Bangladesh, July 27 -- The prospect of peace between Thailand and Cambodia remains tenuous despite both nations publicly agreeing to hold ceasefire talks after mounting pressure from US President Donald Trump. The recent escalation of hostilities between the two Southeast Asian neighbors has left over 30 people dead and tens of thousands displaced. Trumps unusual intervention-delivered via his social media platform Truth Social-appears to have spurred initial diplomatic movement, but the situation on the ground suggests that tensions remain dangerously high.

At the heart of the conflict is a decades-long territorial dispute rooted in colonial-era cartography. An early 20th-century map created during French colonial rule left parts of the...