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Aidan Jones

Joseph Sipalan

The camouflage-clad soldiers who patrol the rice fields around Wichien’s village are a daily reminder that peace along Thailand’s border with Cambodia is perilous, despite the recent truce.
For the Thai farmer, the prospect of a lasting settlement is welcome. But US President Donald Trump’s involvement is not.
“Trump isn’t here seeking peace, he’s only after recognition … a Nobel Prize. It’s about serving his own ambitions, not helping us,” said Wichien, who asked to be identified by only one name during such anxious times.
“We’re fully capable of resolving our issues with Cambodia on our own.”
Trump’s White House sees things differently. It claims credit for ending July’s bloody five-day border conflict that left at least 48 people dead on both sides.
Now, he wants to crown his intervention with a symbolic peace signing ceremony in Malaysia of a document diplomats have already dubbed the “Kuala Lumpur Accord”.
A Nobel obsession
While it was Malaysia that brokered a ceasefire that came into effect on July 28, Washington says it was Trump’s use of trade pressure – rewarding both countries with US import tariffs of 19 per cent, among the lowest in Southeast Asia – that brought the two warring parties to the negotiating table.
His administration has been at pains to showcase the deal as an American-led achievement, but it was also shepherded by Chinese diplomats keen to see two key regional allies end their hostilities.
US officials have even reportedly pressed Malaysia to bar Chinese representatives from the coming signing ceremony as part of Trump’s obsessive quest for a Nobel Peace Prize to call his own.

On Monday, in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, Trump basked in the applause of world leaders as he declared the war in Gaza “over”, crediting himself with arranging “what everybody said was impossible”.
“At long last we have peace in the Middle East … nobody thought we could get there, and now we are there,” he proclaimed.
Critics have cautiously welcomed the ceasefire, as well as the return of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners and the resumption of aid deliveries to starvation-wracked Gaza, but warn that an end to violence is not synonymous with true peace.
That distinction is not lost on Southeast Asia, where the focus of Trump’s peacemaking ambitions has now shifted.

Bargaining with Bangkok
The US president is set to arrive in Kuala Lumpur next Sunday for this month’s Asean summit, where trade, defence and geostrategic interests are expected to dominate discussions.
Though the Thailand-Cambodia signing ceremony is essentially a sideshow, it is one that Trump is determined to control.
A spokesman for the Thai prime minister told reporters on Tuesday that Washington had used the border row “to bargain with” Bangkok, all but confirming that trade relations with the Southeast Asian nation’s largest export partner were directly linked to the dispute’s resolution.
That linkage places Thailand’s new Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul in a bind, observers say. His mission? Nothing less than appeasing white-hot nationalist sentiment and defending his country’s sovereignty while avoiding any diplomatic slight of Trump.

Cambodia, with its weaker military and economy, has publicly praised Trump’s peacemaking efforts and even nominated him for the Nobel Prize. But mutual suspicion lingers.
Thailand has accused Cambodia of failing to withdraw heavy weapons from the border and of laying new landmines, as well as encouraging Cambodian villagers to encroach on Thai territory.
Phnom Penh insists it is committed to the “peaceful settlement of disputes, the non-use of force and respect for international law”, urging “sincerity” in talks and fairness over territorial claims.
With just days to go before Trump’s visit, neither side is eager to back down. Yet both are wary of provoking the notoriously unpredictable American president.

The China question
For the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Trump’s visit is a chance to reset trade and security ties with the world’s largest economy and military power.
But a ceremonial peace signing on the sidelines threatens to upset the regional balance of power, forcing both host Malaysia and its Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim into an awkward spot.
“Anwar would likely be amenable to allowing Trump to preside over a symbolic peace deal,” said Harrison Cheng, a director at global risk consultancy Control Risks.
“However, he is likely to be wary of Trump’s other alleged condition, since this would jeopardise Malaysia-China relations and signal to the Chinese, however inadvertently, that Malaysia is prioritising ties with the US over those with China.”
Cheng suggested that the optimal outcome for Anwar would be Trump attending the summit while also permitting Chinese representatives at the ceremony.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan confirmed on Tuesday that a ceasefire agreement was likely to be signed during Trump’s visit.
“We hope to see the signing of a declaration, known as the Kuala Lumpur Accord, between these two neighbours to ensure peace and a lasting ceasefire,” he said.
Officially non-aligned, Asean seeks trade with both the US and China, while relying on American-supplied vessels to bolster its South China Sea defences.
Excluding Chinese officials from a symbolic peace deal would … send a worrying signal
Shawn Balakrishnan, international communications consultant
China, itself the target of US tariffs, has urged its neighbours to reject Washington’s economic coercion and push to exclude Chinese supply chains from regional trade.
Barring China from the signing ceremony would send the wrong signals, said Shawn Balakrishnan, a Singapore-based partner with global consultancy Penta.
“Excluding Chinese officials from a symbolic peace deal would undermine Kuala Lumpur’s close diplomatic and economic ties with Beijing and send a worrying signal to other Asean members that external powers can dictate the host’s agenda,” he said.
“This would undoubtedly feed perceptions that Asean is being drawn into a great-power competition.”


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Asean

Trump’s Thailand-Cambodia peace prize play puts Asean in a precarious position

US President Donald Trump at the “Gaza Peace Summit” in Egypt on Monday. Photo: Getty Images/TNS/AFP

Thai soldiers conduct mine clearance operations in Sa Kaeo province near Thailand’s border with Cambodia on Friday. Photo: EPA

An Asean logo is seen on a screen during a meeting of the bloc’s economic ministers in Kuala Lumpur last month. Photo: EPA

Cambodian troops and villagers stand behind a barbed wire fence opposite Thai officials stationed along the border in Sa Kaeo province, Thailand, last month. Photo: EPA

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim speaks at an Asean meeting in Kuala Lumpur earlier this year. Photo: EPA

Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan talks to reporters in Kuala Lumpur. Photo: Reuters

Trump wants Thai-Cambodian peace deal photo op at Asean summit to boost Nobel ambitions

US President Donald Trump talks to the media  on the South Lawn of the White House on Sunday. Photo: Getty Images/TNS

Thai army and police prepare to lay barbed wire in a disputed area along the Thai-Cambodian border in Banteay Meanchey province on September 17. Photo: Agence Kampuchea Press/AFP

Thailand-Cambodia ‘deep mistrust’ tests Asean’s peacekeeping role

A man walks inside a building damaged by artillery fire along the Thailand-Cambodia border in Oddar Meanchey, Cambodia, on August 1. Photo: Reuters

The General Border Committee featuring Thai and Cambodian delegates meets in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday. Photo: AFP

A destroyed convenience store in Sisaket province, Thailand, which was hit by an artillery shell on July 24, resulting in multiple fatalities. Photo: Reuters

(From left) Cambodia’s leader Hun Manet, Malaysian PM Anwar Ibrahim and Thailand’s acting PM Phumtham Wechayachai in Putrajaya on July 28. Photo: Reuters

Why Cambodia nominated Donald Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize

Cambodia’s Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chanthol has credited Trump with bringing about the ceasefire with Thailand. Photo: Reuters

US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters on topics including the Cambodia-Thailand ceasefire near Air Force One on Sunday. Photo: Getty Images/AFP

Cambodia’s Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chanthol credited Trump with bringing about the ceasefire. Photo: Reuters

A military attache from China (right) speaks to a member of Thai military personnel as they inspect a damaged hospital in Sisaket province on Friday caused by shelling. Photo: Reuters

Trump stands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House last month. Netanyahu has also reportedly nominated Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize. Photo: White House/dpa

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Malaysia, as summit host, finds itself caught between a US president hungry for a Nobel and a key trading partner in China


Malaysia, as summit host, finds itself caught between a US president hungry for a Nobel and a key trading partner in China.


Trump’s Thailand-Cambodia peace prize play puts Asean in a precarious position

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Malaysia, as summit host, finds itself caught between a US president hungry for a Nobel and a key trading partner in China

A Nobel obsession

Malaysia, as summit host, finds itself caught between a US president hungry for a Nobel and a key trading partner in China