Thailand and Cambodia hold high-stakes border talks in Malaysia amid fragile ceasefire

Four days talks to conclude with final meeting of defence ministers on Thursday

Top defence officials of Thailand and Cambodia began talks in Malaysia on Monday to hold the ceasefire on the border, a week after the worst fighting broke out between the two Southeast Asian countries in decades.

The meeting of the General Border Committee, a bilateral mechanism established between two neighbours to resolve border issues, will continue for four days, concluding with the meeting of the defence ministers of the two countries on Thursday. The defence ministers' meeting will be joined by observers from Malaysia, the US and China.

The meeting was held in Kuala Lumpur at a neutral venue and was extended from one day to four days at the request of Thailand due to the sensitivity of the situation.

Malaysia brokered a ceasefire with the help of delegations from the US and China on 29 July after five days of fighting killed 43 people and displaced hundreds of thousands on both sides of the border.

Mostly civilians were killed in the border clashes that included artillery fire and jet fighter sorties after the two sides blamed each other for triggering the conflict.

While the ceasefire holds, the Cambodian defence ministry on Sunday accused Thailand of violating the ceasefire agreement by using excavators and laying barbed wire in a contested border area.

Thai residents who fled homes following the clashes between Thai and Cambodian soldiers, rest at an evacuation center in Surin province, Thailand (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Thailand said both sides are maintaining their position without any significant movements, however, it accused Cambodia of reinforcement along the border.

But "there are reports that the Cambodian side has modified their positions and reinforced their troops in key areas... to replace personnel lost in each area," said Rear Admiral Surasant Kongsiri, a Thai military spokesperson.

Cambodia also demanded that Thailand release 18 of its captured soldiers as soon as possible.

Malaysia's Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, center, Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Manet left and Thailand's acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai pose for photos after talks on a possible ceasefire between Thailand and Cambodia in Putrajaya

A man walks inside a building, damaged by an artillery, during a visit of delegation of foreign diplomats to inspect a damaged area along the Thailand-Cambodia's border, following a ceasefire between Cambodia and Thailand, in Oddar Meanchey, Cambodia (REUTERS)

Thailand said in a statement that the group are being treated well as "prisoners of war" and will be released after "a complete cessation of the armed conflict, not just a ceasefire."

The clashes, which began near the ancient Ta Moan Thom temple in Thailand’s Surin province, quickly spread to other disputed areas. Cambodian officials accused Thailand of launching air strikes and dropping bombs on roads inside its territory. Thailand blamed Cambodia for laying new landmines – one of which injured a Thai soldier and prompted a swift military response, including the deployment of F-16 fighter jets.

Malaysian prime minister Anwar Ibrahim brokered a ceasefire in his capacity as Asean chair, while the US president Donald Trump has claimed credit for pressuring the two warring parties into a ceasefire after he said threatened to cease tariff deal talks.