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Cambodia's Foreign Relations
An ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) member and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Cambodia is also member of the United Nations (UN), The World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Since 2004, Cambodia is a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Cambodia has diplomatic relations with many countries around the world, with Cambodian embassies located in Australia, Brunei, China, Cuba, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Switzerland, Thailand, United States and Vietnam.
Cambodia has good relations with most countries, except there are disputes with neighbouring Thailand and Vietnam over land and sea borders, and ownership of offshore islands. The Mekong river delta is disputed with Vietnam, the area once belonged to Cambodia but Vietnamese settled in the area in the late 17th century, cutting off Cambodia from reaching the sea by river. Recently relations with Vietnam have been positive, the nations are trading partners and there is cooperation on mapping and marking many kilometres of the presently un-marked border between the two countries.
Disputes with Thailand date back to the 15th century when the Thai forces of Ayuthaya the great temple of Angkor Wat, the temple and much of northern Cambodia remained under their control until 1907 when the Thai government transferred control of Angkor to France, who controlled Cambodia at the time. From the time of handover until the 1950's Thailand regarded Angkor and the northern provinces as lost territory of Thailand that should be returned, but this claim was dropped. The dispute erupted more recently with violent results, in 2003 there were riots in Phnom Penh where the Thai embassy and many Thai businesses were attacked and destroyed by the Cambodian public as a result of a Thai televison actress saying that Cambodia had stolen Angkor and that it should be returned to Thailand. The incident was blown out of all proportions and resulted in Thailand closing the border with Cambodia for 3 months, in the end it was resolved when Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen paid Thailand $6million in compensation for the destroyed embassy, and made seperate compensation arrangements with the Thai businesses that suffered during the riots.
Recently (August 2006), the Thai prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, visited Cambodia to discuss offshore oil drilling in the sea between the two countries where there is no mapping of a border. The discussions went well and both countries should benefit from the energy resources being drilled for by Thai companies, with each country recieving a fair percentage of the oil and revenue.
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