In Cambodia, three bishops issued a joint appeal as air strikes and artillery fire continue for the sixth consecutive day along the 800-kilometre Thai-Cambodian border. “We pray for all the victims” and “affirm the closeness of our hearts to all displaced families, and especially children, the sick, and vulnerable people,” reads their statement. Meanwhile, in Thailand, the Catholic Bishops' Conference is mobilising to help the communities affected by the fighting.

The border dispute is not the only factor in restarting clashes. Scores of online scam centres operate along the border, run by criminal networks linked to Cambodian elites. Thailand considers them strategic military targets and is using the war to build up nationalist support ahead of upcoming elections. Thailand's opposition People's Party has called for a return to diplomacy.

At the general audience in St Peter's Square, the pope appealed to the two Southeast Asian countries once again embroiled in fighting. In his weekly catechesis, he reflected on death and its "pedagogical value", despite today’s tendency to remove it. Leo also warned against transhumanism, which theorises the prolongation of life through technology, asking: “could science itself guarantee us that a life without death is also a happy life?”

The conflict between Thailand and Cambodia has reignited, with new airstrikes and hundreds of thousands of displaced people on both sides. Domestic Thai political tensions are behind the military crisis. PM Anutin Charnvirakul's government, in difficulty and on the verge of parliament’s dissolution, is exploiting nationalist rhetoric to bolster support. Meanwhile, Cambodia is drawing militarily closer to Vietnam.

Just days after signing a deal with Thailand to defuse the (simmering) conflict over the disputed border, the US administration revoked the measure adopted in 2021 by the Biden administration. The ban was linked to China’s Ream naval base, but also to Cambodia’s human rights situation (which has worsened).

Speaking at the regional summit, Chinese Premier Li Qiang called on Asian countries to “close ranks” in the face of global challenges, primarily that of trade with the United States. Southeast Asia must maintain open markets while avoiding becoming embroiled in a trade duel between superpowers. The summit saw the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement upgraded. The Philippines will take over the association’s rotating presidency next year.