Thailand’s Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul will travel to Malaysia on Sunday to sign a landmark ceasefire deal with Cambodia, in a ceremony that U.S. President Donald Trump is set to witness, after pulling out of the ASEAN Summit following the death of Thailand’s Queen Mother Sirikit.
The signing, to be held in Kuala Lumpur, comes after Trump helped broker an end to a five-day border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia in July that killed dozens and displaced nearly 300,000 people, the most intense fighting between the two nations in decades.
Anutin confirmed he requested that the ceasefire ceremony be held on Sunday morning before returning to Bangkok to oversee national mourning arrangements.
“I have to go back immediately after the signing,” he told local media, adding that he will also skip next week’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in South Korea.
The Thai cabinet was expected to meet Saturday morning to discuss the Queen Mother’s funeral plans.
Foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) met on Saturday to open a weekend of high-level diplomacy in the Malaysian capital, as delegations from the U.S. and China held parallel trade talks amid escalating tariff tensions.
Trump, due to arrive Sunday for his first stop on a five-day Asia tour, will witness the ceasefire signing before joining other global leaders at the ASEAN Summit.
The summit will also mark the formal admission of East Timor as ASEAN’s 11th member and emphasize the bloc’s commitment to trade multilateralism amid a global wave of protectionism.
Alongside the summit, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer are holding discussions with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng aimed at averting a fresh escalation in the U.S.–China trade war.
Trump has threatened new 100% tariffs on Chinese goods beginning November 1 in response to Beijing’s expanded export controls on rare earth minerals and magnets.
World leaders including Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa, and Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi are attending the summit.
Trump is expected to meet Lula on the sidelines, though the talks remain unconfirmed. Lula has called Washington’s 50% tariffs on Brazilian exports a “mistake,” citing a $410 billion U.S. trade surplus with Brazil over the past 15 years.
Speaking aboard Air Force One en route to Asia, Trump said he would consider reducing tariffs on Brazil “under the right circumstances,” but ruled out a meeting with Carney, saying he was “satisfied with the deal we have” with Canada.
The ceasefire signing and the flurry of diplomatic activity in Kuala Lumpur underscore a pivotal moment for Southeast Asia, balancing regional peace efforts with the intensifying rivalry between Washington and Beijing.
Source: Reuters
Written By Rodney Mbua
