Despite its abandonment for many centuries, Angkor Wat is now firmly entrenched as Cambodia's national symbol, and occupies the center of the Cambodian flag. In 2003, it also touched off one of those incredibly stupid international incidents that seem to happen all the time in Asia. A Thai actress was reported to have said that Angkor Wat actually belongs to Thailand. Now, of course she said no such thing as everyone eventually agreed, and even if she had, she's hardly in a position to set Thai foreign policy. All it took was the rumor that this was said, and the Cambodians went wild, burning down Thai owned banks, hotels and other businesses in Phnom Penh, the capital, laying seige to the embassy while mobs wandered the streets looking for Thais to lynch. The Thai navy had to come in to rescue the remaining Thais and for a while it looked like war would erupt, all because of a fake rumor of a comment by an actress.