The government of Pnompenh has suddenly decided to break diplomatic relations with that of Bangkok. This gesture concludes a long quarrel which had scarcely broken out during the period of the French protectorate of Cambodia.

Siam, now Thailand, used to consider Cambodia a vassal state, and for a long time all the diplomatic latitude that was allowed the Kings of Cambodia by their two powerful neighbors, the Emperor of Annam and the King of Siam, was the privilege of acknowledging themselves, in turn, as proteges of the one in order to fight the other.