Thailand, Cambodia Sign Kuala Lumpur Peace Accords

President Donald Trump presided over and helped mediate the signing of an expanded ceasefire — dubbed the Kuala Lumpur Peace Accords — between Thailand and Cambodia on Oct. 26 during the ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur, where Malaysia served as host and a key mediator. The accord formalizes a ceasefire and begins a first phase of implementation that includes Cambodia’s partial withdrawal of heavy artillery from the border, the release of detained Cambodian prisoners by Thailand, and deployment of regional observers to monitor the truce. The clashes began in May over a long-running border dispute, killed at least 48 people and displaced hundreds of thousands, and this agreement expands and seeks to consolidate a July ceasefire. Trump credited threats of economic pressure and tariff leverage with helping prod the parties to agreement and used the visit to sign separate economic pacts with the countries. Leaders hailed the day as historic, but analysts warned the accord’s durability is uncertain given decades-long tensions and past ceasefire breaches.