The Cambodian government allegedly hired a US firm to sway foreign opinion towards Cambodia amid border clashes with Thailand.

Cambodian leaders reportedly used a firm ran by former Trump advisor Don Benton to send pro-Cambodia propaganda to the US Department of Justice (DOJ), reportedly to push a false war narrative on the international stage.

The document was obtained by STRONG Anti-Corruption Thailand Club, a Thai non-government organisation, through the US Foreign Agents Registration Act - a transparency law that requires foreign lobbyists to register and disclose their activities to the DOJ.

STRONG said the lobbying documents addressed global leaders from the US, China, Europe, and the Secretary-General of the United Nations, seeking international support for Cambodia's position.

The press release also accused Thailand of using 'unilateral force' and breaching international law, presenting photos of Thai soldiers allegedly firing rubber bullets and tear gas at Cambodian civilians, and setting up barbed wire fences along the disputed border.

Citing legal mechanisms such as treaties, International Court of Justice rulings, and a 2000 memorandum, the document was said to have cast Thailand as an aggressor and Cambodia as a victim.

It was filed by 'National Consulting Services, Inc.', a Washington-based consulting firm allegedly acting as the 'officially registered representative of the Cambodian government in the United States'. The firm was reportedly headed by former presidential adviser and senator Don Benton.

STRONG said the document was not an endorsement by the United States but rather ‘a disclosure of who is waging an information war against whom'.

It warned the Thai public: 'This is not mere communication. It is warfare without bullets, using documents, language, and global legal and diplomatic platforms, to undermine Thailand's legitimacy. The danger is not that the document is 'fake', but that it is state-sponsored and embedded within the legal disclosure system of a global power.'

The disclosure comes after the disgraced American lobbyist, Michael Alfaro or Michael B Alfaro, posed as a 'White House correspondent' to access sensitive border areas and senior levels of the Cambodian government earlier this year. He was subsequently exposed by local media as a 'fake journalist'. Military chiefs and AI analysis have also shown that images he posted of the clashes are faked, doctored, or misrepresented.

Fighting flared up earlier this month as the Thai army claimed Cambodian troops fired on a Thai engineering team building an access road in a disputed border area.

At least 15 Thai soldiers and one civilian have been killed since fighting resumed. In Cambodia, at least 11 civilians have died, while the number of soldiers dead is believed to be much higher.

Around 600,000 people have been displaced on both sides of the border.

Cambodia's assault has largely been wayward, unguided rockets fired indiscriminately into Thai territory, while Thailand has used precision drone strikes and fighter jet strikes on military sites.

Former Khmer Rouge henchman and Cambodian dictator Hun Sen has repeatedly claimed that he wants peace and that Thailand is the aggressor.

Thai officials claim the ongoing border confrontations are a threat to national security, and the areas must be secured.