CEBU/BANGKOK (Bloomberg): Thailand and Cambodia pledged to rebuild bilateral relations after long-simmering tensions erupted into deadly clashes last year, causing diplomatic ties between the Southeast Asian neighbors to be downgraded.
The two countries’ foreign ministers will work together on a list of "practical, confidence-building measures starting with issues where we have common ground and can be implemented immediately,” Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said in a statement after meeting his Cambodian counterpart at a regional summit hosted by the Philippines. Anutin did not elaborate on what those measures would entail.
Cambodian Premier Hun Manet said the meeting focused on de-escalation at the countries’ shared borders and vital trade routes, which have remained shut since the two sides engaged in direct armed confrontation last year, which saw the use of artillery fire, airstrikes and anti-personnel mines.
"Our discussions focused on de-escalation and trust-building measures to restore and consolidate a functioning framework for lasting peace and re-normalized relations,” he said in a statement.
The clashes were the deadliest in recent history and part of a broader disagreement with origins stretching back more than a century and involving parts of a region known as the Emerald Triangle, where the boundaries of Thailand, Cambodia and Laos meet.
A ceasefire agreement was reached in Malaysia after a push by US President Donald Trump, who threatened to halt trade deals with Thailand and Cambodia as long as the fighting continued. Sporadic clashes still took place after the truce, but both countries have said the situation is largely calm.
Still, disagreements persist over land and maritime boundaries and Anutin said he proposed ways to address the issue "in the spirit of good neighbourliness.”
Meanwhile, Hun Manet called for "sovereignty, territorial integrity, and international boundary to be respected in accordance with international law and existing treaties and agreements.”
The two leaders met on Thursday on the sidelines of the annual summit of the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in the Philippines, which is chairing the 11-nation bloc this year. The host country’s President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said both leaders showed a "clear, fervent belief that it is time for peace and no longer time for war.”
--With assistance from Cliff Venzon and Patpicha Tanakasempipat. -- ©2026 Bloomberg L.P.
