The ignored crisis: Thailand-Cambodia border flareup demands global focus

The propensity of humanity to engage in hostilities appears to be ceaseless, even though we have ostensibly entered an era of enlightenment. Currently, almost all continents are embroiled in one war or another, with Asia perhaps taking the lead. Now, adding to the list of conflicts on this continent, yet another war has flared up along the contentious 817-km-long land border between Thailand and Cambodia, an area that has long been the source of political tensions in a prolonged boundary dispute.

Diplomatic relations have deteriorated, and saber-rattling on the part of both combatants carries the danger of a full-blown conflict breaking out. Tensions in the contested border area of the Emerald Triangle, where Cambodia, Thailand, and Laos meet, have been evident since May, when a Cambodian soldier was killed during a clash between Thai and Cambodian troops.

Since then, the escalation has claimed the lives of more than a dozen people on the Thai side and displaced 1,00,000 civilians, while casualties on the Cambodian side have not been disclosed. Thailand has taken control of border check-points, imposed restrictions on crossings, thereby halting the once-popular tourism circuits, and threatened to cut electricity and internet services to Cambodia's border towns.

In response, Cambodia has stopped all imports from Thailand, even as both countries have severed diplomatic ties.

To claim that the Thailand-Cambodia conflict has caught the international community by surprise would be an understatement, as all eyes had been on the China-Taiwan scenario, widely touted as the most probable hotspot for a clash between a newly resurgent China and the West. However, the conflict between these two Southeast Asian neighbours bears a startling similarity to the China-Taiwan situation, although it has not yet raised the possibility of escalating into something bigger.

It may be noted that the clashes on the Thai-Cambodian border pit a longtime United States ally against a force with close ties to China. The tussle between Bangkok and Phnom Penh seemingly appears unequal: the former, backed by the US and with a larger population and territory, enjoys significant superiority in manpower and weaponry.

But the latter, apart from maintaining defense links with China and Vietnam, is supplied with weapons both by the former and by Russia, and there-fore possesses enough capability to give the Thais a run for their money. Given its explosive potential for escalation, it is incumbent upon the international community not to dismiss this as merely another minor conflict between contentious neighbours.

It deserves serious attention. Meaningful intervention is required to ensure that a localized conflict does not spiral into something far wider - this may well be a dress rehearsal for an even graver crisis.