China often proclaims itself a guardian of sovereignty and a champion of “non-interference” — a voice of calm in a turbulent world, in contrast to the meddling image of the West. Yet, in practice, its actions across Southeast Asia tell a very different story. 🤔
1. The Sacred Doctrine of Non-Intervention
China’s foreign policy is built on the “Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence”:
Respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty
Mutual non-aggression
Non-interference in internal affairs
Equality and mutual benefit
Peaceful coexistence
These ideals allow China to deflect criticism on issues like Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Xinjiang. But when it comes to its neighbors, these principles often dissolve into political convenience. 🧱💨
2. Case Study: The United Wa State Army (UWSA)
In Myanmar, the United Wa State Army — an armed ethnic militia — controls a self-governed region along the China-Myanmar border.
25,000+ well-equipped troops
Uses Chinese yuan, telecom systems, and language
Operates weapons factories and its own government structure
While China officially denies direct involvement, evidence points to ongoing military, economic, and diplomatic support behind the scenes. 🛠️🎯
3. From Mountains to Maritime Claims 🌊
China applies similar logic in the South China Sea:
Claims based on the historic “Nine-Dash Line”
Cites ancient maps and tributary missions, not governance or control
Refuses to accept the 2016 international ruling that invalidated these claims
China turns historical ambiguity into modern hegemony, bypassing international norms — claiming land without conquest. 🗺️🧭
4. “Chinese Blood Never Fades”: Ethnic Nationalism Overseas
China often considers overseas Chinese communities as extensions of its cultural and political influence — even generations after they’ve naturalized elsewhere.
Labels them as “Huaqiao” — Chinese citizens abroad
Uses them as soft-power bridges, or even political leverage
But imagine the reverse: If foreigners in China refused to integrate and insisted on preserving their foreign identity — would the Chinese state welcome that?
China demands cultural acceptance abroad but struggles to return the favor at home. 😐
5. A Betrayal of Laozi: When the Sons of Tao Become Arrogant
Perhaps the deepest irony lies in China’s betrayal of its own ancient wisdom — especially Laozi’s teaching of Taoism.
Tao teaches us to be like water:
Flow to the lowly places 🌊
Blend with surroundings 🪷
Do not cling, do not dominate
Yet modern Chinese nationalism does the opposite — asserting, dominating, demanding recognition wherever it goes. From ports to mountain passes, it acts not like water… but like fire 🔥
The children of Tao have forgotten how to flow.
Conclusion: Principles as a Mask
China’s doctrine of non-intervention has become a diplomatic costume — worn proudly on the global stage, but shed easily when its interests require backdoor influence.
Whether through ethnic militias, maritime maps, or diaspora politics, China redefines sovereignty not as a principle — but as a tool.
The question is no longer “Do people understand China?” But rather: “Does China still understand itself?” 🤨
From Part 1: The Khmer Empire Rises Again – In the Age of AI and Wiki Media, many readers came away with a shared question:
“Why is Cambodia so obsessed with Thai culture?”
As this phenomenon spreads across online platforms — from Wikipedia pages to YouTube comments and TikTok videos — countless Thais and international observers have noticed a recurring pattern:
Whenever Thai culture is featured, be it food, dance, or even a viral restaurant, Cambodian accounts often swarm in, claiming:
“It’s originally Khmer.” “Thailand stole everything.” “Siamese thieves.”
And in some truly bizarre cases, they go even further — Flagging Cambodian national flags on famous Thai restaurants, products, or media where Cambodia has no historical connection whatsoever.
This isn’t just random internet trolling. It’s a sustained, coordinated attempt to reshape perception, erase Thai contributions, and recast Cambodia as the rightful origin of Southeast Asia’s identity.
In this second installment, we dive deeper. We uncover the political incentives, economic motivations, foreign influences, and cultural psychology behind this aggressive campaign.
Welcome to Part 2: The Khmer Empire Rises Again – Why Does Cambodia Want Thai Culture So Badly?
🎭 Why Does Cambodia Want Thai Culture So Badly?
1. It’s Proven Profitable — and Globally Famous
Thai culture has already made its mark on the world stage. Whether it’s food, dance, fashion, or Muay Thai, it’s recognizable, admired, and marketable. Cambodia sees an opportunity not to create, but to repackage Thai culture as their own, hoping to inherit the prestige without building the foundation.
2. A Convenient Distraction from Internal Problems
The Cambodian government has discovered that fueling nationalist sentiment against Thailand serves as an excellent distraction from domestic mismanagement. By portraying cultural appropriation as “reclaiming stolen heritage,” the regime wins the support of its citizens, who believe they are standing up for their history — even when that “history” isn’t theirs.
Turning envy into policy: When you can’t govern well, stir up an enemy.
3. The Shadow of China: Grey Capital and Geopolitical Games
In the case of Kun Khmer (Cambodia’s rebranded Muay Thai), a deeper layer reveals itself: Chinese grey capital has taken interest in Thailand’s cultural assets, especially Muay Thai — but cannot control or commercialize it directly, since Muay Thai is protected by international recognition and institutions.
The workaround? Back Cambodia’s campaign to promote Kun Khmer. Let Cambodia fight for it — and China profits from the aftermath, whether through hosting events or controlling the narrative.
4. A New Colonial Allegiance: From Siam & Vietnam to Beijing
Historically, Cambodia has always depended on either Siam (Thailand) or Vietnam for survival. But since Chinese influence surged, Cambodia has abandoned regional cooperation and aggressively sided with China, emboldening its government to antagonize Thailand at every turn — while still tiptoeing around Vietnam due to Vietnam’s deep military and political presence inside Cambodia.
Notable actions include:
Unilaterally canceling the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam trilateral cooperation
Openly claiming disputed islands from both Vietnam and Thailand
Telling Chinese audiences false narratives about Thai culture — something they attempted in Japan but were denied due to diplomatic respect. China, on the other hand, allowed it freely.
4. A Taste of Recognition — The Joy of Finally Being Seen
For years, Cambodia was barely acknowledged by Thailand — or by many other ASEAN nations. Now, for the first time, Cambodians are gaining regional attention, especially by openly picking fights with Thailand and injecting themselves into online debates across platforms like Reddit and YouTube.
And for some, that attention feels like validation.
By stirring controversy and attaching themselves to Thai cultural content, they gain visibility. Some even feel empowered, believing their country finally has a voice — and even tourism benefits, as misinformed foreigners assume:
“Thailand and Cambodia are basically the same.” “If I don’t go to Thailand, I’ll just go to Cambodia — it’s probably similar.”
For a country long ignored, this newfound relevance is intoxicating. And if all it takes is hijacking Thai culture to get it — why wouldn’t they do it?
6. Cultural Osmosis Turned Delusion
For decades, Cambodians have watched Thai television, listened to Thai music, and enjoyed Thai entertainment — often dubbed into Khmer without credit. TV shows were translated with local voiceovers, but the Thai origin was never acknowledged. Historical dramas and folklore films — unique to Thai culture — began to be mistaken as Khmer creations.
Even cultural elements from Southern Thailand, which Khmer culture never reached, have now been absorbed and rebranded in Cambodian perception as their own heritage.
They don’t just consume Thai culture — they digest it until they forget where it came from.
Introduction: The Empire Holds No Sword, Only a Keyboard
In the past, empires expanded with armies, stone citadels, and royal decrees. But in the 21st century, conquest looks very different. It comes not with flags and force, but through online content — Wikipedia pages, YouTube videos, and a barrage of question-and-answer threads that relentlessly assert: “Cambodia is the original source of everything in Southeast Asia.”
One of the most glaring examples is found in the Talk page of the Wikipedia article on Thai cuisine. There, a quiet but persistent war has been unfolding — with coordinated efforts to rewrite the narrative and label many aspects of Thai culture as mere imitations of Khmer heritage.
Cultural Claiming: The Case of “Thai Cuisine” Becoming “Khmer Food”
The main article on Thai Cuisine has become a battleground of edits, reverts, and re-edits. Numerous contributors — often linked with Cambodian interests — have attempted to rename dishes, change culinary origins, and frame Thai food as an offshoot of Khmer cooking.
Yet historical records, linguistic roots, royal court recipes, and centuries of evolution show a rich and distinct Thai culinary tradition — influenced by Chinese, Indian, and Western cuisines, synthesized uniquely into what the world today knows as Thai food.
To claim this as Khmer in origin is not only historically false, but also reveals a pattern: a nation so obsessed with heritage restoration that it is willing to discard its own identity in order to claim another’s.
Why Would a Nation Abandon Its Own Culture to Claim Another’s?
The answer lies in history — a complex, often painful one. Cambodia was a vassal state of Ayutthaya and Rattanakosin for over 400 years, and later a colony under France. During those centuries, Thai culture saturated Cambodian society — from royal rituals to folk customs.
After independence, Cambodia emerged with political sovereignty but deep cultural scars. Rather than developing a forward-looking identity, there has been a sweeping attempt to “reclaim” — or rather appropriate — Thai elements as ancient Khmer origins.
It is not evolution. It is rebranding by force.
Incredible Examples of Cultural Rewriting
🥊 Muay Thai Becomes “Kun Khmer” – A Rebranding Fueled by Envy and Strategy
The rebranding of Muay Thai as “Kun Khmer” didn’t emerge from combat tradition — it emerged from cinematic envy. Following the global success of the Thai film Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior, which took the world by storm and redefined martial arts cinema across Hollywood, Cambodia’s response was not admiration, but appropriation.
In a strikingly coordinated campaign, Cambodia submitted “Bokator” — a traditional martial art closer to dance than combat — to UNESCO for Intangible Cultural Heritage recognition. Once recognized, they rapidly remodeled Bokator’s visual identity to resemble Muay Thai techniques, renamed it “Kun Khmer,” and began to claim Muay Thai as a Cambodian derivative.
What’s worse, UNESCO approved the registration under the guise of preserving Bokator — but it was then weaponized as a diplomatic and cultural tool to discredit Muay Thai and reframe Thailand as the imitator. The campaign’s evidence?
Reliefs at Angkor Wat, which, though ancient, appear to magically “update themselves” to match modern narratives. New claims cite wall carvings that “prove” ancient Cambodian martial arts — even when such details did not exist in past archaeological documentation. In some cases, historical inscriptions or motifs linked to Siam have been scratched off or replaced, suggesting a deliberate erasure and redirection of cultural memory. This is not heritage preservation — this is heritage fabrication. When walls rewrite themselves, and dance becomes a fist, history is no longer recorded — it is forged.
🧢 They Even Claimed Tony Jaa as Their Own
As if rebranding Muay Thai wasn’t enough, Cambodian voices online — from forums to YouTube comments — began to claim that Tony Jaa, the Thai action superstar of Ong-Bak, was in fact of Cambodian descent, and that the film itself was inspired by “Khmer martial heritage.”
This myth, though widely debunked, continues to circulate in online spaces — part of a broader strategy to blur national origins, erase Thai achievements, and absorb global recognition into a fabricated narrative.
It’s a familiar tactic: When a neighboring country succeeds, they don’t just admire — they retroactively claim ownership.
🗺️ When Borders Lie – The Great Khmer Map Heist
Beyond music, food, martial arts, and costumes, Cambodia has taken its cultural appropriation campaign into the realm of cartography — redrawing history with maps that never existed.
In online forums, educational pages, and even printed textbooks, they present heavily altered world and regional maps, shaded boldly in ochre or red, labeling enormous swathes of Southeast Asia as “Khmer Empire.” These fabricated maps often:
Cover most of modern-day Thailand, Laos, southern Vietnam, and Malaysia
Stretch as far as the Bay of Bengal and Java Sea, despite no historical evidence
Include areas Khmer forces never occupied, and where no archaeological remains exist
Many of these maps are based loosely on ancient Siamese or French colonial maps, which have been color-manipulated and relabeled, often overlaying historical inconsistencies with modern political borders.
It is the digital age’s equivalent of “planting a flag.” If you can draw it, share it, and go viral with it — the world may believe it.
This cartographic propaganda has infiltrated Wikipedia, YouTube documentaries, and nationalist merchandise, turning visual lies into psychological weapons.
👘 Thai Traditional Dress Recast as “Khmer Royal Attire” – But Tailored in Thailand In their relentless campaign to appropriate Southeast Asian culture, Cambodian sources have gone as far as to relabel Thai traditional attire as “Khmer royal costume,” complete with fabricated historical timelines and AI-generated reinterpretations of court life. The irony? Many of these “Khmer” garments were proven to be purchased from Thai online shops. Numerous fashion pieces showcased in state-sponsored cultural events have been traced back to Thai designers and costume vendors, with critics online exposing the inconsistencies and lack of historical authenticity. But the narrative doesn’t stop there. To support this claim, they also began promoting the idea that “Thais are Chinese” — asserting that Thai traditional dress is merely adapted from Chinese immigrant clothing or hill tribe attire. In this twisted logic, only Cambodia retains the true, native, original royal aesthetics of the region.
🌏 A Dream of Lost Empire – Cambodia as the Sole Ruler of ASEAN Cambodian ultranationalist rhetoric has increasingly promoted the belief that Khmer culture ruled all of Southeast Asia — from Burma to Malaysia, and even Indonesia. They have claimed ownership over Borobudur and Bali, despite no historical record of Angkorian presence in those regions. More recently, Cambodia stirred controversy by claiming the capital of Vietnam — suggesting that modern Hanoi was a stolen Khmer city, and that its population are “foreign squatters.” This is not just revisionism — it is a mythological empire-building project, built not on history, but on colonial trauma and manipulated identity.
🏛️ A Legacy Rewritten by Empire Cambodia’s deep-rooted resentment toward Thailand is not organic — it was carefully constructed by French colonial authorities. To elevate Cambodia as a “noble protectorate” while suppressing Siamese influence, the French manufactured a historical narrative that: Erased Siam’s historical sovereignty over Cambodia Falsified records to glorify Angkor while vilifying Thailand Used global influence to demand the return of Siem Reap and Angkor Wat — stripping Thailand of both its spiritual and territorial connection to these sacred sites This is why the Musée Guimet in France once labeled Angkor Wat as “Siamese”, and why Thailand built a replica of Angkor Wat as a memorial — not of conquest, but of cultural theft through diplomatic trickery.
When memory is stolen, monuments become weapons. And when identity is fabricated, truth becomes dangerous.
The legend of Mae Nak Phra Khanong, a true Thai ghost tale deeply embedded in Bangkok’s culture, has been reproduced in Cambodia with a claimed Khmer origin.
Luk thung (Thai country music) and even Mor Lam (Isan-Laotian folk) have been paraded online as “Khmer folk roots.”
Even spoken Thai in dubbed TV shows is claimed to be “Khmer-accented Thai derived from ancient Khmer.”
A New Empire Backed by the State – Not with Soldiers, but Social Media Teams
What makes this trend deeply concerning is that it is not merely a grassroots nationalist movement. It is occurring at the governmental level:
Government-sponsored YouTube and TikTok channels targeting international audiences with polished content that distorts historical truths.
Networks of volunteers (possibly bots and paid editors) swarming Wikipedia, Reddit, Quora, and other platforms to steer the narrative consistently toward Cambodian supremacy.
This is information warfare — the colonization of public knowledge by altering global perception.
Conclusion: From Civilization to Cultural Warfare
The resurgence of the Khmer Empire is not marked by Angkorian temples or warrior kings, but by URLs, bots, and social media accounts. Rather than simply learning from Thailand, Cambodia seems determined to erase Thailand from its own culture — and insert Khmer supremacy in its place.
This is not merely a matter of credit. It is a battle over identity, truth, and cultural sovereignty.
If we let this digital empire expand unchecked, the world might one day believe that Thai food is Cambodian, and Thai culture is a Khmer revival. When in fact, the truth is quite the opposite.
— A message from the jungle to the concrete kingdoms of East Asia —
1. Introduction: When Disrespect Reveals Your Blind Spot
In conversations across borders, Southeast Asians often find themselves at the receiving end of disdainful glances or dismissive remarks from their East Asian neighbors. We’re called lazy, unstructured, poor, or backward. Some treat us like a factory floor, others as cheap labor, and many don’t even try to pronounce our countries’ names properly.
But here’s the question: Why do you look down on us? Is it because you truly understand us—or because you’ve never tried to?
This article isn’t just a rebuttal. It’s a call for understanding. It’s a reminder that the jungle you look down on is a place you might not even survive in. And it might just hold the power to define the future of Asia itself.
2. Background: We’re Not Inferior. We’re Just Not Like You.
🌬️ History & Power Structures
East Asia (China, Korea, Japan) has long been home to centralized empires. Dynasties ruled for centuries. Authority was sacred. Discipline and conformity were rewarded. The state was everything.
Southeast Asia, on the other hand, was a sea of smaller kingdoms, networks of trade, kinship, and cooperation. Power was fluid. Authority shifted. The jungle didn’t allow for rigid systems—it demanded flexibility.
🏔️ Geography Shapes Culture
You had fertile plains, four seasons, predictable weather. You could plan years ahead. You built walls, empires, order.
We had rainforests. Mountains. Monsoons. Disease. Unforgiving soil. Nature was wild, and survival meant adapting constantly. No season was guaranteed. So we grew comfortable with chaos, improvisation, and community support systems.
🧠 The Psychology of Environment
Your society trained minds to obey rules, aim for perfection, and maintain face. Our society trained minds to adapt quickly, sense danger, and find creative solutions in uncertainty.
Don’t call our system “unstructured.” It’s structured differently—for survival, not for show.
3. Welcome to the Jungle: The Red Ocean You Forgot
You think the Amazon is wild? Think again. The jungles of Southeast Asia are just as ancient, dense, and merciless. Parasites, tigers, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions—you name it.
And yet we built kingdoms in them.
Angkor Wat, Borobudur, Ayutthaya Empire, Srivijaya Empire and Toungoo Empire. Civilizations born from muddy waters and volcanic ash. Surviving and thriving not in spite of nature, but with it.
What takes extreme intelligence and organization to do in your plains, takes superhuman endurance to do in our jungles.
4. The ASEAN Balloon: Rising, Quietly but Surely
Today, Southeast Asia is not just growing. We’re glowing.
📱 Tech startups in Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines are scaling faster than many East Asian ones.
💡 Our strength is in adaptability, multilingualism, cultural empathy. We are the bridge between East and West, North and South.
You saw us as laborers. You didn’t see that we were also builders—of systems, ideas, and futures.
5. East Asia’s Crisis: Blindness in the Mirror
You face declining birth rates. Economic stagnation. Mental health crises. And yet, instead of looking around for new models, you cling to hierarchy and prestige.
If you keep looking down on us, you’ll miss the very future that could lift you up.
The ASEAN balloon is rising. Will you collaborate, or just spectate?
6. Conclusion: Stop the Arrogance. Start the Dialogue.
We’re not asking for your approval. We’re asking for your attention.
Southeast Asia doesn’t need to become East Asia to be respected. We are powerful in our own form, forged in rain, storm, and sun.
So the next time you see us through a lens of pity or scorn, look closer: We might be the most resilient people you’ll ever meet.
