Thailand And Cambodia Sign Historic Peace Deal In Presence Of Donald Trump

Thailand and Cambodia on Sunday signed a landmark peace agreement, formally ending years of intermittent border clashes that have strained relations between the two Southeast Asian neighbours. The accord, brokered by US President Donald Trump, was signed on the sidelines of the ASEAN-47 summit in Kuala Lumpur and hailed as a “turning point” in regional diplomacy.

The agreement follows a fragile ceasefire declared earlier this year after violent skirmishes erupted in July along the disputed Preah Vihear border area — a long-simmering flashpoint between the two nations. The latest round of hostilities claimed more than 30 lives and displaced thousands of civilians on both sides.

Under the terms of the peace deal, both countries will withdraw troops and heavy artillery from conflict zones, restore civilian access to affected villages, and establish a joint border commission to oversee demarcation and development. Thailand has also agreed to release Cambodian prisoners captured during recent clashes, while Cambodia will scale down its military presence near contested temples and trade routes.

Trump, who facilitated the negotiations over several weeks, described the signing as “a victory for peace and stability in Asia.” Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet called the deal “a moment of reconciliation and renewal,” while Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said it “lays the foundation for lasting peace and prosperity.”

The Thailand–Cambodia conflict has deep historical roots. Tensions over border demarcation trace back to French colonial rule in Indochina, when maps drawn in the early 1900s left large stretches of the frontier ambiguous. The Preah Vihear Temple, an 11th-century Khmer shrine perched atop a cliff along the border, became a symbolic and strategic flashpoint. In 1962, the International Court of Justice awarded the temple to Cambodia, but surrounding areas remained disputed — leading to repeated flare-ups, notably in 2008, 2011, and 2018, when artillery exchanges caused civilian casualties and forced mass evacuations.

The newly signed accord is the most comprehensive attempt yet to resolve the decades-old dispute. It includes provisions for economic cooperation, joint tourism projects, and demining operations in border zones that have remained hazardous since past conflicts. A neutral monitoring team drawn from ASEAN member states will oversee the implementation of the agreement.

Regional observers have described the peace deal as a diplomatic breakthrough that could reinvigorate cross-border trade and improve ASEAN cohesion amid rising global tensions. However, analysts caution that the success of the accord will depend on continued political will in both Bangkok and Phnom Penh, as well as the careful management of nationalist sentiment that has long complicated relations between the two nations.

The coming months will see both governments tasked with turning this symbolic peace into practical change — rebuilding trust, reopening border markets, and ensuring that decades of hostility finally give way to a sustainable peace.