Cambodia and Thailand to hammer out permanent ceasefire in Malaysia meeting

Thailand and Cambodia delegates attend the Extraordinary General Border Committee in Kuala Lumpur to discuss border dispute. (Courtesy: Reuters photo)

Cambodia and Thailand's top defence officials began a meeting in Malaysia on Thursday to finalise a permanent end to hostilities following a violent five-day border conflict that ended in an unconditional ceasefire late in July.

The Southeast Asian neighbours saw the worst fighting in over a decade last month, including exchanges of artillery fire and jet fighter bombing runs that claimed at least 43 lives and left over 300,000 people displaced on both sides of the border.

Fighting continued despite diplomatic interventions from China and Malaysia, chair of the regional bloc ASEAN, calling for restraint.

The leaders of Cambodia and Thailand only came to the negotiation table when US President Donald Trump told them that tariff negotiations would not continue unless there was peace, Reuters exclusively reported.

Cambodian Defence Minister Tea Seiha and Thailand's acting defence minister Nattaphon Narkphanit are due to meet at Malaysia's Armed Forces headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

The two countries will establish guidelines to resolve border disputes, restore trust between their military forces and agree to a ceasefire with measures to minimise tensions and protect civilians, Nattaphon said in a statement before the talks.

The conditions were formulated during three days of talks between senior officials in Kuala Lumpur and are to be finalised on the fourth day in the presence of observers from China and the United States.

Thailand and Cambodia have quarreled for decades over undemarcated parts of their 817 km (508 miles) land border, which was first mapped by France in 1907 when the latter was its colony.