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Thailand and Cambodia on Saturday signed a ceasefire agreement to end weeks of armed combat along their border over competing claims to territory. It took effect at noon local time.
In addition to ending fighting, the agreement calls for no further military movements and no violations of either side’s airspace for military purposes.
Only Thailand had employed airstrikes in the fighting, hitting sites in Cambodia as recently as Saturday morning, according to Cambodia’s Defence Ministry.
Another major clause calls for Thailand — “after the ceasefire has been fully maintained for 72 hours” — to repatriate 18 Cambodian soldiers it has held as prisoners since earlier fighting in July. Their release has been a major demand of the Cambodian side.
It says the two sides are committed to an earlier ceasefire that ended five days of fighting in July and followup agreements.
As fighting continues to rage along the border of Thailand and Cambodia, residents in B.C. with connections to the two countries are calling for peace. Some with relatives back home went to a rally in Vancouver on Sunday. As the CBC’s Janella Hamilton reports, they say the conflict has brought up trauma going back decades.
China has welcomed the joint ceasefire statement and said its foreign minister would meet his counterparts from both countries, according to a notice posted on the Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry’s website late Saturday.
The ministry said the agreement shows dialogue and consultation were practical and effective ways to resolve complex disputes.
Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi will meet Cambodian counterpart Prak Sokhonn and Thailand’s Sihasak Phuangketkeow in southwestern Yunnan province Sunday and Monday, the ministry said, adding that military representatives from all three countries would also attend.
China said it was willing to continue providing a platform and facilitating more substantive and detailed communication between Cambodia and Thailand.
“China will play a constructive role in its own way to help Cambodia and Thailand consolidate the ceasefire, resume exchanges, rebuild political mutual trust, achieve a turnaround in relations and maintain regional peace,” the ministry said.
Malaysia, U.S. played role in 1st ceasefire
The original July ceasefire was brokered by Malaysia and pushed through by pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, who threatened to withhold trade privileges unless Thailand and Cambodia agreed.
It was formalized in more detail in October at a regional meeting in Malaysia that Trump attended.
Despite those deals, the two countries carried on a bitter propaganda war and minor cross-border violence continued, escalating in early December to widespread heavy fighting.