The move, which came after two Thai soldiers were injured by a land mine, imperiled a pledge by the two countries to resolve their longstanding differences at the behest of President Trump.
Thailand on Monday suspended peace talks with Cambodia after two Thai soldiers were injured by a land mine in the disputed border area, casting doubt on a two-week-old pledge by the countries to resolve their longstanding differences at the behest of President Trump.
Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told reporters on Monday that talks with Cambodia could not proceed and that Thailand was still “dealing with an adversary.”
“Everything must stop,” Mr. Anutin said. The hostilities that Thailand thought had disappeared, he added, “had not gone anywhere” and talks had to be halted “until there is further clarity.”
The two countries had been expected to start negotiations to release 18 Cambodian prisoners of war detained during recent fighting, a key component of peace talks that had been scheduled for Wednesday, but Mr. Anutin said those would now be put on hold indefinitely. He said that he would convene a meeting with the national security council on Tuesday.
In a statement, Cambodia’s Lt. Gen. Rath Dararoth, the secretary of state for the Ministry of Defense, said the country was committed to “implementing its obligations” and was ready to work with Thailand for the “mutual benefit of both countries and peoples.”
Mr. Trump has credited himself for ending five days of war between Thailand and Cambodia over their shared border that flared this summer, one of seven wars that he asserts he has halted. But Monday’s decision by Thailand underscores the deep challenges to the U.S. president’s efforts to cast himself as a global peacemaker.
Relations between Thailand and Cambodia had been tense for months before the peace accord was signed to much fanfare by Mr. Trump, Mr. Anutin, and Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Manet in Malaysia last month. The agreement sought to put an end to the five days of deadly conflict that erupted in July between the two Southeast Asian nations.
At least 40 people were killed after Thailand and Cambodia exchanged gunfire and shelled each other starting on July 24. Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced. Mr. Trump intervened on the third day of fighting, telling the leaders of Thailand and Cambodia that he was not going to continue tariff negotiations if they did not end the conflict.
On the fifth day of the conflict, both countries agreed to a cease-fire that was backed by both the United States and Malaysia. But in the months after, they continued to trade accusations, with Thailand blaming Cambodia of placing land mines that have injured its soldiers, and Cambodia rejecting these assertions.
The so-called “Kuala Lumpur Peace Accord” that Mr. Trump promoted in Malaysia was meant to solidify the commitment. But Mr. Anutin had signaled previously that he did not think highly of the effectiveness of U.S. mediation, saying that Thailand and Cambodia are neighbors “while the mediator is all the way over there on another continent.”
The official text of the agreement did not even describe it as a peace deal but as a joint declaration by the prime ministers of Cambodia and Thailand “on the outcomes of their meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.”
The Royal Thai Army said in a statement that the soldiers were injured in a land mine explosion at 9:30 a.m. in the Thai province of Sisaket. One soldier was left with a severe leg injury and another with chest pain from the pressure of the blast.
The explosion made headlines in Thailand, increasing the domestic pressure on Mr. Anutin to take action. Thailand’s Air Force said it was “terminating the implementation of all agreements between Thailand and Cambodia until any hostile actions by Cambodia cease.”
Thailand and Cambodia have clashed over their roughly 500-mile border for more than half a century. Arguments about where the border should be, and who owns the temples in the region, have inflamed nationalist feelings on both sides.
The conflict stems from a 1907 map created during French colonial rule in Cambodia. Cambodia still uses that map; Thailand says it is inaccurate and uses a map that it says is more reflective of the border because it uses modern topography.
