Phnom penh: Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence, H.E. Gen. Tea Seiha, expressed profound confusion after Thai media outlets characterised his official letter to his Thai counterpart as a "leak" and misinterpreted its contents.
According to Agence Kampuchea Presse, some Thai media outlets, both official and unofficial, took an official letter addressed to the Thai Defence Minister and posted it as if it were a leak. The Minister highlighted this issue on his official Facebook page, mentioning that even with the availability of translation tools like Google Translate or AI tools such as ChatGPT and Gemini, the interpretations published by the Thai media did not align with the original content of the letter intended for public dissemination.
Thai media reports have interpreted the letter-addressed to H.E. Gen. (Ret.) Nattaphon Narkphanit, Minister of Defence of Thailand and Co-Chairman of the Thailand-Cambodia General Border Committee (GBC)-as Cambodia's formal proposal for a ceasefire. However, the letter, dated Dec. 22, merely conveyed Cambodia's agreement to the proposed GBC meeting and included suggestions regarding the meeting's format, venue, and agenda to ensure productive dialogue.
The Ministry of National Defence has stated that Cambodian and Thai secretariat teams are meeting for a second day today. These technical-level discussions are crucial for preparing the 3rd Special Cambodia-Thailand GBC Meeting, which is scheduled for Dec. 27 and will be co-chaired by the Defence Ministers of both nations.