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Thai–Laotian Border War

Short confrontation between Thai and Lao forces (December 1987 – February 1988)

Summary

Short confrontation between Thai and Lao forces (December 1987 – February 1988)

Field	Value
conflict	Thai–Lao Border War
Battle of Ban Romklao
image	Naun 1428.jpg
image_size	300px
caption	เนิน 1428 (Hill 1428), the battlefield of Thai–Lao Border War of 1988, view from Phu Soidao National Park, Chat Trakan, Phitsanulok.
partof	the Third Indochina War that was part of the Cold War in Asia
place	Chat Trakan District, Phitsanulok Province, Thailand
Botene District, Saiyabuli Province, Lao PDR
date	15 December 1987 –
()
result	Thai forces claimed to have secured 70% of ground around Hill 1428, while Lao forces still held high ground.
territory	Return to status quo ante bellum.
combatant2	Thailand
combatant1	Laos
Vietnam
commander2	Thailand Prem Tinsulanonda
Thailand Chavalit Yongchaiyudh
Thailand Panieng Karntarat
commander1	Laos Kaysone Phomvihane
Laos Phoumi Vongvichit
Laos Khamtai Siphandone
Vietnam Văn Tiến Dũng
strength2	Royal Thai Army
strength1	Lao People's Armed Forces
PAVN 2th division
casualties2	Thailand Thailand:
147 soldiers were killed,
400 soldiers were injured.
2 aircraft (February)
casualties1	Laos Vietnam Laos and Vietnam:
Unknown.	casualties3 =

Battle of Ban Romklao Botene District, Saiyabuli Province, Lao PDR () Vietnam Thailand Chavalit Yongchaiyudh Thailand Panieng Karntarat Laos Phoumi Vongvichit Laos Khamtai Siphandone Vietnam Văn Tiến Dũng PAVN 2th division 147 soldiers were killed, 400 soldiers were injured. 2 aircraft (February) Unknown.| casualties3 = The Thai–Lao Border War, or known in Thai as Battle of Ban Romklao (; December 1987 – February 1988), was a short confrontation between Thai and Lao forces. It involved a dispute over the map made by French surveyors in 1907 to mark the borders between Siam and French Indochina in the southern Luang Prabang Range. Ownership of the village of Ban Romklao on the border of Phitsanulok Province and three small border villages on the edge of Uttaradit Province was left unclear. This is the same map underlying the Cambodian–Thai border dispute. The agreed criterion for determining ownership was the natural watershed, but the French map makers at times ignored this. As the agreed-upon river Hoeng separated into two tributaries, both parties claimed different ones as the border, which, alongside logging disputes, gave rise to this conflict.

Battle

A series of minor shooting incidents had occurred between Thai and Lao forces in 1984. In December 1987, however, Thai armed forces occupied the disputed village of Ban Romklao, raising the Thai flag over it. The government of the Lao People's Democratic Republic protested strongly, insisting the village was part of Botene District of Sainyabuli Province. Thailand replied that the village belonged to Chat Trakan District (amphoe) of Phitsanulok Province. Lao Army forces staged a night attack on the small Thai garrison, driving the Thai soldiers from the village and raising the flag of Laos in place of the Thai flag. Serious fighting followed, continuing for weeks until a cease-fire was declared on 19 February 1988.

On 15 December 1987, Thai F-5 fighter aircraft bombed Lao positions in the region and Lao officials claimed Thailand shelled up to 10 km into Sayaboury province. Frequent aerial attacks continued against the dug-in Lao alongside artillery exchanges, and by mid-January 1988 the Thais claimed to have secured 70% of ground around Hill 1428. The fighting continued in February as the Lao still retained strategic high ground, with the Thais losing two aircraft. Talks eventually occurred on the 16-17th, and a ceasefire on the 19th saw both sides retreat 3 km from the line of contact.

During the conflict on the Rom Klao battlefield 150-200 Thai soldiers died and 400-770 were injured. Thailand spent about 3 billion baht on the Romklao Battlefield.

Aftermath

The Thai-Lao Joint Boundary Commission (JBC) was established in 1996 to clarify the 1,810-kilometre boundary and settle ownership of the disputed villages. The Mekong River forms 955 km of this boundary, and the Hueang River forms 153 km, leaving 702 km of land borders to be discussed. As of 2022, 96% of the land border between the two countries had been successfully demarcated.

References

Clodfelter, Micheal. (2017). ["Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492-2015 (4th ed.)"](https://books.google.com/books?id=kNzCDgAAQBAJ}}Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. {{ISBN). McFarland.
"Major World Events - February 1988".
Supalak Ganjanakhundee. (March 8, 2007). "Lao border talks progressing". The Nation.
"Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Lao PDR discussed ways to strengthen cooperation in the border area".

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

1987-in-laos 1987-in-thailand 1988-in-laos 1988-in-thailand conflicts-in-1987 conflicts-in-1988 indochina-wars laos–thailand-border territorial-disputes-of-laos territorial-disputes-of-thailand third-indochina-war wars-involving-laos wars-involving-thailand wars-involving-vietnam proxy-wars anti-thai-sentiment sainyabuli-province

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