Cambodians don’t want to be a chess piece in the US-China rivalry

For Cambodians who have gone for the better part of three decades without war, peace is preferred. But for many in the country, backing down isn’t an option either. That rings true for the challenges posed by the US-China rivalry, the Trump administration and the recent border skirmish with Thailand that left a Cambodian soldier dead in contested territory.

Four days after the skirmish, I travelled by bus from Thailand to Cambodia. By then, both governments had agreed to resolve their border dispute peacefully; Cambodia has since taken the issue to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.

This isn’t the ICJ’s first involvement with the disputed area, which has four Hindu temples. In 2013, the court clarified a 1962 ruling in favour of Cambodia – affirming its ownership of one of the temples, Preah Vihear – but the dispute dates back further.