Cambodia and Thailand will meet in Malaysia later today for peace talks after days of deadly clashes on their disputed border have sent civilians scrambling for safety and relations between the two neighbours cratering.
The meeting is set to take place at 3pm local time (5pm AEST) at the Prime Minister’s Office in Kuala Lumpur, according to a Thai government statement.
Fighting between the two continued over the weekend even after US President Donald Trump announced the two South-East Asian nations had agreed to ceasefire talks. Cambodian authorities accused the Thai military of striking at least two locations in the early hours of Monday morning.
Australians are now being warned not to go within 50 kilometres of the Thailand-Cambodia border due to the ongoing conflict.
The dispute over their border goes back decades.
At least 35 people have been killed, over 200 injured, and more than 200,000 displaced since fighting broke out on Thursday, according to a CNN tally of figures from Thai and Cambodian officials.
Hopes for peace are now focused on whether the upcoming talks in Malaysia will provide a breakthrough.
US State Department officials will be on the ground today to assist with the negotiations, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday evening.
“Cambodia and Thailand are scheduled to begin high-level talks in Malaysia shortly in hopes of achieving an immediate ceasefire,” Rubio said in a statement.
He added that he and President Donald Trump “remain engaged with our respective counterparts for each country and are monitoring the situation very closely. We want this conflict to end as soon as possible”.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet confirmed he will attend the meeting in Kuala Lumpur, which he said was co-organised by the US, with the participation of China.
The Thai government said acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai will also attend the meeting, which “is intended to listen to all proposals that could contribute to restoring peace.”
“The Thai Government remains committed to defending the nation’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Every square inch of it,” Thailand’s government spokesman Jirayu Houngsub said, adding that the country will not negotiate on which maps are used during ceasefire negotiations.
Earlier on Sunday, after Trump’s announcement, Thailand’s government said it was “not ready” to stop military operations and accused Cambodia of continuing to fire heavy artillery at civilian areas in its Surin province, on the border, and several other areas.
“Any cessation of hostilities cannot be reached” while Cambodia is “repeatedly violating the basic principles of human rights and humanitarian law,” Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
Trump said he had warned the Thai and Cambodian leaders that he would not make trade deals with either country if the deadly border conflict continues.
Phumtham said on Sunday that his country does not want a third country to mediate but was “thankful” for Trump’s “concern.”
Thailand hit several locations in Cambodia with drones, rockets and cluster bombs early on Monday morning local time, a spokesperson for Cambodia’s defence ministry told reporters.
Some of the projectiles launched by Thailand over the weekend landed near the ancient Preah Vihear temple, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Cambodia’s northern province of the same name, according to Maly Socheata.
The temple complex has been at the centre of previous clashes between the two nations.
“I have written to UNESCO, and I would like to appeal to all international communities, and the United Nations: please help (us) take good care, this is a cultural heritage,” Cambodia’s Minister of Culture Phoeurng Sackona told CNN on Sunday.
“Please help demand the ceasefire.”
Cambodia slammed what it said were Thailand’s “deliberate and premeditated acts of aggression”.
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Those acts “have occurred despite ongoing efforts led by President Donald Trump to seek a ceasefire, efforts that have been publicly and clearly supported by Hun Manet, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia,” Maly Socheata said.
Thailand has also accused Cambodia of continuing to fire across the border. The state-run National Broadcasting Services of Thailand (NBT) reported that Cambodian forces had fired artillery into the Thai border province of Surin, west of Preah Vihear, damaging residential homes.
Thai forces were responding, it reported.
Thailand on Sunday said 22 people have been killed since hostilities began, 14 of whom are civilians.
There are more than 139,000 from seven provinces displaced and staying in government shelters, according to the Thai army.
Cambodia said on Saturday that in Oddar Meanchey province, which borders Thailand’s Surin, 13 people had been killed, including eight civilians, and 50 wounded.
At least 80,000 people in Cambodia have been displaced by the fighting, according to the defence ministry. Cambodian authorities have not released updated casualty figures on Sunday.
The strongman and the telecoms billionaire
Ties between Thailand and Cambodia have previously been close, thanks partly to the relationship between two former leaders – Cambodian strongman Hun Sen and Thailand’s telecoms billionaire and former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Neither man holds office, but both remain hugely influential in their respective countries.
Recent tension at the border had been simmering since a clash in May, in which a Cambodian soldier was killed.
Relations soured further following the release of a leaked phone call between Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra – Thaksin’s daughter – and Cambodia’s Hun Sen.
In the call, Paetongtarn could be heard calling Hun Sen “uncle” and appeared to criticise her own army’s actions in the border dispute.
Paetongtarn’s comments struck a nerve in Thailand, and opponents accused her of compromising the country’s national interests.
She defended her actions but was later suspended by the Constitutional Court pending an ethics review and could face dismissal.
Hun Sen has since taken to Facebook posting scathing remarks against Thaksin, accusing him of “resorting to war, the ultimate consequence of which will be the suffering of the people.”
Thaksin, in a post on X, accused Hun Sen of ordering Cambodian troops to fire into Thai territory.
President Trump said on Saturday that he had spoken with both the Cambodian Prime Minister and the acting Thai Prime Minister in his efforts to restore peace.
“They have agreed to immediately meet and quickly work out a Ceasefire and, ultimately, PEACE!” Trump wrote on Truth Social in a series of posts outlining his diplomatic efforts, but offering no details on the negotiations.
“They are also looking to get back to the ‘Trading Table’ with the United States, which we think is inappropriate to do until such time as the fighting STOPS,” Trump wrote.
Earlier this month, Trump wrote letters to Thailand and Cambodia threatening a 36 per cent tariff on most of their exports to the US, starting August 1.
Cambodia and Thailand both delivered substantial offers to their US counterparts in an effort to move to the front of the line for a trade agreement, officials said at the time.
In the early hours of Sunday morning local time, Hun Manet thanked Trump and said that Cambodia agreed with “the proposal for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire between the two armed forces.”
He added that he had previously agreed to a ceasefire proposal from Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
A statement from Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs was more measured, saying it wished to see “sincere intention from the Cambodian side” – but that Phumtham had also “requested President Trump to convey …that Thailand wants to convene a bilateral dialogue as soon as possible to bring forth measures and procedures for the ceasefire and the eventual peaceful resolution of the conflict.”
Bangkok and Phnom Penh have been fighting over territory disputed since colonial power France drew the border between them more than a century ago.
The renewed deadly conflict pits longtime US ally Thailand, with decades of experience, against Cambodia’s relatively young armed force, which has close ties to China.
The United Nations has condemned the violence, with Secretary General António Guterres urging in a post on X for “both sides to immediately agree to a ceasefire and to address any issues through dialogue.”
