US to provide technical support in monitoring Thai-Cambodian ceasefire

The United States has undertaken to provide technical support to the ASEAN Monitoring Team (AMT), to be established under the ceasefire deal to end the tension between Thailand and Cambodia, said Cambodia’s Defence Minister Tea Seiha.

Tea wrote on his Facebook page that this shows the US’s readiness to engage in real peace efforts, Tea said.

The minister is in Kuala Lumpur to co-chair the special Thai-Cambodia General Border Committee (GBC) meeting, which has Malaysia, as ASEAN chair, as host.

The GBC meeting will convene this afternoon, but Tea arrived in the Malaysian capital in advance. He took the opportunity to meet Samuel Paparo, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM), and Edgard Kagan, US Ambassador to Malaysia, yesterday.

During the meeting, Paparo assured him of the US position on supporting the ceasefire, initiated by President Donald Trump, with Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, as the current ASEAN chairman, to ensure implementation.

The US and China have been included in the truce talks as observers and their representatives will attend the final day of the GBC meeting in Kuala Lumpur this afternoon.

Their ambassadors were also present when Thai and Cambodian leaders met in Kuala Lumpur for peace talks on July 28.

On August 5, Tea and his delegation also met with General Mohamed Nizam, the commander-in-chief of the Malaysian Army, and his colleagues.

At that meeting, the Malaysians expressed a willingness to coordinate the implementation of the ceasefire between Cambodia and Thailand, pushing for the creation of an ‘Executive Document’ and the moving forward of the formation of the AMT, which will become a more effective mechanism for monitoring and implementing the ceasefire.

According to Tea, Nizam said “Peace is expensive… life is precious… and time is of the essence.”