By AFP and published by CNA
Phnom Penh – Cambodia’s defence ministry has asked Thailand to hold bilateral talks in the neutral venue of Kuala Lumpur, according to a letter seen by AFP on Tuesday (Dec. 23), with the countries set to negotiate truce terms after two weeks of deadly border clashes.
Renewed fighting this month, which shattered a previous truce, has killed at least 23 people in Thailand and 21 in Cambodia, and displaced more than 900,000 on both sides, officials said.
Thailand’s Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow on Monday announced a parley with Cambodia after a meeting in the Malaysian capital with his counterparts from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), of which Cambodia is also a member.
Sihasak told reporters the discussion would be held on Wednesday (Dec. 24) in Thailand’s Chanthaburi within the framework of an existing bilateral border committee.
But in a letter dated Monday to his Thai counterpart Nattaphon Narkphanit, Cambodia’s defence minister Tea Seiha requested the meeting be held in Kuala Lumpur.
“For a security reason due to the ongoing fighting along the border, this meeting should be held in a safe and neutral venue,” Tea Seiha wrote in the letter, which AFP obtained on Tuesday and confirmed with the ministry.
Malaysia, the chair of the Asean regional bloc, had agreed to host the talks in its capital, he added.
Cambodia said Thailand launched air strikes on its territory on Monday, shortly after Bangkok announced the two nations had agreed to hold the talks.
Cambodian defence ministry spokeswoman Maly Socheata told reporters that combat along the border was ongoing on Tuesday morning.
The ministry said in a statement that Thai forces shelled the Cambodian border city of Poipet.
CAPTIONS:
Top – Shells landing at a community in Sa Kaeo province this morning, Dec. 22, 2025. Photos – Amarin TV
Front Page – This handout photo taken and released by Agence Kampuchea Press (AKP) on Dec. 15, 2025 shows residents evacuating following air strikes in Cambodia’s Siem Reap province, amid clashes along Cambodia-Thailand border. File photo: AKP handout via AFP and published by CNA
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