US President Donald Trump reiterated on Friday that he had successfully eased hostilities between Cambodia and Thailand, saying he had managed to preserve a previous US-brokered ceasefire that appeared to be crumbling.
Trump’s statement came as Thailand suspended a ceasefire deal on Monday following an alleged landmine explosion and the two sides traded accusations of fresh clashes on Wednesday, in which Phnom Penh said a civilian had been killed.
Trump co-signed a truce between the two countries on Oct. 26 during a tour of Asia, touting it as one of several peace accords around the world that he believes should earn him a Nobel Peace Prize.
‘Just today I stopped the war’: Trump
President Trump said he spoke by phone with the prime ministers of both countries.
“Just today I stopped a war with the use of tariffs, the threat of tariffs,” Trump said aboard Air Force One as he flew to his Mar-a-Lago mansion in Florida for the weekend, according to AFP.
“They’re doing great. They haven’t been doing great,” he said. He said the conversation left him believing, “I think they’re going to be fine.”
Trump said his actions were made possible by his willingness to impose stiff tariffs on countries around the world, which he said gives the U.S. great trade and diplomatic leverage.
Thailand-Cambodia Clashes: What Happened and What’s Happening Now?
Territorial disputes over where exactly the border lies between Southeast Asian neighbors Thailand and Cambodia led to a five-day armed conflict in late July that killed dozens of soldiers and civilians.
Trump has threatened to withhold trade privileges from both countries unless they stop fighting, helping to broker a temporary halt to the conflict.
The pact was then reaffirmed in more detail last month when Trump attended the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Malaysia.
But this week the ceasefire appeared to be on the verge of breaking down when Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said a villager had been killed following a shooting along his country’s border with Thailand.
Manet said one civilian was killed and three others wounded when Thai troops opened fire on civilians living in the Prey Chan area of Cambodia’s northwestern Banteay Meanchey province. The same village saw a violent but non-fatal confrontation between Thai security personnel and Cambodian villagers in September.
The Thai military said the latest incident began when Cambodian soldiers allegedly fired into a neighborhood in Thailand’s eastern Sa Kaeo province. No Thai casualties were reported.
Thailand and Cambodia have a history of enmity dating back centuries when they were warring empires. Their competing territorial claims stem largely from a 1907 map drawn when Cambodia was under French colonial rule, which Thailand claims is inaccurate.
The cease-fire does not spell out a path to resolving the core of the dispute, longstanding differences over where the border should go.
