Hun Manet

Force in Play

Leading Cambodia's scam crackdown

For five years, Southeast Asia's scam compounds operated with near-impunity, generating an estimated $75 billion while trafficking hundreds of thousands of workers into forced labor. Then a Chinese actor got kidnapped in January 2025, and Beijing decided it had seen enough. Within twelve months, China extradited scam kingpins from Thailand, Cambodia, and Myanmar, sentenced crime family leaders to death, and pressured regional governments into coordinated enforcement—transforming what was tolerated as a regional nuisance into an existential threat for the criminal networks.

Updated Jan 31

Force in Play

Signed December 27 ceasefire after Cambodia reported over 30 civilian deaths in December fighting

A new ceasefire signed on December 27 has brought an uneasy pause to three weeks of fighting that killed more than 100 people and sent over half a million fleeing from their homes. Thai airstrikes, Cambodian rocket barrages and artillery duels scorched the 817‑kilometer frontier after combat reignited on December 8, shattering Trump‑brokered peace deals from July and October. The December war proved deadlier and more disruptive than July's four‑day clash, with Thai jets hitting deeper into Cambodia and both sides digging in along multiple fronts.

Updated Jan 8

Force in Play

Leading Cambodia's war effort and ceasefire negotiations

A Cambodian soldier died in a border firefight on May 28. Within two months, the countries were exchanging artillery fire and airstrikes across a dozen locations. Three ceasefires later—brokered by Malaysia, pressured by Trump, witnessed by ASEAN—over 100 people are dead and a million displaced. The latest truce, signed December 27, holds the same promise as the ones before it.

Updated Dec 28, 2025

Force in Play

Commanding Cambodian side of escalating border war with Thailand

Thailand’s prime minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, has dissolved parliament barely three months into his term, triggering a snap election even as Thai troops trade artillery fire with Cambodia along an 800-kilometre border. At least 20 people are dead, hundreds wounded and more than half a million displaced in the worst fighting since July.

Updated Dec 12, 2025

Force in Play

Leads Cambodian government during 2025 border clashes

In 2025, a long-simmering territorial dispute along the 817 km Thailand–Cambodia border reignited into the region’s most serious interstate conflict in years. A fatal clash on May 28 that killed a Cambodian soldier in a disputed area near Preah Vihear was followed by landmine incidents and escalating skirmishes, culminating in a five-day war in July that killed at least 48 people and displaced about 300,000 civilians before a ceasefire was brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump, with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim mediating under ASEAN’s umbrella.

Updated Dec 11, 2025