Thai-Cambodia conflict: Anwar urges both countries to seek peace during special Dec 22 ASEAN talks
The meeting, which will be chaired by Malaysia, will provide an opportunity for both sides to directly negotiate and resolve their differences peacefully, Anwar said.
Malaysia's Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim speaks as he attends a business and investment conference, in Kuala Lumpur on Oct 6, 2025. (File photo: Reuters/Hasnoor Hussain/Pool)
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KUALA LUMPUR: Thailand and Cambodia must “uphold the spirit of dialogue, wisdom and mutual respect” to ease tensions and safeguard regional peace and stability, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Sunday (Dec 21), ahead of a special Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers’ meeting to address the two neighbours’ ongoing conflict.
Writing on his official Facebook page, Anwar said he has stressed this to both Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and his Thai counterpart Anutin Charnvirakul when he spoke to them on the best way forward in tackling the border dispute.
Anwar added that Monday's meeting would provide an opportunity for both sides to directly negotiate and resolve their differences peacefully.
“Tomorrow’s ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting will serve as an appropriate and constructive platform for the two countries to engage in open negotiations, resolve their differences peacefully, and work towards a just and lasting solution,” Anwar said.
Malaysia is the current ASEAN chair, a role the Philippines will take over in January.
Renewed fighting between the Southeast Asian neighbours this month has killed at least 22 people in Thailand and 19 in Cambodia, according to officials.
Earlier on Sunday, Cambodia said more than half a million Cambodians were displaced from their homes in recent weeks, following deadly border clashes with Thailand.
“At present, more than half a million Cambodian people, including women and children, are suffering severe hardship due to forced displacement from their homes and schools to escape artillery shells, rockets, and aerial bombardments carried out by Thailand's F-16 aircraft,” the Interior Ministry in Phnom Penh said, revealing the total number of people evacuated as 518,611.
Around 400,000 people have been displaced in Thailand due to the reignited border conflict, government officials in Bangkok previously said.
The long-standing conflict stems from a territorial dispute over the colonial-era demarcation of the Thai-Cambodian border and a smattering of ancient temple ruins situated on the frontier.
Dozens were killed when fighting broke out in July. Each side has blamed the other for instigating the fresh fighting and traded accusations of attacks on civilians.
China, along with the United Nations, European Union and United States officials have all called for a ceasefire.
The US and China are pushing separately for a ceasefire between Thailand and Cambodia,
ahead of a special meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers next week on a border conflict that has killed at least 60 and displaced more than half a million people. 鶹's Tan Yew Guan reports.
Chaired by Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan, Monday’s special meeting will serve as a follow-up to the previous agreement reached by Anwar and his Thai and Cambodian counterparts on Dec 11.
“It will provide a platform for ASEAN foreign ministers to exchange views on the current situation between Cambodia and Thailand,” said a Malaysian foreign ministry statement that was released separately on Sunday.
The special meeting will also “consider possible steps” that ASEAN members “may take in support of the ongoing efforts towards de-escalation and cessation of hostilities in the interest of peace and stability in the wider region”, the statement said.
“Malaysia remains firmly committed to promoting constructive dialogues in the ASEAN spirit,” it added.
“And in that respect, facilitating both sides to continue upholding the principles of international law, good neighbourly relations and peaceful co-existence, as well as bilateral and multilateral cooperation in the pursuit of a peaceful, just and lasting settlement to any dispute.”
