KUALA LUMPUR, DEC 22 – Thailand’s top diplomat said on Monday that Cambodia had agreed to hold border talks this week, after a regional meeting in Malaysia aimed at halting deadly clashes between the Southeast Asian neighbours.
Renewed fighting this month, which shattered a previous truce, has killed at least 23 people in Thailand and 20 in Cambodia, and displaced more than 900,000 on both sides, officials said.
Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow announced the planned bilateral parley at the end of a meeting with his counterparts from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Cambodia is also a member.
He told reporters in Kuala Lumpur that “the discussion will be held in the framework of the JBC, Joint Boundary Committee, which is already existing”, and take place on Wednesday, which was “proposed by the Cambodian side”.
There was no immediate comment from Phnom Penh.
Sihasak cautioned that the upcoming meeting may not immediately produce a truce. “Our position is a ceasefire does not come with an announcement, but must come from actions,” he said.
Monday’s meeting was convened by ASEAN chair Malaysia, which in late October hosted a summit where a truce declaration was signed under the auspices of US President Donald Trump.
Sihasak said that the October declaration was rushed.
“The United States wanted the declaration signed in time by the visit of President Trump,” he said.
“Sometimes we really need to sit down and thrash things out so that things that we agree will really hold, really be respected.”
