Experts have suggested mediation by China in the conflict between Cambodia and Thailand

China may act as a mediator in resolving the conflict between Cambodia and Thailand, experts interviewed by Izvestia said.

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On July 24, at a press conference, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said that their country would promote reconciliation between Cambodia and Thailand. Paul Chambers, a visiting researcher at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, told Izvestia that China could be an intermediary.

"The current crisis may draw China into it, as it is patronizing Cambodia, but at the same time it is increasingly becoming a friend of Thailand. Perhaps China will mediate in resolving the conflict," Chambers suggested.

Dmitry Mosyakov, head of the Center for the Study of Southeast Asia, Australia and Oceania, member of the Academic Council of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, also noted that China has a very serious influence and close economic relations with Thailand and especially with Cambodia, which is considered almost as the main ally of China in ASEAN and Southeast Asia.

But, according to the expert, experience shows that purely bilateral issues are resolved in this conflict.

"International involvement can manifest itself only if the conflict is scaled up. As long as it doesn't go beyond the logic of all the previous ones. Shootings happen there very often, but they usually do not cause such activation. And when the situation is difficult, they focus on it," he explained.

Read more in the exclusive Izvestia article:

Dispute news: how the conflict between Thailand and Cambodia can end