Opposition, Thai Nationalists ‘Linked’ in Plot Against Cambodian PM

Anonymous leak alleges Cambodian exiled leaders plotted border unrest with Thailand

- ABHINANDAN MISHRA

Alleged internal documents, shared anonymously with The Sunday Guardian over a period of one month, claim that Cambodian opposition figures in exile have coordinated with Thailand’s nationalist “Yellow Shirt” movement to destabilize the government in Phnom Penh. Their authenticity has not been independently verified.

The material consists of what appears to be an email dated 15 June 2025, allegedly sent by Mu Sochua, a former minister now living in exile, to diaspora activist Em Piseth, who leads the Global Cambodian Youth Network in Thailand. Attached to the message is a document titled “Bilateral Action Plan and Chairman’s Instructions.”

The plan sets out proposals to “initiate strategic actions along the Cambodia-Thai border” and to “amplify public discourse on territorial issues in sensitive areas such as Ta Moan Thom and the Preah Vihear Triangle region.” According to the alleged plan, Thailand’s Yellow Shirts were tasked to “mobilize forces for border operations to instigate disturbances” and to provide “systematic training…in violent confrontations, non-violent protests, and information warfare.”

On the Cambodian side, the plan calls for efforts to “strengthen grassroots networks to counter the Cambodian People’s Party government” and to coordinate with Thai activists to incite nationalist sentiment and “transform Cambodian-Thai disputes into legitimacy challenges to the Hun Sen family’s rule, aiming to ultimately overthrow it.”