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The United States, which played a major role in ending border clashes between Thailand and Cambodia last year, will provide a $45 million (€38 million) aid package to the two Southeast Asian countries to help ensure stability and prosperity in the region, a senior State Department official announced on Friday.
Michael DeSombre, the US assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific, made the announcement during an online media briefing in Bangkok where he met with senior Thai officials to discuss implementation of last October’s ceasefire, also known as the Kuala Lumpur Peace Agreement.
“Restoring peace on the Thai-Cambodian border opens new opportunities for the United States to deepen cooperation with both countries to promote regional stability and advance our interests in a safer, stronger, and more prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Desombre said.
He is scheduled to meet with Cambodian government officials in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh on Saturday.
The United States will provide “$15 million (€12 million) for border stabilization to rebuild communities and support displaced persons, $10 million (€8 million) for demining and unexploded ordnance operations, $20 million (€17 million) for efforts to support both countries in combating fraudulent operations and drug trafficking, and many other programs,” DeSombre said.
He said details of the support package were still being discussed.
China has announced it has provided approximately $2.8 million (€2.4 million) in emergency humanitarian aid to support Cambodians displaced by the fighting.
Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said the Chinese government had offered similar assistance to Thailand, which the Thai government was considering.
compete for influence
The United States and China have been competing for influence in Southeast Asia for at least a decade. Cambodia is a close ally of the Chinese government, and Thailand has long had close ties with the U.S. government, but those ties are widely seen as loosening in recent years.
Long-standing competing claims to territory along the Thai-Cambodian border were the root cause of the fighting.
Fighting in July and December displaced hundreds of thousands of people and killed about 100 soldiers and civilians in Thailand and Cambodia.
Landmines left behind from decades of civil war continue to be a problem in Cambodia, while Thailand claims newly laid mines in border areas injured soldiers on patrol in about a dozen incidents last year.
Online fraud originating from Southeast Asia, particularly Cambodia and Myanmar, is a significant cross-border crime problem that defrauds victims of billions of dollars.
Last year, the Trump administration shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), sharply cutting aid to U.S. humanitarian and development programs in Southeast Asian countries and other parts of the world.
Cambodia and Thailand initially clashed for five days in late July before agreeing to an interim ceasefire.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim at the time called for an unconditional ceasefire, but little progress was made until US President Donald Trump intervened.
President Trump said he had warned the leaders of Thailand and Cambodia that the United States would not move forward with a trade deal if hostilities continued.
The ceasefire was formalized in more detail at a regional meeting in Malaysia attended by President Trump in October.
Fresh fighting broke out early last month, but the defense ministers of Thailand and Cambodia signed a new agreement on December 27, vowing to implement the October deal.
“We are very focused on the pursuit of peace at home and abroad,” Desombre told reporters.
“President Trump is a president of peace and truly believes that peace is essential to economic growth and prosperity.”
Additional sources of information • AP