Thailand and Cambodia agree to ‘unconditional’ ceasefire

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, center, speaks during a press conference next to Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Manet, left, and Thailand’s acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai in Putrajaya, Malaysia on July 28, 2025. (AP)
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Updated 28 July 2025
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Thailand and Cambodia agree to ‘unconditional’ ceasefire

  • Malaysian PM Anwar Ibrahim invited leaders of the two feuding ASEAN members to a dialogue to resolve their dispute
  • Earlier, President Trump warned that the hostilities could hamper implementation of US trade pacts with either country

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia: Thailand and Cambodia will enter into an unconditional ceasefire starting at midnight on Monday, Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced.

“Both Cambodia and Thailand reached a common understanding as follows: One, an immediate and unconditional ceasefire with effect from 24 hours local time, midnight on 28th July 2025, tonight,” Anwar said after mediation talks in Malaysia.

The leaders of Cambodia and Thailand earlier arrived in Malaysia for talks aimed at securing a ceasefire in their fierce border conflict, amid an international effort to halt the fighting which entered a fifth day.

The ambassadors to Malaysia of the United States and China were also present at the meeting in Malaysia’s administrative capital of Putrajaya, the official said.

It was hosted at the residence of Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, the chair of the regional bloc ASEAN.

Both Thailand and Cambodia accuse the other of starting the fighting last week and then escalating the clashes with heavy artillery bombardment at multiple locations along their 817km land border, the deadliest conflict in more than a decade between the Southeast Asian neighbors.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet had earlier said the talks were co-organized by Malaysia and the United States, and that China would also take part in them.

“The purpose of this meeting is to achieve an immediate ‘ceasefire’, initiated by President Donald Trump and agreed to by the Prime Ministers of Cambodia and Thailand,” Hun Manet said in a post on X as he departed for the talks. Trump said on Sunday he believed both Thailand and Cambodia wanted to settle their differences after he told the leaders of both countries that he would not conclude trade deals with them unless they ended their fighting.

Thailand’s leader said there were doubts about Cambodia’s sincerity ahead of the negotiations in Malaysia.

“We are not confident in Cambodia, their actions so far have reflected insincerity in solving the problem,” acting Thai Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai told reporters ahead of his departure for Malaysia.

“Cambodia has violated international law, but everybody wants to see peace. Nobody wants to see violence that affects civilians.”

Cambodia has strongly denied Thai accusations it has fired at civilian targets, and has instead said that Thailand has put innocent lives at risk. It has called for the international community to condemn Thailand’s aggression against it.

The tensions between Thailand and Cambodia have intensified since the killing in late May of a Cambodian soldier during a brief skirmish.

Border troops on both sides were reinforced amid a full-blown diplomatic crisis that brought Thailand’s fragile coalition government to the brink of collapse.


Europeans push back at US over claim they face ‘civilizational erasure’

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Europeans push back at US over claim they face ‘civilizational erasure’

  • “Contrary to what some may say, woke, decadent Europe is not facing civilizational erasure,” Kallas told the conference

MUNICH: A top European Union official on Sunday rejected the notion that Europe faces “civilizational erasure,” pushing back at criticism of the continent by the Trump administration.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas addressed the Munich Security Conference a day after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered a somewhat reassuring message to European allies. He struck a less aggressive tone than Vice President JD Vance did in lecturing them at the same gathering last year but maintained a firm tone on Washington’s intent to reshape the trans-Atlantic alliance and push its policy priorities.
Kallas alluded to criticism in the US national security strategy released in December, which asserted that economic stagnation in Europe “is eclipsed by the real and more stark prospect of civilizational erasure.” It suggested that Europe is being enfeebled by its immigration policies, declining birth rates, “censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition” and a “loss of national identities and self-confidence.”
“Contrary to what some may say, woke, decadent Europe is not facing civilizational erasure,” Kallas told the conference. “In fact, people still want to join our club and not just fellow Europeans,” she added, saying she was told when visiting Canada last year that many people there have an interest in joining the EU.
Kallas rejected what she called “European-bashing.”
“We are, you know, pushing humanity forward, trying to defend human rights and all this, which is actually bringing also prosperity for people. So that’s why it’s very hard for me to believe these accusations.”
In his conference speech, Rubio said that an end to the trans-Atlantic era “is neither our goal nor our wish,” adding that “our home may be in the Western hemisphere, but we will always be a child of Europe.”
He made clear that the Trump administration is sticking to its guns on issues such as migration, trade and climate. And European officials who addressed the gathering made clear that they in turn will stand by their values, including their approach to free speech, climate change and free trade.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Saturday that Europe must defend “the vibrant, free and diverse societies that we represent, showing that people who look different to each other can live peacefully together, that this isn’t against the tenor of our times.”
“Rather, it is what makes us strong,” he said.
Kallas said Rubio’s speech sent an important message that America and Europe are and will remain intertwined.
“It is also clear that we don’t see eye to eye on all the issues and this will remain the case as well, but I think we can work from there,” she said.