After five days of fighting, Thailand and Cambodia have reached a ceasefire agreement. On Thursday, July 24, deadly clashes erupted, threatening to escalate into open warfare around several Angkorian temples, including the Ta Muen Thom temple, in areas where the borders established by the French colonial power are still disputed. These clashes followed a series of skirmishes between the two armies, the first of which took place on May 28 and cost the life of a Cambodian soldier.
The ceasefire, which came into effect at 7 p.m. on July 28, was signed under the auspices of the U.S., Malaysia, and China. After several days of fighting, which displaced 200,000 people and left 34 dead—21 on the Thai side and 13 on the Cambodian side—the fragile truce could be short lived, because of the growing instability in the region and the tensions building there, at the heart of the U.S.-China rivalry.
A Postcolonial Conflict for Which the Imperialists Are Primarily Responsible
The conflict erupted from a series of minor clashes near the disputed temples, but border tensions between Thailand and Cambodia actually go back much further. Border disputes and various outbreaks of violence punctuate the history of Cambodia and Thailand. These episodes are inseparable from the colonial crimes of French imperialism, its rivalry with Japanese imperialism before World War II, and the colonizers’ arbitrary division of the region.
In 1863, France wrested Cambodia from the Kingdom of Siam, now Thailand, and established the borders of its protectorate through a series of treaties with the monarchy. From 1904 to 1907, the French government seized parts of the now-disputed areas. When the colonial authorities drew the borders between Cambodia and Thailand, they clearly did not take into account the aspirations of the peoples concerned, the cultural reality of the region, or even its purely geographical reality.
Taking advantage of the defeat of French imperialism at the start of World War II, and the help of Japanese imperialists, Thailand recaptured part of these territories in 1941. But with the defeat of Japan and the end of the war, France managed to regain control of the area. Since Cambodia’s formal independence in 1953, Thailand has continued to claim these territories, which a 1962 decision of the International Court of Justice placed under Cambodian sovereignty, something the reactionary Thai monarchy does not recognize. One of the main points of tension is around the Preah Vihear temple, which is an important Cambodian cultural and religious site but can only be accessed through Thai territory.
In general, the region has been constantly destabilized by imperialist interventions, from the Vietnam War to the present day. While the United States overthrew the monarchy in 1970 and installed an ultra-reactionary regime, even bombing the country to defeat the enemies of this puppet dictatorship, the coalition led by the Khmer Rouge and the monarchies imposed a new bloody dictatorship in 1975, supported by China. After the start of the Vietnam-Cambodia War in 1978, the United States directly supported the Khmer Rouge and other militias, which resumed guerrilla warfare on the border with Thailand. The U.S. smuggled Chinese weapons to them to contain the influence of Vietnam and Moscow, as part of the new Sino-U.S. alliance. After the Paris Agreements in 1991 led to reunification, Cambodia suffered another coup in 1997, supported by China, which has since made the country its main ally in the region. Now ruled by the former pro-Moscow party, which has become an ally of Beijing, Cambodia is facing considerable economic difficulties.
Thailand, an Unstable Regime Trying to Consolidate Its Regional Influence
While the current conflict is deeply linked to the colonial problems left behind by French and U.S. imperialism, it also takes place in a context of weakening geopolitical balances in Southeast Asia, given the intensifying rivalry between China and the United States.
Thailand’s political situation is unstable, marked by conflicts between different factions. On the one hand, the army, a pillar of the monarchy, originally trained and equipped by the United States, is attempting to consolidate its power by promoting a belligerent policy toward the reactionary Cambodian regime. On the other hand, the Shinawatras, one of the country’s wealthiest families, are pursuing a more measured policy toward Phnom Penh, which has repeatedly served as its rear base and place of exile during military coups. In this context, several reformist parties have emerged in recent years, most prominently the Move Forward Party.
In the 2023 elections, the Move Forward Party won for the first time in the country’s history, raising fears among traditional elites. To prevent it from coming to power, the Shinawatras and the military formed an unprecedented coalition, led by Paethongtarn Shinawatra. Shortly after, the party was dissolved, allegedly for insulting the monarchy, which is still in force in Thailand. It has since been renamed the People’s Party.
While it stymied the reformists’ advance, the coalition formed after the 2023 elections appeared particularly unstable from its inception, given that the two forces are usually at odds with each other and the Shinawatras’ three previous prime ministers were overthrown by the military. After the May 28 skirmish, the coalition collapsed: Paethongtarn Shinawatra attempted to negotiate informally with Cambodian president Hun Sen on June 15 to find an amicable solution. But on June 18, Hun Sen publicly revealed his exchange with the Thai prime minister, causing a scandal in Thailand and giving the military and ultranationalists the opportunity to regain control of the situation.
Above all, Thailand is trying to strengthen its regional influence, notably by supporting the military junta that came to power in a coup d’état in 2021 in Myanmar. It is participating in the system put in place by the United States to curb the Chinese advance, while Beijing is siding with resistance factions in Myanmar, even as China strengthens its ties with Myanmar’s military. Indeed, the city of Kyaukpyu is set to host a new Chinese port and a special economic zone, which would offer China direct access to the Gulf of Thailand, as part of a larger project to bypass U.S. bottlenecks, allowing it to benefit from a new access route to the Strait of Malacca, as the United States has strengthened its positions in the South China Sea (Taiwan to the north, Vietnam to the west, Malaysia to the south, the Philippines to the east).
On the other hand, the country continues to profit from Cambodian labor. Nearly 300,000 Cambodian workers cross the border to work each day. Thailand also takes advantage of the economic backwardness of Laos and Burma to attract foreign and overexploited workers. The border dispute thus serves as a pretext to regulate the influx of migrant workers, according to the needs and health of the Thai economy. In fact, the junta oscillates between policies of massive regularization and repression, depending on economic conditions.
Furthermore, Thailand exports many of its products to Cambodia, while Cambodian exports to Bangkok are significantly lower. As China increases its investments in Cambodia, the growing strength of the Cambodian economy threatens Thailand’s position of local economic superiority. Indeed, Cambodia is hosting a growing number of Chinese infrastructure projects while a vast canal project is under construction, linking the Mekong River to the Indian Ocean and connecting it to the port of Sihanoukville. This project, scheduled for completion in 2028, would allow China to strengthen its hold on the river and Southeast Asia, particularly at the expense of Vietnam. As Vanly Seng notes for Le Monde, “Cooperation on the Mekong is a way for China to make these countries more dependent on it, and to ensure that they do not fall completely behind the United States.” This situation thus fuels tensions.
From this perspective, Thailand’s pressure is part of a context of growing instability in the region, in the face of rising U.S.-China tensions. While China is establishing a lasting presence in Laos and Cambodia, the United States has also strengthened its presence. After resuming relations with Vietnam in 1995 and signing a “comprehensive strategic partnership” agreement with the regime in 2023, the United States has also strengthened its ties with Thailand since 2016, while the country remains a historic ally of the United States, which has reinforced its military presence. While Bangkok maintains important relations with China, Washington is strengthening its historical ties with the country.
Despite the ceasefire, Southeast Asia and the rest of the world are affected by the tensions in this region. They will not abate. Faced with this situation, it is of the utmost importance that the workers’ movement mobilize to end the conflict and oppose the reactionary policies of these governments. As in so many regions of the world, the conflicts of the present find their origins in the colonial policy of plundering by the imperialist powers, foremost among them France and the United States.
Originally published in French on July 29 in Révolution Permanente.
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