UNITED STATES President Donald Trump has expressed confidence that tensions between Thailand and Cambodia are easing after he held separate telephone conversations with the leaders of both countries, announcing a renewed ceasefire despite continued fighting along the disputed border.
“I think we’ve done a very good job. It wasn’t in a good place before, but I think today we’ve solved it. Thailand and Cambodia are now in a good place,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
Trump said he had urged Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet to halt renewed clashes along the long-disputed frontier and announced that both sides had agreed to revive a ceasefire previously brokered with US assistance earlier this year.
However, reports from the border have cast doubt on the durability of the agreement. Fighting has continued in several areas, with Thai authorities confirming that air strikes and artillery attacks are still being carried out against Cambodian litary positions.
The conflict, which flared again this month, has entered its third week and has killed at least 80 people, while displacing more than 500,000 residents on both sides of the border. Villages and public infrastructure have suffered extensive damage.
The dispute centres on an unresolved 800-kilometre border drawn during the colonial era, a longstanding source of friction between the two neighbours.
AFP reported today that against this backdrop, defence officials from Thailand and Cambodia are scheduled to meet on Tuesday to discuss the resumption of a ceasefire, Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow said after an ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting in Kuala Lumpur.
Sihasak said a ceasefire agreement reached in October was rushed to allow it to be witnessed by Trump and lacked sufficient detail to ensure it would hold.
“A ceasefire cannot just be declared, it needs a discussion,” he said, adding that Thailand wanted a “true ceasefire” with a firm commitment from Cambodia and a clear implementation plan. He said de-mining efforts were also necessary for progress.
“I’ve noted that we were sometimes in a rush to do the [joint] declaration. Because the United States wanted the declaration signed in time by the visit of President Trump,” Sihasak said, referring to the deal that was paused in November.
“I mean the earliest, the earlier the better, but sometimes we really need to sit down ... so that things that we agree will really hold, really be respected,” he said.
Thailand and Cambodia have agreed to resume talks through their General Border Committee, a long-established bilateral mechanism, with Thailand proposing that the meeting be held along the border in the eastern Thai province of Chanthaburi.
The ASEAN meeting in Kuala Lumpur followed two weeks of intense fighting and came amid parallel diplomatic efforts by both the United States and China to help resolve the conflict, although neither has so far secured a lasting breakthrough.
Sihasak said neither Washington nor Beijing was involved in the decision for the two countries to resume discussions.
“This is about Thailand and Cambodia working things out,” AFP cited him saying.
While Trump has projected optimism over a diplomatic solution, regional analysts continue to warn that lasting stability will depend on sustained political commitment from both governments and consistent international support. - December 23, 2025
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