Hundreds rally for peace in Cambodia at California Capitol. 'We don't want any war'

Camryn Dadey, The Sacramento Bee on Jan 11, 2026

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Chants of peace rang out around the California Capitol Sunday as hundreds of people rallied in support of Cambodia amid tensions with neighboring country Thailand.

The two countries have clashed in a border dispute, causing dozens of civilian and military deaths and forcing tens of thousands of civilians on both sides to evacuate.

Sovanna Koeurt, executive director of Asian Pacific Self-Development And Residential Association (APSARA) in Stockton, said she came to the rally because she wanted the world to know they “want peace for our young generation.”

Stockton is home to the fifth-largest Cambodian refugee population in the United States.

Koeurt also said the countries rely on their relationship to each other, especially their economic ties.

“We don’t want any war, any fighting, because there’s no gain,” Koeurt, 71, said. “We just want peace and to be friends, so that we can live peacefully with the neighbor like before.”

Despite a ceasefire brokered by Malaysia and encouraged by the United States and President Donald Trump last year, fighting resumed in December. Another ceasefire was signed Dec. 27.

The dispute largely originates from a 1907 map created when Cambodia was under French colonial rule, and Thailand asserts the map is inaccurate. Cambodia was awarded sovereignty over the disputed area, including the 1,000-year-old Preah Vihear temple, in 1962 by the International Court of Justice. That ruling was reaffirmed in 2013.

Last year also marked 50 years since the start of the Cambodian genocide, in which an estimated 1.5 million to 2 million people were killed by the Khmer Rouge.

Danny Kim, a rally attendee, said he was a “survivor of the Khmer Rouge regime.”

“I lived in the Khmer Rouge camp for three years, eight months and 20 days, and escaped,” Kim, 51, said.

He came to the United States as a refugee when he was 12 years old and said the current fighting brought back “bitter memories.”

Pholy Meas, a teacher in Modesto, said she also lived through the Khmer Rouge regime.

“I was a survivor in a genocide,” Meas, 56, said. “It’s 2025, and I just can’t believe that this is happening in my country.”

Meas said she came to the rally because she felt there needed to be more awareness around the conflict.

“When I’m at the grocery store, the doctor’s office, some of them don’t know what’s going on,” Meas said. “I don’t feel that the world knows a lot about the war between Cambodia and Thailand.”

Kim, a board member for the Fresno Cambodian Buddhist Society, came with other members to call for California and United States lawmakers to help negotiate peace between the two countries.

“We’re concerned about both sides, the Thai civilians and the Cambodian civilians,” Kim said. “We’re not asking the Thai to give up any land. We just want our land back.”

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