Southeast Asia bloc meets to press Thailand, Cambodia on truce

The Association of Southeast Asian (Asean) foreign ministers are set to meet Monday in Malaysia for crisis talks aimed at halting deadly border clashes between Thailand and Cambodia, which pressed on despite regional and international diplomacy.

Renewed fighting between the two neighbours this month has killed at least 22 people in Thailand and 19 in Cambodia, and displaced more than 900,000 on both sides, officials said.

Malaysia, which holds the chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), expressed hope that the talks in Kuala Lumpur would help achieve a lasting ceasefire between the two countries, both members of the regional bloc.

"Our duty is to present the facts, but more importantly, to press upon them that it is imperative for them to secure peace," Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said last week, adding that he was "cautiously optimistic".

The reignited violence shattered a fragile truce reached after five days of clashes in July, with US, Chinese and Malaysian mediation.

In October, US President Donald Trump backed a follow-on joint declaration, touting new trade deals after they agreed in Kuala Lumpur to prolong their truce.

Each side has blamed the other for instigating the clashes, claiming self-defence and trading accusations of attacks on civilians.

On Sunday, both Cambodia and Thailand said Monday's gathering could help de-escalate tensions. Both governments have confirmed they would send their top diplomats to the meeting.

Thai foreign ministry spokeswoman Maratee Nalita Andamo called it "an important opportunity for both sides".

Cambodia's foreign ministry said the talks aimed to restore "peace, stability and good neighbourly relations".

'Dialogue'

"Cambodia will reaffirm its firm position of resolving differences and disputes through all peaceful means, dialogue and diplomacy," Phnom Penh added.

Maratee reiterated Bangkok's earlier conditions for negotiations, including a demand that Cambodia be first to announce a truce, and cooperate in de-mining efforts at the border.

Those conditions, the spokeswoman told reporters, "will guide our interaction in the discussions tomorrow in Kuala Lumpur".

The Thai government gave no guarantee that the meeting would produce a truce, saying in a statement that a "ceasefire can only be achieved when it is based primarily on the Thai military's assessment of the situation on the ground".

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week Washington hoped for a new ceasefire by Tuesday.

Trump, who helped broker an earlier truce, claimed this month that Thailand and Cambodia had agreed to halt the fighting.

But Bangkok denied any such truce existed, with clashes continuing for two weeks and spreading to nearly all border provinces on both sides of the frontier.

The conflict stems from a territorial dispute over the colonial-era demarcation of their 800-kilometre (500-mile) border and a smattering of ancient temple ruins situated on the frontier.