Cambodia, Thailand to hold ceasefire talks on Dec 24

Cambodian and Thai officials will meet on Dec 24 to negotiate the potential return to a ceasefire.

- Philip Wen Regional Correspondent and Lu Wei Hoong Malaysia Correspondent

This comes after a Special ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting convened in Kuala Lumpur appeared to provide a key circuit breaker as fighting between the two Southeast Asian neighbours stretched into a third straight week.

The talks will be held via the General Border Committee (GBC), an existing bilateral mechanism co-chaired by the two countries' defence ministers that is used to manage security matters on their shared border.

"The ASEAN Foreign Ministers welcomed the discussions on resumption of the ceasefire and cessation of hostilities," Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan told reporters in Kuala Lumpur, reading from the ASEAN Chair's statement from the meeting.

"The GBC will convene on 24 December 2025 to discuss the implementation and verification of the ceasefire. The ASEAN Foreign Ministers expressed hope for deescalation of hostilities as soon as possible."

Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow said it was important to take time to get things right and thrash out a detailed implementation plan, to reach a ceasefire "that really holds".

Longstanding border tensions flared in July before a ceasefire was reached after five days of fighting. The ceasefire was subsequently expanded into a peace deal in October.

Referring to this joint declaration brokered by Washington and signed when US President Donald Trump attended the ASEAN Summit in October, Mr Sihasak said there had been "a rush to do the declaration because the United States wanted the declaration signed in time".

"We appreciated the efforts of the US... But sometimes, you know, we cannot always operate on a fixed timeframe," he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur.

The peace deal was suspended by Thailand on Nov 11 after it accused Cambodia of laying fresh landmines along their disputed border - claims that Phnom Penh denies.