Trump Vows Action As Thailand-Cambodia Tensions Erupt Again

Complex conflict. Clashes between China-friendly Cambodia and longtime U.S. ally Thailand are intensifying along their long-disputed border, derailing a much-ballyhooed ceasefire brokered by President Trump in July after five days of intense fighting.

However, the ceasefire was always fragile. Both nations carried on a bitter propaganda war afterwards, and minor cross-border violence continued.

Cambodia was unhappy that Thailand had not returned 18 soldiers it had captured when the ceasefire came into effect, and Thailand is angry that its soldiers patrolling the frontier have been wounded by landmines it alleges have been newly laid by Cambodia.

While Cambodia is laying new mines, a large number of Vietnam War mines have also been left over from the Khmer Rouge era in the 1980s.

Since Monday, at least five Thai soldiers have been killed and dozens wounded, while nine Cambodian civilians have been killed and dozens more injured in the clashes.

Thai officials said they evacuated more than 400,000 people from four affected border provinces, while Phnom Penh said 127,000 on the Cambodian side have been moved to shelters.

While both governments trade accusations over who initiated the latest round of violence, the clash appears to have been ignited by a seemingly minor incident on Sunday, when a Thai engineering team working on an access road in the disputed area of the border was, according to the Thai army, fired on by Cambodian troops.

Two Thai soldiers were injured, neither seriously.

However, Thailand, backed by intelligence, argues that Cambodia has been intent on forcibly changing the status quo on the border for years, enabled by a Chinese-supplied military buildup.

Fighting, which began Monday night, has now spread across a wide stretch of the frontier, including Thailand’s Surin, Buri Ram, Sa Kaeo, and Trat provinces, as well as Cambodia’s Banteay Meanchey and Pursat provinces.

Thailand has also carried out airstrikes along the border, marking the most serious escalation since the July ceasefire was put in place.

These clashes are the fiercest since a five-day exchange of rockets and heavy artillery in July, which left at least 48 people dead and displaced 300,000, before diplomatic intervention by Trump brought both sides to a temporary halt.

While the Southeast Asian neighbors have accused each other of initiating the latest clashes, tensions had been building since last month, when Thailand suspended a series of de-escalation measures agreed at a U.S.-overseen summit.

Amid this fighting, an analysis of their military capabilities reveals a wide disparity, with Thailand holding a decisive advantage over the much smaller and weaker Cambodia.

Thailand, with a defense budget five times that of Cambodia, has an air combat fleet of 122 fighters to Cambodia’s zero. Cambodia is also outnumbered in artillery, 2,579 to 486. Thailand also boasts an aircraft carrier and seven frigates, along with 70 patrol and coast vessels to Cambodia’s 33 patrol ships.

Overall, Thailand has 245,000 personnel in its armed forces to Cambodia’s 75,000.

Interestingly, though Thailand is a U.S. treaty ally, Beijing now far outranks the U.S. as the country’s biggest source of arms. Meanwhile, China has become Cambodia’s main military backer, and the two countries have conducted annual drills together regularly for the past nine years.

China also recently completed the expansion of Cambodia’s Ream Naval Base, on the Gulf of Thailand, raising concerns in the U.S. about forward basing for the Chinese navy and other forces.

Because of China’s role with both sides, its mediation efforts have mostly fallen flat.

In this latest clash, Thailand has deployed U.S.-made F-16 fighters to carry out airstrikes on what it says are military targets. Cambodia has deployed Chinese-made BM-21 rocket launchers with a range of 19-25 miles.

The Thai army regional command said that as of the afternoon of December 10, local time, Cambodian forces had fired 79 BM-21 salvos with 3,160 rockets, used artillery 122 times, and employed bomb-dropping drones in 63 attacks.

China has quickly, but quietly, resupplied Cambodian munitions.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on the two sides to live up to commitments made at an October meeting in Malaysia that reaffirmed the July ceasefire and called for removing heavy weapons from the border and coordinating the removal of landmines and other steps.

Thailand, though a U.S. ally has, as noted above, grown closer to China. It has said repeatedly that it is not yet ready for diplomacy. Especially since the Thais believed they were on track to push the Cambodians back when they were forced to stop in July.

The Thai military says it wants to finish the job now.

Cambodia, backed by China, but also making gestures to the U.S. — as the weaker party — appears ready to welcome U.S. diplomatic intervention.

Meanwhile, Trump has said that he would “make a phone call” to stop the fighting.

“I think I can get them to stop fighting. Who else can do that?” Trump said to reporters, also repeating his claim of settling eight wars around the globe since early this year.

Trump acknowledged however, that flare ups can occur.

“Every once in a while, one will flame up again, and I have to put out that little flame.”

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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