Thai posts falsely claim Cambodia loses access to Singapore oil exports

Published on July 3, 2025 at 06:06
Updated on July 3, 2025 at 06:08
3 min read
By Chayanit ITTHIPONGMAETEE, AFP Thailand

Singapore has not announced it will stop selling oil to Cambodia, contrary to social media posts shared after Phnom Penh said it would stop fuel imports from Thailand over a simmering border dispute. The posts illustrate the false claim with a photo of Cambodia's ex-premier Hun Sen and former Singapore prime minister Lee Hsien Loong meeting at the 2019 ASEAN summit in Bangkok.

"Singapore refused to sell oil to Cambodia, telling Hun Sen to go back home," reads part of a Thai‑language X post published on June 26, 2025.

An attached graphic shows photos of Cambodia's influential former prime minister Hun Sen and former Singapore leader Lee Hsien Loong. Superimposed Thai-language text claims Singapore said the Cambodian leader lacks "diplomatic manners".

The post, which was shared more than 12,000 times, surfaced after Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet announced the country would halt all fuel imports from Thailand as tensions escalated over an ongoing border row (archived link).

A longstanding territorial dispute between the neighbours boiled over into cross-border clashes in May, killing one Cambodian soldier.

The row has also gravely wounded Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who was suspended by the Constitutional Court on July 1 pending an ethics probe over a leaked phone call with Hun Sen that saw her accused of appeasing Phnom Penh and undermining her own military (archived link).

Screenshot of the false X post captured on July 1, 2025, with a red X added by AFP

The same claims was also shared in similar posts on Facebook and TikTok.

As of July 3, however, there have been no official reports of Singapore announcing it will cut off oil shipments to Cambodia.

Cambodia's current Prime Minister Hun Manet and his Singapore counterpart Lawrence Wong met in Phnom Penh on July 2, with Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs saying the pair reaffirmed the countries' "excellent ties" and agreed on the importance of deepening cooperation (archived link).

The ministry makes no mention of oil trade being discussed, but says Wong "expressed concern in relation to recent developments at the Cambodia-Thailand border, and encouraged both sides to resolve the matter peacefully and amicably, in line with the spirit of ASEAN solidarity."

A reverse image search on Google for the photos used in the falsely shared graphic led to a picture taken during the 2019 ASEAN summit in Bangkok, which was posted on the Cambodian government website on June 23, 2019 (archived link).

The photo shows Hun Sen meeting Lee Hsien Loong on the sidelines of the summit.

The same photo was also shared on Hun Sen's verified Facebook page (archived link).

Hun Sen resigned as Cambodia's prime minister in July 2023 and Lee Hsien Loong was replaced as Singapore's prime minister in May 2024 (archived here and here).

Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared graphic (left) and the photo published on the Cambodian government website (right)

AFP has debunked other misinformation related to the Cambodia-Thailand border dispute.

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