U.S. President Donald Trump. File
| Photo Credit: AP
U.S. President Donald Trump will attend the ceremonial signing of a peace agreement between Thailand and Cambodia at an upcoming summit of Southeast Asian nations, the Foreign Minister of host Malaysia said on Tuesday (October 14, 2025).
Tensions between Thailand and Cambodia erupted in July 2025 into the deadliest military clashes in decades, killing more than 40 people and forcing around 3,00,000 to flee their homes.
The two sides agreed to a ceasefire — brokered in part by Mr. Trump — after five days of fighting and have since repeatedly traded accusations of truce violations.
Mr. Trump “is looking forward to witness the Thailand-Cambodia peace deal,” Mohamad Hasan, Malaysian Minister of Foreign Affairs, told reporters at a news conference in Kuala Lumpur.
Mr. Hasan said the U.S. leader would visit Malaysia on October 26 to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in the Malaysian capital from October 26-28.
He said Malaysia and the United States would serve as facilitators to “see a more extensive ceasefire deal” between Thailand and Cambodia, which will require “both sides to remove all landmines and withdraw their military machinery from their borders”.
“We hope that both parties can fulfil these conditions and during the ASEAN summit a declaration can be signed. We can call it the Kuala Lumpur Declaration or the Kuala Lumpur Accord. We want to make sure that these two neighbouring countries can come together to make peace and also implement their ceasefire,” Mr. Hasan added.
Thai Government spokesman Siripong Angkasakulkiat told reporters Bangkok was aware the United States was giving the dispute priority. “But what Cambodia has to do first, before we accept the U.S. offer, is the four points that we have raised,” he said.
Thailand Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul s said on Thursday (October 9) that he had received a letter from Mr. Trump, with the U.S. leader saying he wanted to see the two neighbours resolve tensions.
Mr. Charnvirakul also said that Thailand was ready to negotiate if Cambodia withdrew heavy weapons from border areas, removed landmines, cracked down on internet scammers and relocated its citizens from borderlands Thailand considers its own.
Cambodia has said its nationals have lived in the disputed border villages for decades.
Mr. Charnvirakul’s remarks came a day after the Thai Premier appeared to brush off a continued role for Mr. Trump — who has been chasing a Nobel Peace Prize — in any further negotiations between the two nations aimed at solving their border dispute.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet has said he nominated Mr. Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize, crediting him with “innovative diplomacy” that ended the military clashes.
Published – October 14, 2025 03:40 pm IST
