President Donald Trump announced on Friday that Thailand and Cambodia have agreed to “cease all shooting,” following a tense week of escalating clashes that threatened to destroy the ceasefire agreement he negotiated between the two countries in July.
Trump made the announcement on Friday after speaking by phone with both Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet.
Trump said on his Truth Social platform that he had a “very good conversation” with the two leaders about “the very unfortunate reawakening of their long-running war.”
“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,” he said.
Trump directly addressed the incident that sparked the latest round of hostilities, a landmine explosion in November that injured four Thai soldiers who were patrolling the border. Thailand demanded an apology for the explosion, but Cambodia denied responsibility for the mine.
“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,” Trump said, implying that he might have applied a bit of economic leverage to get both sides on board with restoring the ceasefire.
Thailand effectively withdrew from talks for a long-term peace agreement after the landmine incident. Last Sunday, each side blamed the other for an exchange of small arms and mortar fire across the border. The following day, Thailand began hitting Cambodian positions with airstrikes, vowing to “cripple Cambodia’s military capability for a long time to come, for the safety of our children and grandchildren.”
Cambodia, in turn, accused Thailand of being the aggressor in the border conflict and began moving more troops and weapons to the border for an intensified conflict. Thousands of civilians on both sides of the border have fled the conflict zone. Hun Manet’s father, influential parliamentary leader Hun Sen, accused Thailand’s Anutin of trying to start a war to improve his political position at home.
“It is my Honor to work with Anutin and Hun in resolving what could have evolved into a major War between two otherwise wonderful and prosperous Countries! I would also like to thank the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim, for his assistance in this very important matter,” Trump’s message on Friday concluded.
Anutin said earlier on Friday that he reached out to Trump for help in persuading Cambodia to end hostilities, and he said the call “went well,” but he did not mention a mutual ceasefire agreement.
“I explained to President Trump that we are not the aggressor against Cambodia, but we are retaliating,” Anutin said at a press conference on Friday.
“He wants a ceasefire. I told him to tell our friends — don’t just say a ceasefire, but they must tell the world that Cambodia will cease fire, withdraw its troops, remove all landmines it has planted. They must show us first,” he said.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim wrote several social media posts on Friday speaking of his concern over escalating hostilities between Thailand and Cambodia, including one in which he described speaking with Trump about the conflict, but he also came up short of announcing a ceasefire agreement.
”On the tensions along the Cambodia-Thailand border, I outlined Malaysia’s role in urging both countries to exercise restraint and return to dialogue through bilateral channels and ASEAN mechanisms,” Anwar wrote.
ASEAN is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a group whose member states include Cambodia, Thailand, and Malaysia. Malaysia assumed the rotating chairmanship of the organization on January 1, 2025.
“As ASEAN Chair, Malaysia will convene a Special ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting soon, in a way to assess the situation and support de-escalation measures,” he said.
Anwar concluded by expressing his appreciation for “the United States’ active engagement with ASEAN and the confidence placed in Malaysia as Chair of ASEAN 2025.”
Thai and Cambodian forces were still exchanging fire before Trump’s conversations with their leaders on Friday. Eyewitnesses reported intense gunfire and shelling across the border on Thursday night, suggesting the conflict was still escalating.
Also on Thursday evening, Prime Minister Anutin dissolved the parliament of Thailand by royal decree, citing the border conflict as one of the challenges that prompted the move. He said dissolving parliament was “a way to return political power to the people.”
It was also a way of thwarting any effort by parliament to remove Anutin from office with a vote of no confidence, something the opposition People’s Party was threatening to do on Friday.
The People’s Party, angered by what it saw as the failure of Anutin and his Bhumjaithai party to honor certain political commitments, also called on Anutin to dissolve parliament to pave the way for immediate elections.
“See you at the polling station,” the party taunted Anutin in a social media post.
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