Michael George DeSombre, US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, meets Prime Minister Hun Manet at the Cambodian Peace Palace on Saturday. - Photo: Khmer Times
BANGKOK/PHNOM PENH (Bloomberg): The US has pledged funding to help strengthen the ceasefire between Thailand and Cambodia as it seeks to deepen engagement in a conflict where China has also sought to play mediator.
A senior US envoy said he was confident a ceasefire would hold between Cambodia and Thailand, alloting $45 million to stabilize their troubled border, clear munitions and combat transnational crime.
Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Michael DeSombre told reporters in Bangkok on Friday that the US is providing $15 million for border stabilization, $10 million for demining and unexploded ordnance clearance, and $20 million for initiatives to help both countries combat scam operations and drug trafficking.
The Southeast Asian neighbors reached a truce on Dec. 27, following an earlier ceasefire agreed in late July that collapsed. It has largely held despite mutual accusations of violations along the border.
"The fact that there was a breakdown and resurgence of fighting and ultimately a resolution is part of the process,” he said. DeSombre met Thai officials to discuss the peace process and will be in Phnom Penh on Saturday for similar discussions.
The dispute has seen the US and China compete to play an instrumental role in brokering peace, in a region where Beijing’s influence is growing.
China has cast itself as a neutral mediator, hosting trilateral talks with the clashing sides last week and urging restraint.
Washington meanwhile has stepped up engagement amid concerns that renewed fighting could disrupt trade and regional stability. The diplomatic push has coincided with warnings from US President Donald Trump - who brokered the first ceasefire in July - that Washington could impose tariffs on both countries if fighting resumes.
DeSombre, a former US ambassador to Thailand, on Friday downplayed China’s part in the process as minor compared with the US and instead said that he sees the Association of Southeast Asian Nations as playing an "increasingly valuable role.”
Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn in an interview in Phnom Penh however credited China for their support.
"China is really interested in peace in Southeast Asia and in peace between two countries that are equal friends of China,” he said.
While large-scale fighting has stopped, Thai forces have erected barriers and placed shipping containers in contested areas, preventing villagers from returning home, Sokhonn added during the interview, his first with international media since the clashes broke out. More than 200,000 people remain internally displaced, he said.
"I consider it as a matter of international concern because it’s related to sovereignty, to territorial integrity, and even beyond that to regional peace,” he said.
"We are committed to maintain to preserve the ceasefire for many reasons and we wish to call that Thailand share the same commitment to preserve and to respect and to implement the ceasefire.”
The resolution of the dispute has grown more urgent as crime syndicates running multi-billion-dollar scams operations across the region proliferate.
Before the agreement, Thailand’s army recast the fighting as a battle against scam centers operating in Cambodia, adding a new justification for bombing runs across the border.
--With assistance from Claire Jiao. -- ©2026 Bloomberg L.P.
