Donald Trump announced this Friday that Thailand and Cambodia are resuming the ceasefire agreement that they signed under its auspices last July and that they expanded—without much success, given what has been seen—in October. “[Las partes] have agreed to CEASE all shooting starting tonight and return to the original Peace Agreement,” he wrote on his platform, Truth Social. The White House tenant had just spoken by phone with the leaders of both countries after the fragile truce was blown up last week.
The reason? A landmine that killed several Thai soldiers in the disputed border area. A landmine that, according to Bangkok, Phnom Penh forces planted months ago. At least 20 people were killed in this week’s clashes, and another 260 were injured, according to the official casualty count. The number of displaced people exceeds 500,000 on both sides of the border.
“The roadside bomb that originally killed and wounded numerous Thai soldiers was an accident, but Thailand nonetheless retaliated with great force,” Trump writes. “Both countries are ready for PEACE and continued trade with the United States of America,” states the message from the president of the United States, who had to intercede again to end the “very unfortunate resurgence of their long-running war.”
The Republican president – who boasts to the point of exhaustion that he has resolved a whopping eight wars – also thanked the Prime Minister of Malaysia for the diplomatic assistance, Anwar Ibrahimdesigner of the peace agreement signed in July as president of the regional bloc of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
There are doubts, however, about the true intentions that guide the Thai prime minister, Anutin Charnvirakulwho has been in office on an interim basis since this Friday after calling early elections. There are not so many unknowns surrounding the Prime Minister of Cambodia, Hun Manet. Nor to his father, She Sencurrent president of the Senate and true strongman of the country. In Phnom Penh they seem more interested in stopping hostilities against an enemy that is clearly superior on a military level.
On the other hand, the Thai Charnvirakul, who appeared a few hours before Trump’s publication, did not mention to the press having reached an agreement with the American president to stop the fighting. “I explained to President Trump that we are not the aggressors against Cambodia, but that we are responding,” declared the conservative leader.
“He wants a ceasefire,” Charnvirakul explained. “I told him to tell our friends: don’t just say ‘ceasefire,’ but you must tell the world that Cambodia will cease fire, withdraw its troops and remove all the landmines it has placed. You must prove it to us first.”
The engineer and construction businessman, leader of the Thai Pride Party (Bhumjaithai or BJT), wrote on Facebook on Thursday night that he would like to “return power to the people.” Only a few hours later, he was presenting before the king Maha Vajiralongkorn his proposal to dissolve the National Assembly.
Analysts fear that Charnvirakul, a civilian through and through but who defends the establishment military officer who controls the country’s plans – and who has only accumulated three months of experience in power – intends to play the nationalist card to win elections that, according to the Constitution, must be held in the next 45 or 60 days.
Highlighting its pro-military and anti-Cambodian profile could be a winning trick to beat the People’s Party at the polls, the progressive matrix formation that inherited the acronym of the dissolved Avanzar Party, clear winner of the last 2023 elections, although unable to govern due to the veto of the establishment conservative.