Trump says he will 'make a phone call' on Cambodia-Thailand clashes

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said he was planning to “make a phone call” on Wednesday about the renewed clashes between Thailand and Cambodia over their contested border, which have prompted evacuations.

During a rally speech to supporters in the northeastern US state of Pennsylvania on Tuesday, Trump listed various conflicts he has become involved with diplomatically, concluding with: “And I hate to say this, one named Cambodia-Thailand, that it started up today.”

“Tomorrow, I have to make a phone call, and I think they’ll get it,” he continued.

“Who else could say, ‘I’m going to make a phone call and stop a war of two very powerful countries’?”

Trump co-signed a truce between a Cambodia and Thailand in October during a visit to Asia.

The dispute between Thailand and Cambodia centers on a century-old disagreement over borders mapped during France’s colonial rule in the region, with both sides claiming a smattering of boundary temples.

Cambodia withdrew on Wednesday from the Southeast Asian Games, a Games official said, as a border conflict with hosts Thailand escalated and forced a mass exodus of civilians from both sides of the disputed frontier.

At least 11 soldiers and civilians have been killed on both sides, according to officials, as renewed hostilities derailed a US-brokered truce.