Vietnamese border raids in Thailand

Vietnamese border raids in Thailand
Part of the Cambodian–Vietnamese War and the Cold War
Date1979–1989
Location
Result

Thailand-allied defensive victory

  • Destruction of numerous guerrilla bases and refugee camps along the Thai–Cambodian border
  • Isolated outbreaks of open hostility between Vietnamese and Thai troops
  • Withdrawal of Vietnamese troops from the border in 1989
Belligerents
 Vietnam
People's Republic of Kampuchea (1979–89)
State of Cambodia (1989)

 Thailand
CGDK[1]

Commanders and leaders
Lê Duẩn
Trường Chinh
Võ Nguyên Giáp
Heng Samrin
Hun Sen
Bhumibol Adulyadej
Prem Tinsulanonda
Chavalit Yongchaiyudh
Son Sann
Son Sen
Pol Pot
Khieu Samphan
Ieng Sary
Nuon Chea
Norodom Sihanouk
Norodom Ranariddh
Casualties and losses
~1,000–3,000[citation needed] ~5,500–8,000[citation needed]

After the 1978 Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia and subsequent collapse of Democratic Kampuchea in 1979, the Khmer Rouge fled to the border regions of Thailand, and, with assistance from China, Pol Pot's troops managed to regroup and reorganize in forested and mountainous zones on the Thai-Cambodian border. During the 1980s and early 1990s Khmer Rouge forces operated from inside refugee camps in Thailand, in an attempt to de-stabilize the pro-Hanoi People's Republic of Kampuchea's government, which Thailand refused to recognise. Thailand and Vietnam faced off across the Thai-Cambodian border with frequent Vietnamese incursions and shellings into Thai territory throughout the 1980s in pursuit of Cambodian guerrillas who kept attacking Vietnamese occupation forces.

  1. ^ since 1982, the KR, the KPNLF and the ANS formed the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea.