How Chinese Weapons Transformed a War Between Two Neighbors

Sui-Lee Wee

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The Chinese military planes touched down in Cambodia over three days in June, weeks before a simmering border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand exploded into war.

The aircraft were Y-20s, known as Chubby Girls in China for their wide body and ability to carry heavy cargo. They made six flights to the southwestern city of Sihanoukville, bringing rockets, artillery shells and mortars, according to Thai intelligence documents reviewed by The New York Times, a shipment that has not been previously reported.

The Chinese weapons were packed into 42 containers and stored at the nearby Ream Naval Base, the documents said. Days later, Chinese-made ammunition was moved from the base hundreds of miles to the north, to Cambodia’s contested border with Thailand, according to the documents.

Asked for comment on the Thai intelligence reports, a senior Cambodian official did not deny many of the basic details about the shipment.

Thailand and Cambodia blamed one another for starting the war, which lasted for five days in late July. Before the conflict began, the movement of arms to the border was a crucial part of Cambodia’s buildup. For months, Cambodia had been entrenching its forces along the boundary, near an ancient temple claimed by both Cambodia and Thailand. It laid new roads and constructed a military base; all those structures were visible in satellite images.

With this buildup, analysts said, Cambodia entered the standoff with a much more provocative posture toward Thailand than that it had previously taken. But both sides relied heavily on arms from the same place: China, which has cultivated close strategic and economic ties with the two Southeast Asian states.

The accounts of independent monitors generally support the conclusions of the Thai intelligence assessment, especially about the origin of some of the weapons used by Cambodia. According to Fortify Rights, a human rights group, the rockets that Cambodia used against four Thai provinces were mostly of Chinese origin. On the first day, Thai authorities said, Cambodia struck a gas station, a hospital and civilians’ homes, killing at least 13 civilians.