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A minister delegate to Prime Minister Hun Manet told pro-government media Wednesday that any Cambodian who describes the country as having “lost” territory to Thailand is committing treason.
The remarks come amid a crackdown on criticism of the government’s handling of last year’s deadly border conflict with Thailand. More than 30 people, including activists and journalists, have been prosecuted over their comments on the government’s border policies and the military.
So Naro, a minister delegate attached to the prime minister who handles ASEAN affairs, made the remarks to the Kampuchea Thmey Daily. The newspaper was chaired for years by Hun Mana, the eldest daughter of Senate President Hun Sen and sister of Hun Manet, until she stepped down as director in 2020, according to corporate records.
Naro took aim at Um Sam An, an exiled former opposition lawmaker who has accused the government of ceding land to Thailand in Battambang province and is publicly sparring with Hun Manet over terms for returning to Cambodia to discuss the claim.
Naro said that any “Khmer person” who uses the phrase “losing land” — “not just Um Sam An, including me” — is confirming that the land has been lost to Thailand.
“I would like all of you to completely erase the phrase ‘losing land’ and not allow it to be used, regardless of who it is, because the word is treason. Our land has not been lost at all,” he said.
Naro also repeated the government’s position that Thai troops are illegally occupying Cambodian territory along the border and that the government is pursuing legal and diplomatic efforts to reclaim it.
Thailand says it has reclaimed Thai land that Cambodians had occupied, including by people who settled there after fleeing Cambodia’s civil war, and that its forces are complying with a December ceasefire agreement.
Naro served as a personal aide to Hun Sen in the late 1990s and early 2000s before publicly breaking with him in 2013, joining opposition protests in the United States over that year’s disputed election. He returned to government in 2023.
Thai forces and barricades put up after a second round of clashes in December 2025 have kept more than 20,000 Cambodians from returning home, according to a U.N. human rights expert. Thousands have moved from makeshift camps into government-built housing, but residents have described scarce jobs, little income, unreliable water and power, and limited schooling for their children.
The occupied areas have been a persistent problem for the long-ruling Cambodian People’s Party, and senior leaders have themselves used the language Naro now calls treason.
Speaking to displaced families at a temporary housing site in Banteay Meanchey province in June, Hun Sen apologized for the country’s lack of military preparation for the conflict. “We lost land in different areas, but we do not recognize any use of force to carry out illegal occupation and redraw boundaries,” he said, according to a translation by Cambodianess.
Naro’s argument appears to rest on the idea that calling the land “lost” concedes it. Hun Sen made a similar point at the June event, suggesting the housing site be called “Waiting Village” because its residents had not given up their claim to the occupied land.
Accusations of treason over border commentary have also come from Hun Manet, who succeeded his father as prime minister in 2023. Earlier this month, he called claims that Cambodian forces fired on Thai civilians during the fighting a “huge act of treason,” in remarks apparently aimed at exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy and a U.S.-based commentator.
An Interior Ministry spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment on whether describing Cambodia as having lost territory to Thailand is a treasonable offense.
Justice Ministry spokesperson Em Chankakara did not directly address the question, but said authorities and judicial institutions “do not arrest or charge any individual based on ordinary speech or exercising opinions.”
“All legal actions are taken based on clear investigations into malicious intent and elements of offense as stipulated in the Criminal Code,” he said.
He said the ministry rejects claims that legal action against “offenders” — apparently a reference to people jailed over border commentary — restricts freedom of expression, citing Article 41 of the Constitution.
Independent political analyst Em Sovannara said Naro’s remarks run contrary to Cambodia’s Constitution, which guarantees citizens’ freedom of expression and the right to take part in politics.
“When a government minister makes such a remark, it seems like suppressing citizens’ freedoms, which is contrary to constitutional principles,” he said.
Sovannara also said the government appeared concerned about its reputation and its inability to control land that Thailand is occupying, even as it insists the land has not been lost.