Latest news with #politicaltension
CNA
18 hours ago
- Politics
- CNA
Commentary: Thailand and Cambodia share a border. They also share old wounds
SINGAPORE: In a rare breach of diplomatic norms, Cambodia's former leader Hun Sen on Wednesday (Jun 18) released a recording of a private phone call with Thailand's Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra on social media, escalating political tensions surrounding a long-running border dispute. In the 17-minute audio, Ms Paetongtarn refers to Mr Hun Sen as 'uncle' and urges him to ignore the Thai general overseeing the army in the border area whom she described as being on 'the opposite side'. The remark has fuelled speculation about her relationship with the military, a politically sensitive issue given the army's role in ousting members of her family from power – her father Thaksin in 2006 and his sister Yingluck in 2014. Ms Paetongtarn has since apologised and defended her remarks as a 'technical attempt to calm the country', insisting there is no conflict with the Thai military. Further muddying the waters is the personal history between the two political families. Mr Thaksin and Mr Hun Sen - who is now president of Cambodia's Senate and the father of Cambodia's current Prime Minister Hun Manet - are long-time friends. That neither moved to defuse the situation has prompted speculation about domestic issues in both countries. PERSONAL TIES, POLITICAL STRAIN The two countries appear to have been taking their relations for granted, says Dr Pavin Chachavalpongpun of Kyoto University's Centre for Southeast Asian Studies. 'During good times, leaders would be willing to put aside history, but when a regime becomes vulnerable or encounters domestic challenges, sometimes it is easy and convenient and even legitimate to bring back the wounds of history to divert domestic attention,' Dr Pavin told me. Thailand and Cambodia share an 820km land border, parts of which are still not demarcated, and parts of which include ancient temples that both sides have contested for decades. On May 28, a Cambodian soldier was killed in an exchange of gunfire between both nations' troops at a disputed spot between Cambodia's Preah Vihear province and Thailand's Ubon Ratchathani province, reigniting tensions. The incident triggered the most serious crisis between Cambodia and Thailand in years, with both sides making bristling statements and beefing up troops while scrambling to convene a two-day meeting of their Joint Boundary Commission (JBC) in Phnom Penh – which ended with no conclusion on Jun 15. For Ms Paetongtarn, the crisis is an early test of leadership. Installed last year through a fragile coalition, she inherited both the Shinawatra name and its baggage. Her statement following the JBC - that Thailand 'will not tolerate maltreatment, accusations or threats from any party' - was widely seen as an effort to project firmness. But the leaked phone call and the perception that she had undermined her own army's authority has complicated that stance. She is now facing mounting calls to resign. The conservative Bhumjaithai Party, the second largest in the alliance, pulled out of the coalition on Jun 18, saying Ms Paetongtarn had "damaged the sovereignty and well-being of the country and Thai Army". GRIP OF SHARED HISTORY No one expects a dramatic escalation. 'Neither country can afford a war,' former Thai foreign minister Kasit Piromya told me. But no one expects easy or speedy resolution either, as the issues involved are complex and complicated by domestic nationalism. In fact, like the famed stone ruins of Angkor's Ta Prohm held in place by the tentacles of giant strangler figs, Thailand and Cambodia seem unable to decisively shake off the grip of the perceived wounds of their ironically shared history. Both countries have their own narratives to suit their mutual sense of victimhood and injustice - Cambodia through memories of the glory of its Angkor period lost to colonisation and encroachment by neighbours, and Thailand through a nostalgic view of its own imperial past, particularly the Ayutthaya era. Border disputes are particularly difficult to resolve to both parties' satisfaction because they often represent the legacy of historical conditions that no longer exist, a former Thai ambassador told me. Each side has its own popular narrative formed over decades or centuries, which can metastasize with each retelling until it becomes part of the national identity, spawning chauvinistic memes that later generations with no direct memory of the grievances may nevertheless accept on faith, he said. Any agreements on the border would mean both countries would need to give up some territory, and that would be difficult for their governments to sell to their public. The best one can hope for is that pragmatism wins over emotions. Politics should be removed from efforts to resolve border disputes, governments and opinion leaders should refrain from stoking the flames of nationalism, and quiet diplomacy allowed to take its course. All this is, of course, easier said than done. 'For all the cooperation frameworks in the region, Thailand and some of its neighbours are still in the trust-building phase,' said the former Thai ambassador who spoke with me on condition of anonymity. 'Our proximity means we have a long history together. It also means we need to set aside our feuds and grudges if we are to have a future together.' Nirmal Ghosh, a former foreign correspondent, is an author and independent writer based in Singapore. He writes a monthly column for CNA, published every third Friday.
Washington Post
3 days ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
A jab from 33,000 feet cools Trump–Macron ties, but is it just a passing frost?
PARIS — What began with a handshake evolved into turbulence at 33,000 feet as one of diplomacy's oddest relationships took another strange turn. The political chemistry that once defined the Trump–Macron dynamic — immortalized by a famously tense 29-second handshake in 2017 — was nowhere to be seen in midair Tuesday when U.S. President Donald Trump blasted his French counterpart on social media.
Fox News
4 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Alex Padilla blames first Trump campaign for igniting political tensions in wake of Minnesota shootings
Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., suggested on Sunday that President Donald Trump's original campaign was responsible for raising political tensions to the point of the weekend shooting of two Minnesota state lawmakers and their spouses. On CBS' "Face the Nation," host Margaret Brennan asked Padilla, who is a ranking member of the Senate Rules Committee, if there have been any new discussions on security measures for lawmakers. Padilla said there were "a lot of concerns" in the wake of the shooting, but he was more interested in discussing how they got to this point. "I think it's more than appropriate to step back and say, why are tensions so high? Not just in Los Angeles but throughout the country," Padilla said. "And I can't help but point to the beginning of not just the first Trump term, but the beginning of the campaign, the tone with which the president had launched his first campaign for president, served throughout his first term, and continues in this term." Monday marks the 10-year anniversary of Trump announcing his run for president on June 16, 2015. Padilla went on to use himself being forcibly removed from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's press conference in Los Angeles last week as an example of the Trump administration's escalating political tensions in plain sight. "For a cabinet secretary during a press conference to not be able or be willing to deescalate a situation when I was trying to ask a question, that's just indicative of the tone of the administration," Padilla said. State Rep. Melissa Hortman, a member of the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), and her husband, Mark Hortman, were fatally shot in Brooklyn Park on Saturday. In a related shooting, DFL Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette were shot in Champlin. They are expected to survive and are out of surgery. At a press briefing, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said Hortman and her husband's shooting was a "politically motivated assassination." "This was an act of targeted political violence," Walz said. "Peaceful discourse is the foundation of our democracy. We don't settle their differences with violence or at gunpoint in the state of Minnesota." Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.
WIRED
05-06-2025
- Politics
- WIRED
Elon Musk Is Posting Through It
Jun 5, 2025 6:00 PM Donald Trump and Elon Musk are going to war—and giving everyone a front row seat. Photograph:Elon Musk is many things: billionaire, natalist, aspiring gamer. He runs gigantic companies and dreams of colonizing Mars. But above all, Elon Musk is a poster. And as his storied relationship with President Donald Trump dissolves in real-time, by god, he is posting through it. The resulting timeline—a chaotic, catty, incendiary voyage into the grievances of the world's richest man with the president of the United States—should be enshrined as a historical artifact, a front-row seat to the apparent end of an extraordinarily consequential partnership. Tensions between Musk and Trump had been steadily building, but they spilled into the open on Thursday. After Musk took repeated shots at the president's 'Big Beautiful Bill' and the trillions of dollars it will add to the deficit, Trump accused Musk of caring only about the removal of an electric vehicle credit that helps Tesla, and suggested their relationship had frayed. Then came Musk's many, many posts on X. Between 12:19 pm ET and 3:20 pm ET Musk fired off 49 posts, reposts, or replies. That's an average of one new missive every 3.5 minutes, over a three-hour stretch. It started simply enough. 'Whatever,' Musk posted to X at 12:19 pm ET. 'Keep the EV/solar incentive cuts in the bill, even though no oil & gas subsidies are touched (very unfair!!), but ditch the MOUNTAIN of DISGUSTING PORK in the bill. In the entire history of civilization, there has never been legislation that both [sic] big and beautiful. Everyone knows this! Either you get a big and ugly bill or a slim and beautiful bill. Slim and beautiful is the way.' Less than half an hour later, after a few more innocuous posts and in response to a video of Trump saying he would have won Pennsylvania regardless of Musk's help, Musk went nuclear. 'Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate,' he posted. From there, Musk played the hits: A bad pun ('Kill Bill'). Multiple 'crying laughing' emojis. A worthless quiz. Sympathetic retweets. The last few hours have been a sprint through Musk's posting playbook, well-honed through years of being X's owner and one of its most committed users. Trump posted too: 'The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon's Governmental Subsidies and Contracts,' he wrote on Truth Social during Musk's meltdown. 'Elon was 'wearing thin,' I asked him to leave, I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!' Musk responded by accusing Trump of being in the Epstein Files. (As of this writing, he's still following that thread.) He also claimed that '@SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately,' which would deprive NASA of its preferred shuttle to the International Space Station. 'I don't mind Elon turning against me,' wrote Trump on Truth Social, 'but he should have done so months ago. This is one of the Greatest Bills ever presented to Congress.' The very public spat between the world's richest man and its most powerful leader shows no sign of slowing. The consequences of the falling out could also be astronomical: Musk is worth hundreds of billions of dollars, and has proven that he's happy to deploy it to achieve his own political and personal has power to choke off many of Musk's companies from lucrative government contracts. It's an unprecedented moment that seems likely to lead to unpredictable places. But whatever twists it takes, there's at least some assurance that they'll happen out in the open.
Reuters
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Taiwan is not ruling out 'political warfare' by China, coast guard says
TAIPEI, May 19 (Reuters) - Taiwan's coast guard said on Monday China could try to disrupt public morale on the island ahead of President Lai Ching-te's one-year anniversary this week, after images surfaced on social media of a person planting a Chinese flag on a Taiwan beach. China calls Lai, who completes a year in office on Tuesday, a "separatist", and has rebuffed his offers for talks. Lai rejects China's sovereignty claims over the democratic and entirely separately governed island, saying only Taiwan's people can decide their future. Last week, Taiwan's China-policy making Mainland Affairs Council said Beijing could hold more military drills to "stir up trouble" around the anniversary. On Sunday, images posted on Chinese social media showed a man who claimed to have sailed across the Taiwan Strait on a small boat landing on a remote beach and planting a Chinese flag, before returning to China. The video was later deleted. On Friday, Taiwan's coast guard said it had arrested two Chinese nationals after they sailed into Taiwan illegally on a rubber boat and landed on a beach on the island's northwest coast. Asked about the two incidents, Hsieh Ching-chin, deputy head of Taiwan's coast guard, said China has been taking the opportunity for a while now to carry out drills and use other pressure tactics. "It cannot be ruled out that on the anniversary of President Lai's inauguration, the Chinese communists will again use similar tactics and videos to engage in political warfare to disrupt the morale of our people," he told reporters. Hsieh said the video of the flag planting was indeed taken on the beach in Taiwan's Taoyuan, but whether by someone who crossed over from China, or was helped by someone in Taiwan to film it, was still being investigated. China's Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
