WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said that the leaders of Thailand and Cambodia have agreed to halt renewed fighting along their border and return to a peace agreement he helped broker, following days of deadly clashes that displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians.
Trump said his “very good conversation” with Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet led to the breakthrough.
“They have agreed to cease all shooting effective this evening, and go back to the original peace accord made with me, and them, with the help of the Great Prime Minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
“The roadside bomb that originally killed and wounded numerous Thai soldiers was an accident, but Thailand nevertheless retaliated very strongly. Both countries are ready for peace and continued trade with the United States of America. It is my honor to work with Anutin and Hun in resolving what could have evolved into a major war,” he added.
The announcement comes as border clashes between Thailand and Cambodia have displaced around 700,000 people on both sides of the frontier, with the death toll climbing to 23 since Monday, according to officials and local media.
The two neighbours signed a peace deal in October in Kuala Lumpur, in the presence of Trump and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. The agreement was later suspended after Thai soldiers were seriously injured in a landmine explosion in a border province.
Thailand and Cambodia have a long-running border dispute that has triggered repeated clashes, including in July, when at least 48 people were killed.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who holds the rotating chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2025, said he discussed the Cambodia–Thailand conflict with Trump, along with bilateral relations and broader global issues of mutual concern.
Kuala Lumpur is ready to “support efforts to de-escalate the situation, protect civilians, and help restore regional stability, in line with ASEAN’s spirit of good neighbourliness,” Anwar said in a statement shared on the US social media platform Facebook.
He also said that Malaysia would soon convene a Special ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting “to assess the situation and support de-escalation measures.”
