Cambodia & Thailand willing to reach ceasefire after Chinese mediation: China

During separate phone calls with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Cambodia and Thailand were willing to move towards a ceasefire in their renewed border conflict, China said.

On Dec. 18, Wang spoke with his counterparts, Cambodia's Prak Sokhonn, who is also the country's deputy prime minister, and Thailand's Sihasak Phuangketkeow.

Both leaders separately briefed Wang on the latest developments of the Cambodia-Thailand border conflict, a spokesperson of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote in a tweet.

They also expressed their willingness to de-escalate tensions and implement a ceasefire.

"They highly appreciated China’s objective and impartial stance and its role in facilitating dialogue and promoting talks," the spokesperson added.

China's role

China has played an active mediatory role since the first round of clashes in July, and was involved in the talks that led to the initial ceasefire on Jul. 28, alongside Malaysia and the United States.

Then, the conflict reignited on Dec. 7, less than two months after Cambodia and Thailand signed a joint peace agreement backed by United States President Donald Trump in Kuala Lumpur.

On Dec. 18, the Chinese Foreign Ministry's Special Envoy for Asian Affairs made a shuttle-diplomacy trip to Thailand and Cambodia on Dec. 18 for peace mediation efforts.

Announcing this trip, the ministry spokesperson described China as a close neighbour and friend of both countries.

China has therefore been closely following the conflict and working actively towards de-escalation.

In Wang's statement on the phone calls, he said that China takes the approach of using fair and impartial dialogue to tackle the conflict, and supports the mediation efforts of Asean.

Both Cambodia and Thailand welcomed the shuttle mediation by the special envoy, the ministry spokesperson said in a tweet on the phone calls.

They also hoped that China would play an even more important role in de-escalating the situation and rebuilding peace.

The Thai foreign ministry has confirmed ‌the call with Wang, but Cambodia has yet to comment, according to Reuters.

Conflict

The renewed fighting since Dec. 7 has led to at least 21 deaths in Thailand and 17 in Cambodia, while displacing around 800,000 people, BBC reported.

The Thai and Cambodian foreign ministers have agreed to attend an Asean foreign ministers’ meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Dec. 22 — a meeting aimed at easing tensions between the two countries.

It ‍would be the first in-person meeting between the two governments since the fighting resumed.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who helped to broker the Jul. 28 ceasefire, said he was "cautiously optimistic" about the meeting.

He had spoken to the Cambodian and Thai prime ministers, and they were both "keen to achieve an amicable resolution as soon as possible", he said, as quoted by Malay Mail.

Top images from Canva and the foreign affairs ministries of Thailand, China, and Cambodia