Hours after Southeast Asian foreign ministers met in Kuala Lumpur to rescue a failing ceasefire, Cambodia’s Ministry of Defence said Thai fighter jets were bombing parts of Siem Reap and Preah Vihear provinces. The Thai army told a different story: Cambodia had fired dozens of rockets into Thailand, and the air force hit two Cambodian military targets in response.
That was the backdrop to Monday’s announcement by Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow. Thailand and Cambodia, he said, would send defence officials to a meeting on Wednesday in Thailand’s Chanthaburi, under an existing bilateral border committee.
A truce that did not hold
Malaysia, which chairs the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and U.S. President Donald Trump had brokered the original truce after fighting broke out in July. It has since collapsed. The two armies now trade rocket and artillery fire every day along their 817km (508-mile) land border, at points running from forested country near Laos to the coastal provinces on the Gulf of Thailand.
Sihasak did not promise a quick result. “Our position is a ceasefire does not come with an announcement, but must come from actions,” he said. His ministry said the militaries would “discuss implementation, related steps and verification of the ceasefire in detail”.
Cambodia’s Ministry of Interior struck a more hopeful note despite the shelling. It said it remained “optimistic that the Thai side will demonstrate sincerity” in carrying out a ceasefire.
ASEAN’s appeal
After the Kuala Lumpur meeting, ASEAN urged both governments to show “maximum restraint and take immediate steps towards the cessation of all forms of hostilities”. It also asked them to “restore mutual trust and confidence, and to return to dialogue”.
The bloc’s members voiced concern about the continuing conflict as well. They called on both sides to let civilians in the affected border areas go back to their homes “without obstruction and in safety and dignity”.
