All eyes are on Cherdchai Chaivaivid as Thailand’s top diplomat steps into the global spotlight, determined to expose Cambodia’s deadly aggression.
As Thailand’s permanent representative to the United Nations, he delivered a powerful statement on the border dispute during last week’s UN Security Council session, earning praise from his compatriots for his efforts to sway world opinion.
At the UNSC meeting on “Threats to International Peace and Security” in New York last Friday (July 25), Cherdchai condemned Cambodia for “unprovoked acts of aggression” and its “indiscriminate and inhumane attacks on civilians” while affirming that Thailand is a “peace-loving nation”.
He said that on July 24, Cambodian forces shelled a Thai military outpost in Surin with heavy artillery before launching indiscriminate attacks across four border provinces, killing at least 14 people, including four children.
“A family of four entered a convenience store, but three of them – the mother and her two children – never came out alive,” he told the meeting as he displayed photos of civilian casualties.
The envoy also rejected Cambodia’s claims that Thailand planted the border landmines that injured Thai troops or damaged the ancient Phra Viharn (aka Preah Vihear ) Temple with gunfire.
He also maintained that cluster munitions in Thailand’s arsenal were used solely against military targets and had no residual impact on civilians.
Cherdchai, 56, dismissed Cambodia’s Phra Viharn allegation as “disinformation”, adding, “Thailand calls upon Cambodia to refrain from disseminating false or misleading information that politicises or misrepresents cultural heritage.”
In his statement, the envoy also stressed that Thailand had always considered Cambodia a close neighbour. “Since Cambodia’s independence in 1953, Thailand has spared no effort in supporting its peace process, nation-building and development.”
‘Excellent work’
Many Thai social media users applauded the ambassador for resolutely defending the kingdom on the international stage.
Among them was former higher education minister Suvit Maesincee, who wrote on Facebook: “The Thai ambassador delivered an excellent statement at the UN Security Council meeting.”
Cherdchai, Thai envoy to the UN for barely a year, told Thai PBS World that Cambodia had issued its request for a UNSC hearing just hours after the border clashes broke out on July 24.
Although it was 1am in New York, he immediately contacted his boss, the Foreign Ministry permanent secretary, before drafting Thailand’s statement.
The first draft made no mention of the mother and two children killed in the store, but he felt compelled to include the tragedy.
“I was so overwhelmed with emotion that I could barely speak,” he said of his address to the UNSC. “It felt like a very long pause in the meeting room, and I believe that feeling reached everyone there. Afterwards, more than half of the [15 UNSC] members included the civilian impact in their statements.”
He noted that the UNSC unanimously rejected Cambodia’s request for a ceasefire order and referral to the International Court of Justice. “Instead, all members pushed for bilateral talks and ASEAN” to solve the border dispute.
‘Reflecting the feelings of a nation’
“I firmly believe that Thailand has never harboured bad intentions toward anyone and that we are the most generous country in the world,” Cherdchai said.
“We help everyone because we want to see a better world. On the day of the meeting, I didn’t have to force my words, because everything I said was the truth – it is the character of Thailand. And I spoke as a Thai person, reflecting the feelings of the entire nation.”
Born in Bangkok on April 1, 1969, Cherdchai earned a bachelor’s degree in international relations from Chulalongkorn University and a master’s in the same subject from the University of Kent in England.
Before joining the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Cherdchai was briefly working as a report for English-language newspaper; Bangkok Post.
He joined the Foreign Affairs Ministry in 1994 as a desk officer in the South Asia Division. Three years later, he was promoted to first secretary at the Thai Embassy in Kuala Lumpur.
He worked in the Department of East Asian Affairs between 2001 and 2009, before being appointed counsellor and head of chancery at the Thai Embassy in Ottawa.
In 2017, he joined the Thai Embassy in Tokyo as deputy chief of mission. Two years later, he was appointed director-general of the Department of International Economic Affairs.
He has served as permanent representative to the UN since June 2024.
According to his UN mission biography, Cherdchai is a lifelong music fan with a passion for building scale models of World War II armoured vehicles and aircraft.
He played a key role when Thailand hosted the 2022 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, serving as the country’s senior APEC official. The summit was attended by 21 world leaders, including China’s President Xi Jinping and then-US Vice President Kamala Harris.
