904 Chapter 6
Date(s): August 2, 1976 to June 30, 1987
Participants: 800 Thailand/811 Cambodia, 816 Vietnam
Outcome (and Settlement): Unclear (Negotiated)
Fatalities: 501–999 deaths
Narrative: This dispute describes the complicated cross-border conflict among
Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam, and begins early in the Khmer Rouge reign of
Cambodia. Thailand had harbored and supported the Khmer Rouge, but their rise to
power in Cambodia created friction. On May 7, 1976, Sihanouk, who led the Coalition
Government of Democratic Kampuchea (CGDK), a coalition that consisted mostly
of Khmer Rouge, announced his intention to take a leave of absence to protest the
atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge against the Cambodian people. The next
month the Soviets and Vietnamese released a joint communique calling for a political
solution to the conflict. In July the People’s Republic of Kampuchea (PRK) Prime
Minister Hun Sen contacted Sihanouk for a secret meeting in Pyongyang. Although
the meeting did not occur, Soviet foreign minister Shevardnadze visited Phnom Penh
and Hanoi and Indonesian foreign minister Mochtar Kusumaatmadja visited Hanoi
to encourage talks. On July 29, Mochtar and Vietnamese foreign minister Nguyen
Co Thach agreed on informal talks. In August, a group of former Cambodian leaders
living in exile urged talks, and Sihanouk accepted. On the 27th, the PRK said that it
would meet with anyone except Pol Pot and Ieng Sary.
The first militarized skirmish took place on water as two Thai fishing boats were
attacked by Cambodian naval forces on August 2, 1986; a Thai navy ship responded
and damaged one of the Cambodian ships. On October 8, the PRK announced a five-
point peace plan whereby Sihanouk would take a high-level position in government
and there would be foreign-observed elections. Sihanouk announced his intention to
meet with PRK officials, and the next month Thai troops made a partial withdrawal
from the border. On December 2, Sihanouk made good on his promise by meeting
Hun Sen in Paris, and they released a joint communique on December 4 that they
would work toward peace and independence for Cambodia. However, on December
9, Sihanouk reversed course, calling the PRK regime illegal and refusing to cooperate
without the participation of the Khmer Rouge and Khmer People’s National Libera-
tion Front (KPNLF). On December 13, Vietnamese troops made a planned withdrawal
from the border. Meanwhile Cambodian and Thai navies clashed on Christmas Eve,
and on January 28, 1977, 300 Cambodian soldiers crossed into Thailand and massa-
cred three villages before clashing with Thai border police.
Thailand suffered a military coup in January 1978, and in February Thailand and
Cambodia agreed to normalize relations. However, over the course of the next six
months Thailand accused Cambodian troops of crossing the border several times. At
the end of the year Vietnam stepped up its attacks in Cambodia, overthrew the Khmer
Rouge, and established a friendly regime.
The Vietnamese and PRK continued to battle the Khmer Rouge, mostly along the
Thai border. Both sides accused the other of incursions from June through Septem-
ber. Clashes on land and at sea took place from December 1981 through February
- Even heavier fighting took place from December 1982 through April 1983,
with additional clashes in September 1983 and January 1984. In April 1984 Thailand
napalmed Vietnamese soldiers and bombed Vietnamese positions on territory claimed