Recently, On May 26, 2011, China gave Cambodia over 50,000 sets of military uniforms, which was the promise of China last year. This is the military support in addition to the tremendously economic support which China grants the Kingdom without condition. Last year in June, China provided Cambodia with 275 military trucks.
The simmering dispute between Cambodia and Thailand has been continuing, but the relationship between Cambodia and China is more intimate, developing and fruitful. As we know that Cambodia follows one China-policy and the spat causes China to show their stand to support Cambodia. On the other hand, the United States back Thailand. Every time, the two superpowers, including the US and China are always on the opposition.
Are they playing their power by using Cambodia and Thailand?
The border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia is the result of a larger, decades-old dispute between the two neighbours over the demarcation of their 798-kilometre border. The main point of contention is the Preah Vihear Temple, and although the two agreed to submit their dispute over the temple to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and abide by its decision, Thai nationalists refuse to accept the ICJ’s 1962 ruling giving sovereignty over the temple to Cambodia.
This has led to periodic violence over the lands adjacent to the temple, which fall outside of the ICJ ruling. Tensions have been particularly high since Preah Vihear was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008. In the years since the ICJ ruling, bilateral and regional agreements and mechanisms have been put in place to mitigate conflict between the neighbours.
Both parties entered into the 1976 Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, which commits parties to resolve intra-state conflict without violence. A previous Thai government also signed the 2000 Memorandum of Understanding, which established a Joint Border Commission to peacefully resolve overlapping claims. These efforts appeared to be strengthened when a subsequent Thai government issued a 2008 Joint Communiqué with Cambodia which supported the
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