Washington– president Donald Trump He said on Friday that he had successfully mitigated Hostilities between Cambodia and ThailandSaying he was able to maintain a previous US-brokered ceasefire that appeared to be collapsing.
“I just stopped the war today,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he headed to his home in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, for the weekend. He said his actions were made possible by his desire to impose heavy tariffs on countries around the world, which he said gives the United States too much leverage over trade and diplomatic influence.
The president said he spoke to the prime ministers of both countries on the phone, and now “they are in great shape. They were not in great shape.”
He said the conversations made him think: “I think they’ll be OK.”
Territorial disputes over the exact location of the border between neighbors in Southeast Asia have led to Five days of armed conflict In late July, which resulted in the deaths of dozens of soldiers and civilians.
Trump threatened to withhold trade privileges from the two countries unless they stop fighting, which would help bring about a temporary halt to the conflict. The agreement was then reaffirmed in more detail last month, when Trump attended an Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit meeting in Malaysia.
The ceasefire appeared on the verge of collapse this week, when Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said a villager was killed after gunfire broke out along his country’s border with Thailand.
Maneh said that a civilian was killed and three others were wounded when Thai forces opened fire on civilians residing in the Prey Chan area in Banteay Meanchey Province, northwestern Cambodia. The same village was the scene of violent, but not fatal, confrontations in September between Thai security personnel and Cambodian villagers.
The Thai army said the latest incident began when Cambodian soldiers opened fire on an area in Sa Kaew province in eastern Thailand. No injuries were reported in Thailand.
Thailand and Cambodia have a history of hostility dating back centuries, when they were warring empires. Their competing territorial claims largely stem from a map drawn in 1907 when Cambodia was under French colonial rule, which Thailand says is inaccurate.
The ceasefire does not show a way to resolve the underlying basis of the conflict, which is long-standing disagreements over where the border should extend.
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Megerian reported from aboard Air Force One.