted free passage , and after Japan ' s easy conquest of Singapore , Pibun Songkram signed a military alliance with Japan on December 21 , 1941 . It contained a secret protocol in which Tokyo agreed to help Thailand regain the territories it had lost to the British and French colonial powers . In exchange , Thailand promised to assist Japan in its war against the Allies . After the end of the war , Thai Prime Minister Pridi Phanomyong agreed to return the " liberated " territories to France , in return for his not being regarded as an aggressor nor a member of the Axis Power s . He also requested admission to the newly created United Nations . Initially , both the UK and the Soviet Union regarded Thailand as an aggressor , despite its active anti - Japanese underground movement . The United States intervened in gratitude to the Free Thai Movement and prevailed on its wartime allies to agree . With Cambodian Independence and the French withdrawal in 1953 , the Thai military occupied Preah Vihear Temple in 1954 in keeping with the border line of the natural watershed . The temple had been built facing north to serve the plains above it , not those of the Cambodian plain far below . However , based on the 1907 French map , Cambodia protested , insisting that it was inside their territory . Both countries finally agreed to submit the dispute to the International Court of Justice and abide by its decision . To the Thais ' surprise , the International Court of Justice ( ICJ ) in The Hague , Netherlands , in 1962 awarded ownership of Preah Vihear Temple to Cambodia by a 9 to 3 vote , stating the 1907 map ( correctly drawn or not ) clearly showed Preah Vihear as being in Cambodia . Nevertheless , the court had only ruled that the temple belong to Cambodia , and did not comment on the adjacent land to the north . Thailand reacted angrily , as the 1907 map and ICJ ruling completely ignored the watershed line at Preah Vihear despite clearly following that watershed for hundreds of kilometers along the surrounding Dangrek Mountains , as the bilateral border commission had agreed upon . Thailand reluctantly handed over the temple but continues to claim the surrounding area , insisting the border has never officially been demarcated here . The ownership dispute returned in recent years when Cambodia submitted an application to UNESCO requesting that Preah Vihear be designated as a World Heritage site . Thailand contended the application requested the designation include the land surrounding the temple , which Thailand still considers its . In the interest of cross - border relations Cambodia withdrew the application , and after winning support from Thailand , submitted a modified map requesting the designation only for the temple itself . The Preah Vihear temple issue , both its location and listing , unfortunately has become the subject of nationalist political posturing in both Cambodia and Thailand . The land in dispute is mostly barren and of little value , but it has become an emotional symbol . The People ' s Alliance for Democracy ( PAD ) , a right wing Thai protest group , turned the temple into a cause célèbre wedge issue in its battles against the People Power Party government of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej in their attempts to unseat the former ( 57th ) and current ( 58th ) Cabinet of Thailand . In 2006 PAD led street protests led first to the Thai general election of April 2006 , largely boycotted by the opposition and won by then - incumbent Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra ' s Thai Rak Thai Party . This was followed by the military coup of June 2006 , which ousted the Thaksin Shinawatra , the caretaker Prime Minister . Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej was viewed as a proxy for the self - exiled Thaksin Shinawatra , who now lives abroad to avoid his conviction for corruption . Across the border , the Cambodian People ' s Party ( CPP ) government of Prime Minister Hun Sen used the possibly coincidental timing of UNESCO ' s annual meeting and the listing of the temple as a World Heritage site in campaigning for the July 27 , 2008 , parliamentary election . Timeline . Clashes . September 2011 " Football diplomacy " . The general election resulted in a decisive victory for the Pheu Thai Party , with their leader , Ms . Yingluck Shinawatra , replacing Abhist as Prime Minister on August 5 , 2011 . Many United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship ( UDD – also called " Red Shirts " ) members were elected to the House of Representatives ( " MPs " in press reports . ) Core UDD leaders arranged with Cambodian PM Hun Sen for a friendly football match to be played in Phnom Penh ' s Olympic Stadium on September 24 . MP – and – UDD leaders Jatuporn Prompan and Natthawut Saikua were prohibited from leaving the country due to pending charges arising from the 2010 Thai political protests , so an attorney petitioned the Criminal Court for permission for them to travel to Cambodia for the game . Former Thai premier Somchai Wongsawat led the Thai side . Cambodian premier Hun Sen led his side to a 10 – 7 victory , following which he announced that " the nightmare era " between Thailand and Cambodia was over . Former foreign minister Kasit Piromya rejoined that Hun Sen should not think that he could benefit from close ties with ousted former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra and the ruling Pheu Thai Party . " Don ' t think that you will get at our natural resources and territory by be - friending or playing football with the Pheu Thai MPs , " he said . Civilian effects . After the initial attack on February 4 , 2011 , the Cambodian army fired rockets using BM - 21 multi - launch rocket systems into the town of Sao Thong Chai located about 5 km from the border . As a direct result , primary schools , a local hospital , and 4 – 5 houses were destroyed . Only minutes before the hit , the local authority had issued a warning to the locals to evacuate and close the school . Despite this , there was one civilian fatality and at least 34 injured from the attack by Cambodian forces . There are reports that 22 , 000 Thai citizens had to evacuate and abandon their homes . The Cambodian government blamed the Thai army for firing onto the world ' s heritage temple causing severe damage . Whereas the Cambodian army settled that heritage temple as an army base . There is evidence , such as video and photo footage from Reuters showing that Cambodian forces used the temple as a military base and fired machine guns and artillery . Thai soldiers responded by firing rifles at the Cambodian soldiers hiding on the temple . However , there are only a few bullet scratches on the temple . The AFP reported that Cambodian troops were stationed in the temple . Thai army was accused of using cluster munitions against Cambodia during the border fighting in February . Thailand at first denied the allegation , but later admitted it had fired the weapons . The Cluster Munition Coalition says that should not be a justification for using weapons which are banned by more than 100 countries . According to the campaigners , thousands of Cambodian villagers are now at risk of death or serious injury because of unexploded ordnance near their homes . Reactions . International . Many Asian nations , including Indonesia , Malaysia , The Philippines , Japan , China and Vietnam , as well as Canada , Russia , the United Kingdom and United States , have called on both sides to exercise restraint . Thailand and Cambodia agreed to allow Indonesian monitors to go to the border between the two countries to help prevent further military clashes , Indonesia was appointed as observer in this dispute . Local . Despite the 1976 Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia , which commits parties to resolve intrastate conflict without violence , and 2000 Memorandum of Understanding , which established a Joint Border Commission to peacefully resolve overlapping claims , important constituent groups in Thailand , including the " Yellow Shirts , " maintain that the status of Preah Vihear remains unresolved . Villagers from Ban Phum Srol denounced plans by the People ' s Alliance for Democracy ( " Yellow Shirts " ) to bring relief supplies . " You have created the war . You troubled us . We don ' t welcome you , " said Wichit Duangkaew , 46 . Police arrested a Thai , a Cambodian and a Vietnamese in Si Sa Ket ' s Kantharalak district , near the Thai - Cambodian border . The suspects carried maps with military bases marked on them , but they denied they were spying . According to Michael Montesano , a visiting research fellow on Thai history and regional affairs at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore , " They ' re people who say that Hun Sun ' s playing up the situation on the Thai border is a way to distract the Cambodian people from his much softer stance vis a vis Vietnam relating to poorly demarcated borders . " Satirical . " Not The Nation " , an anonymous website that satirizes " The Nation " ( Thailand ) , in early September following the August change of government , posted a seemingly factual article reporting that the Thai army quietly abandons Preah Vihear temple as lack of press coverage makes border defense “ too expensive . ”