
Thailand, Cambodia dial down tensions after clash in contested border area
Defense officials from Thailand and Cambodia have agreed to return their troops to positions they held before a fatal clash in a contested border area. Since last month's incident, both sides had been beefing up their military presence along the frontier.
Military representatives from the two countries held a meeting over the issue on Sunday.
After the talks, the Thai army said it will redeploy its soldiers to positions the two sides agreed on last year.
Cambodia's defense ministry says it will send its forces to "appropriate areas" to reduce tensions.
The countries' armed forces exchanged fire on May 28th. One Cambodian soldier died in the brief skirmish.
The confrontation prompted Thailand to tighten border security with Cambodia. On Saturday, Bangkok said it will cut operating hours at some border crossings and limit tourism in both directions.
The countries are set to hold more talks this weekend. Cambodia proposes taking the dispute to the International Court of Justice, but Thailand favors bilateral negotiations.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


NHK
8 hours ago
- NHK
UN envoy says violence puts Myanmar on 'path to self-destruction'
The UN's special envoy for Myanmar has condemned the continuing violence across the country, even after the devastating earthquake that struck in March. She warned that the conflict is embedding a "crisis within a crisis." Julie Bishop, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on Myanmar, spoke to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday in New York. She said the scale of the conflict has increased over the four years since the military takeover in 2021. A major earthquake rocked central Myanmar in March. The military says the quake has left more than 3,700 people dead and over 5,000 injured. The junta and pro-democracy forces declared a temporary ceasefire to prioritize relief efforts. Bishop pointed out, however, that the ceasefire has largely not been observed. She said, "If there is no end to the violence, Myanmar is on a path to self-destruction." Bishop also cited the dire situation of the Muslim minority Rohingya population in the western state of Rakhine. She said they are subject to forced recruitment and other abuse, and called for urgent international support.


NHK
8 hours ago
- NHK
Philippine senate returns Duterte impeachment case to lower house
The Philippine Senate has returned the impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte to the House of Representatives to ensure that constitutional requirements were not violated. The decision was reached hours after the 23-member upper house convened on Tuesday as an impeachment court. A majority backed the motion to remand the articles of impeachment to the lower house. But some lawmakers condemned the move. Philipine Senate President Francis Escudero said it was "in no way a dismissal, because we will be issuing a summons after this." The lower house impeached Duterte in February for threatening to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and allegedly misusing public funds. The vice president, daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte, denies the allegations. The current term of Congress closes at the end of this month. The session starting July will include lawmakers elected in the mid-term election held in May. The Senate impeachment court is expected to continue. Twelve new senators will join the 12 incumbents as senator-judges. If the vice president is convicted, she will lose the right to run in the presidential election in 2028.


Japan Times
15 hours ago
- Japan Times
U.S. military drills in Philippines end — but anti-ship missile system stays
The U.S. military has kept another advanced weapons system in the Philippines following recent joint drills, suggesting the Pentagon is using exercises to de facto deploy key weapons to the region amid growing tensions with China. The U.S. Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS), an advanced mobile anti-ship missile platform, 'is still within the country, and it will continue to be used by the Philippine Marine Corps for training purposes,' local media quoted Philippine Navy spokesperson Capt. John Percie Alcos as saying Tuesday after the NMESIS was used in this year's Balikatan and Kamandag joint exercises. The Balikatan drills ran from April 21 to May 9, while the Kamandag exercises took place from May 26 to June 6. The spokesperson declined to disclose the weapon's current location, citing operational security reasons, but the remarks are the first to suggest that the NMESIS, which was last spotted on the island of Batanes — located between the Philippines' Luzon island and Taiwan — could remain in the Southeast Asian country indefinitely. Leaving it with the U.S. ally would replicate a similar decision with the Typhon midrange missile system, which the Pentagon originally deployed for drills back in April 2024. Composed of an uncrewed vehicle mounting two launchers for the Naval Strike Missile, which has a range of up to 185 kilometers, the NMESIS is a coastal defense system that could be used to keep Chinese warships at bay in the event of not only conflict with the Philippines, but also with nearby Taiwan. Alcos said the NMESIS deployment should not be viewed as a threat to China, which is embroiled in increasingly heated maritime and territorial disputes in parts of the South China Sea with the Philippines. 'The presence of the NMESIS in our country is only a deterrent to anybody who intends to conduct illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive actions against the Philippines,' the spokesman said. 'Otherwise, it's just military equipment that we use for training.' A Typhon midrange capability launcher arrives on northern Luzon island, in the Philippines, on April 8, 2024, in the capability's first deployment into the theater. | U.S. ARMY Still, confirmation that the weapon will remain in the Philippines is likely to anger Beijing, which has already been calling for the removal of the Typhon, arguing that this weapon, in particular, is a 'strategic' and 'offensive' system. Should the Typhon and NMESIS remain on Philippine soil, China's state-owned Global Times newspaper warned in April, they would become 'a constant source of tension in the region.' According to Philippine Army chief Lt. Gen. Roy Galido, the country's armed forces have been using the Typhon to familiarize themselves with such a capability, with Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro recently telling The Japan Times that Manila has already secured funding to acquire either this or another type of midrange capability. 'We are still learning, we are still training. Just like any equipment you have, you just don't learn it one time. You have to be well-versed with the equipment,' local media quoted Galido as saying Tuesday. 'It's still our desire to have one, and we have proposed to have similar, if not that platform, within the inventory of the army,' he added. The U.S. has also deployed other advanced military systems for joint exercises with the Philippines this year. These include the HIMARS multiple rocket launchers, maritime and aerial drones such as uncrewed solar-powered surveillance vehicles and a microwave-based directed energy weapon system designed to counter drone swarms. It's unclear how many of these systems will also remain in the country, but the Philippine Navy is already known to field a unit dedicated to operating uncrewed surface vehicles after receiving a handful of U.S.-made Mantas T12 and Devil Ray T38 maritime drones. It is likely that Washington will provide additional advanced systems to Manila as it seeks to reassure its oldest ally in Asia of its 'ironclad' commitment amid tensions with China. The U.S. is also looking at greater defense-industrial cooperation with the Philippines, saying earlier this year that the allies have identified a number of areas, including uncrewed systems, ammunition components and logistical support, as well as ship and aircraft maintenance and repair. The U.S. Navy even revealed recently that one of its destroyers had participated in a simulated wartime repair activity at the Philippines' Subic Bay in January.