Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul is using fresh border skirmishes with Cambodia to tap nationalist sentiment at home before an election. In doing so, he¡¯s gambling it won¡¯t unduly irritate U.S. President Donald Trump, who claimed credit for ending a previous outbreak of fighting.
It¡¯s a delicate line to walk for Anutin, who insists the Cambodia dispute is separate from Thailand¡¯s trade negotiations with the U.S. Trump, though, has linked them previously ¡ª in fact, he used the threat of trade penalties to prod Thailand and Cambodia into a ceasefire earlier this year.
At a ceremony in October to formalize an agreement between Thailand and Cambodia to manage their tensions, Trump declared ¡°we did something that a lot of people said couldn¡¯t be done, and we saved maybe millions of lives.¡± And the Thai-Cambodia issue is one he often cites when declaring how many wars he says he¡¯s ended this year.
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