Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, and the thumbnail, I guess I am putting a fine point on it. Yeah, I'm not real happy with China putting their oar in the water with regard to what's going on down here in Southeast Asia.

For those who are unaware yeah, there is this kind of ongoing border dispute. That said, I think the press is getting a hold of it and really trying to exacerbate it at this point, probably more or less out of headline-seeking sensationalism. It's something you can write easy copy on, and people want to know what's going on with it. The fact of the matter is Thailand and Cambodia have had these ongoing - I hesitate to even call it disputes - but they have had ongoing negotiations, discussions, whatever you want to call it, regarding the actual boundaries of the two countries for decades. The problem is that we have been handed the "legacy" if you even want to call it that and by "we", I mean everybody in Southeast Asia: Cambodians, Thais, Laos, even the Vietnamese, we have this holdover stuff from the old French Imperial Era and boy is it just fun to deal with all that good stuff. Really, when you know the history of it, it's really kind of disgusting frankly, the legacy of all of that Colonialism.  That said, and we have talked about it in prior videos, Cambodia is now saying, "well we want the International Court of Justice to come in and arbitrate this." Well the Thais have said, "yeah, we don't want that because you're utilizing these old Treaties that frankly were brought to bear basically by force in an unequal manner back in the day anyway. It was the Imperial French who created these Treaties, and effectively forced it upon everyone in the region. Then now supposedly the International Court of Justice, whatever, the World Court, whatever you want to call it, is then going to adjudicate the matter but they are going to adjudicate the matter based on in my opinion, bogus law, and beyond even that, where do they get jurisdiction? Who created them? This is Thailand, that's Cambodia. They are sovereign nations; they can work it out. 

I did a prior video where I discussed what I consider to be at least some level of disconnect if not outright hypocrisy, where Cambodia says, "oh well we want the International Court of Justice to arbitrate this', but when there are issues involving Maritime Boundaries, they want nothing to do with UNCLOS, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, "oh, we don't want to have anything to do with that." Because they want Thailand's hands tied on certain things, and they want freedom of movement to do what they want on certain things. So again, there is a lot going on here and the background on it as such that it is complex; it's the legacy of Colonialism in many ways, and I don't think more outside interference is particularly necessary, which brings us to the whole issue of China then chiming in on it.

I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: China offers to help resolve Thailand, Cambodia border dispute. Yeah, I thought of the scene in the movie; well first of all that's the reason for the thumbnail, is from Happy Gilmore. It's sort of like, "You know what China? You can trouble us for a nice warm glass of 'shut the hell up'." We don't really care what you have to say on this issue. This doesn't pertain to China. You don't have a sphere of influence down here in Southeast Asia; you don't have a border with Cambodia or Thailand. Quite frankly, everything you have done that has impacted Southeast Asia, that I have seen in the past probably 10 years, has been not particularly great. Like damming up to Mekong and everybody down here has all kinds of problems with Riparian issues and water issues associated with that. I mean why don't you worry about unblocking that. That would do more help for folks down in Cambodia and Thailand and the lower Mekong, and all of this region than your offers to mediate in an area we really don't need you in. I did a video on this where now suspended Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra was calling up Emanuel Macron on it. Like what do we need the French in, who cares what they have to say? That said, quoting directly: “China urged Cambodia and Thailand to resolve their border disputes through friendly dialogue offering to play a constructive role by upholding an objective and fair position, its Foreign Ministry said." Yeah, you know I thought of that scene, going back to what I was going to say there was, I thought of that scene in the movie Hannibal where Mason Verger who is his sort of antagonist, he is Hannibal Lector's antagonist in the movie, he just says off hand, he says, "when the rabbit screams, the fox comes a running, but not to help." And that's what I see in this situation is Thailand and Cambodia, first of all they are they are working it out. I've read the articles recently. There is a Joint Border Discussion Board if you want to call Committee between the two sides. They get together, they have sit downs, they hash things out, things are de-escalating. It's not moving in the other direction. We don't need frankly further problems by outsiders weighing in is really the issue. And really quickly, I discuss some of this stuff in more detail in our paid news service, Integrity News Service. If you're interested in that, I do long-form content on there; if you're interested email us: [email protected]. Also worth pointing out, my better half and I opened a restaurant here in downtown Bangkok. Pancake Palace. As the name implies, we've got pancakes, breakfast anytime; we have also got great American diner style food like buffalo wings, cheeseburgers, hamburgers, chilli bowls, pork chops and the like. If you're interested, come on down to Pancake Palace, link to that in the description below. 

That said quoting further from Bangkok Post: "Wang reiterated China's impartiality on the border issue in a meeting with," - yeah I love this - "reiterated China's impartiality on the Border issue in a meeting with Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn, the same day, the Ministry said in a separate summary." So that would be almost akin to what we call in the legal world or in the Common Law legal world an "ex parte" communication. And ex parte means it would be like if the Prosecutor and the Judge were talking about the Defendant away from the Defendant's eye shot and earshot; the Defendant was not party to that discussion. That's called an ex parte communication. It's like here's Cambodia and China off or the Chinese say, "yeah we're real impartial", while talking only to the Cambodians. And this is my point. Cambodia and Thailand need to talk about this. Nobody else needs to be involved. It involves the land borders deep up in the hinterland of both of these countries. This isn't out on the sea; this isn't up next to anybody else's border. This is like the border of Kansas and Missouri and Texas wants to chime in on it. It doesn't have anything to do with them; it just simply doesn't.

So you can think that my thumbnail is harsh or hyperbolic toward the Chinese on this issue. I get it; I have the fervour of the converted; I'm a naturalized Thai. I get all of that, but at the end of the day, I think anybody that looks at this objectively, we don't need the French in on this, we don't need the International Court of Justice, whatever that means; we don't need the Chinese. What we need is the two sides to sit down, have discussions, de-escalate the situation - which is what they have been doing - and move on. We could also use the press not sort of skewing this and trying to talk this up and sensationalize it and make the situation worse.