In a notable diplomatic move, President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he had effectively calmed tensions between Cambodia and Thailand, preserving a fragile U.S.-facilitated ceasefire that was in danger of collapsing.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One en route to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Trump proudly declared, “I stopped a war just today.” He attributed this achievement to his readiness to impose significant tariffs on various countries, a strategy he believes strengthens the U.S.’s trade and diplomatic influence.
The president shared that he had engaged in phone conversations with the prime ministers of both nations, noting, “They’re doing great. They were not doing great.” These discussions left him confident that the situation was stabilizing, expressing optimism by saying, “I think they’re going to be fine.”
The conflict stems from territorial disputes over the precise demarcation of the border between these Southeast Asian neighbors, which had escalated into five days of armed clashes in late July, resulting in numerous casualties among soldiers and civilians.
To mediate this tension, Trump threatened to revoke trade privileges from Cambodia and Thailand unless hostilities ceased. This ultimatum played a pivotal role in brokering a temporary cessation of the conflict. The agreement was further solidified at the ASEAN summit in Malaysia, where Trump reaffirmed the terms of the ceasefire in greater detail.
Trump threatened to withhold trade privileges from the two countries unless they stopped fighting, helping to broker a temporary halt to the conflict. The pact was then reaffirmed in greater detail last month, when Trump attended an Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit meeting in Malaysia.
The ceasefire seemed on the verge of falling apart this week, however, when Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said a villager was killed after shooting broke out along his country’s border with Thailand.
Manet said one civilian was killed and three others wounded when Thai troops opened fire on civilians residing in the area of Prey Chan in Cambodia’s northwestern province of Banteay Meanchey. The same village was the site of a violent but not lethal confrontation in September between Thai security personnel and Cambodian villagers.
The Thai military said that the latest incident began when Cambodian soldiers allegedly fired into a district in Thailand’s eastern province of Sa Kaeo. No Thai casualties were reported.
Thailand and Cambodia have a history of enmity going back centuries, when they were warring empires. Their competing territorial claims stem largely from a 1907 map drawn when Cambodia was under French colonial rule, which Thailand has argued is inaccurate.
The ceasefire does not spell out a path to resolve the underlying basis of the dispute, the longstanding differences over where the border should run.
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Megerian reported from aboard Air Force One.
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