The Emerald Triangle is the shared border region between

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

and

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

. It includes the area of Chong Bok (), a mountain pass through the Dangrek Range, which forms much of the natural boundary between Thailand and Cambodia. In Cambodia, the area is known as Mom Bei (). The ''Emerald Triangle'' name was coined in 2000 as a project for international cooperation to promote tourism and economic development in the area. The name, referring to the area's lush environment, is a play on the pre-existing Golden Triangle region between Laos, Thailand and Myanmar. In the broader sense, the Emerald Triangle covers areas in seven provinces among the three countries: Preah Vihear, Oddar Meanchey and Stung Treng in Cambodia, Salavan and Champasak in Laos, and

Ubon Ratchathani Ubon Ratchathani (, ) is one of the four main cities in Thailand's Isan region, alongside Nakhon Ratchasima (Khorat), Udon Thani, and Khon Kaen, collectively known as the "big four of Isan." Located on the Mun River in the southeastern Isan, ...

and

Sisaket Sisaket (, , ; Northern Khmer dialect, Northern Khmer: ) is a Thesaban#Town municipality, town municipality in Isan, northeast Thailand, incorporating Mueang Nuea and Mueang Tai Subdistricts and parts of Cham, Nong Khrok, Pho, Phon kha, and Ya P ...

in Thailand. In the narrow sense, it refers to the boundary

tripoint A triple border, tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geography, geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or Administrative division, subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints ...

between the three countries, which lies near the Chong Bok pass. The pass has an elevation of . From 1985 to 1987, during the

Third Indochina War The Third Indochina War was a series of interconnected military conflicts, mainly among the various communist factions over strategic influence in Indochina after Communist victory in South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia in 1975. The conflict pri ...

, the Chong Bok area was a site of armed clashes as Vietnamese forces made incursions into the Cambodian–Thai border region where the

Khmer Rouge The Khmer Rouge is the name that was popularly given to members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), and by extension to Democratic Kampuchea, which ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. The name was coined in the 1960s by Norodom Sihano ...

were based. Following the end of hostilities, a pavilion was built at the tripoint as a symbol of amity in 1993.

References

{{reflist Border tripoints Geography of Southeast Asia Cambodia–Thailand border Cambodia–Laos border Laos–Thailand border

See also

References