Latest news with #South-EastAsian
The Star
3 hours ago
- Politics
- The Star
Calm returns to disputed border
I'm going home: A child sitting at the back of a vehicle as the family heads back with their belongings in Oddar Meanchey province, Cambodia. — Reuters Military commanders from Thailand and Cambodia held talks as calm returned to their disputed border and displaced residents began trickling back, following the South-East Asian neighbours announcing a truce to end five days of fighting. Thai and Cambodian leaders met in Malaysia on Monday and agreed to a ceasefire deal to halt their deadliest conflict in more than a decade that has killed at least 40 people, mostly civilians, and displaced over 300,000 in both countries. Although Thailand's military said that there had been attacks by Cambodian troops in at least five locations early yesterday, violating the ceasefire that had come into effect from midnight, commanders from both sides met and held talks, a Thai army spokesperson said. Cambodia denied the charge, insisting that its troops have strictly abided by the ceasefire since midnight and continue to uphold it, according to a statement by Defence Minister Tea Seiha. Negotiations so far include those between the general leading Thailand's second region army, which oversees the stretch of the frontier that has seen the heaviest fighting during the conflict, and his Cambodian counterpart, Thai Maj-Gen Winthai Suvaree told reporters. The commanders, who met at the border, agreed to maintain the ceasefire, stop any troop movement and facilitate the return of the wounded and dead bodies, he said. 'Each side will establish a coordinating team of four to resolve any problems,' Winthai said. Waiting to leave: Thai residents resting at an evacuation centre in Surin province, Thailand. — AP Both militaries have agreed not to deploy more troops along their disputed border, said Lim Menghour, director-general of the Commission on Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the National Assembly of Cambodia, who also underlined the need for international observers to monitor the ceasefire. 'That is the key to monitor all the terms and agreements from the meeting yesterday,' he said. In Bangkok, Thailand's acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said his government had filed complaints with Malaysia, the United States and China over Cambodia's alleged ceasefire violations – but calm had returned to border areas. Vehicular traffic and daily activity resumed in the Kantharalak district of Thailand's Sisaket province yesterday, about 30km from the frontlines, where Thai and Cambodian troops remain amassed. Chaiya Phumjaroen, 51, said he returned to town to reopen his shop early yesterday after hearing of the ceasefire deal on the news. 'I am very happy that a ceasefire happened,' he said. 'If they continue to fight, we have no opportunity to make money.' In Cambodia's Oddar Meanchey province, 63-year-old Ly Kim Eng sat in front of a makeshift tarpaulin shelter, waiting for directions after hearing of the ceasefire deal. 'So, if the authorities announce that it is safe for all of the refugees to return home, I would immediately return,' he said. The South-East Asian neighbours have wrangled for decades over their disputed frontier and have been on a conflict footing since the killing of a Cambodian soldier in a skirmish late in May, which led to a troop buildup on both sides and a full-blown diplomatic crisis. — Reuters
The Star
5 hours ago
- Politics
- The Star
M'sian team seeks to end Thai-Cambodia tensions
PETALING JAYA: A Malaysian-led diplomatic delegation is engaging with Thailand and Cambodia to prevent further escalation along the contested border, says the Malaysian Armed Forces. Chief of Defence Forces Jen Tan Sri Mohd Nizam Jaffar (pic) is leading a diplomatic delegation to Thailand and Cambodia to facilitate discussions following an agreement by both countries to implement an immediate and unconditional ceasefire. The Armed Forces' Defence Intelligence and Strategic Communications Division said despite the ceasefire, several minor skirmishes were reported shortly after its implementation. However, this was addressed following a meeting between the regional commanders of both Thailand and Cambodia yesterday, where the parties reached a renewed agreement on several matters. 'Among them is to uphold the ceasefire agreement, prohibit attacks on civilians and halt any further reinforcement of troops. 'Both sides agreed to prohibit the movement of military forces, facilitate the return of wounded and deceased personnel, and to establish a coordination team consisting of four representatives from each side,' it said. The two parties also agreed to wait for further discussions and decisions based on the outcome of the upcoming General Border Committee meeting scheduled for Aug 4. 'The Malaysian delegation will proceed to Phnom Penh to hold further discussions with the Cambodian counterpart,' the statement said. The ceasefire was agreed to during a special meeting hosted by Malaysia on Monday, which brought the two South-East Asian neighbours to the negotiation table amid escalating tensions. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had brokered a meeting, the outcome of which saw Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and Thailand's Acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai jointly agree to the ceasefire. Earlier yesterday, Thailand's army had accused Cambodia of violating an hours-old truce, saying that sporadic clashes continued despite an agreement to end the deadly fighting in the disputed border region between the two countries. Thai troops have retaliated 'appropriately' and in 'self-defence', Thailand's army spokesperson, Winthai Suvaree, said. The Thai-Cambodia conflict traces its roots to long-standing disputes stemming from colonial-era maps and treaties that defined boundaries. Relations had remained relatively stable since a 2011 clash that left dozens dead, before erupting into intense fighting last week.
The Star
20 hours ago
- Politics
- The Star
Thailand-Cambodia border calm as military commanders hold talks
BANGKOK: Military commanders from Thailand and Cambodia held talks on Tuesday (July 29), as calm returned to their disputed border and displaced residents began trickling back, following the South-East Asian neighbours announcing a truce to end five days of fighting. Thai and Cambodian leaders met in Malaysia on Monday and agreed to a ceasefire deal to halt their deadliest conflict in more than a decade that has killed at least 40 people, mostly civilians, and displaced over 300,000 in both countries. ALSO READ: Paetongtarn slams Cambodia as dishonourable for violating ceasefire Although Thailand's military said that there had been attacks by Cambodian troops in at least five locations early on Tuesday, violating the ceasefire that had come into effect from midnight, commanders from both sides met and held talks, a Thai army spokesman said. This includes negotiations between the general leading Thailand's 2nd region army, which oversees the stretch of the frontier that has seen the heaviest fighting during the conflict, and his Cambodian counterpart, Thai Major Gen. Winthai Suvaree told reporters. The commanders, who met at the border, agreed to maintain the ceasefire, stop any troop movement, and facilitate the return of the wounded and dead bodies, he said. "Each side will establish a coordinating team of four to resolve any problems," Winthai said. In Bangkok, Thailand's acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai, who travelled to the Malaysian capital to secure the truce deal, said he had spoken to Cambodia's defence minister and calm had returned to border area. "There is no escalation," Phumtham told reporters. "Right now things are calm." Maly Socheata, a spokesperson for the Cambodian Defence Ministry, said at a briefing on Tuesday that there had been no new fighting along the border. Vehicular traffic and daily activity resumed in the Kantharalak district of Thailand's Sisaket province on Tuesday, about 30 km from the frontlines, where Thai and Cambodian troops remain amassed. Chaiya Phumjaroen, 51, said he returned to town to reopen his shop early on Tuesday, after hearing of the ceasefire deal on the news. "I am very happy that a ceasefire happened," he said. "If they continue to fight, we have no opportunity to make money." In Cambodia's Oddar Meanchey province, 63-year-old Ly Kim Eng sat in front of a makeshift tarpaulin shelter, waiting for directions after hearing of the ceasefire deal. "So, if the authorities announce it is safe for all of the refugees to return home, I would immediately return," he said. The South-East Asian neighbours have wrangled for decades over their disputed frontier and have been on a conflict footing since the killing of a Cambodian soldier in a skirmish late in May, which led to a troop buildup on both sides and a full-blown diplomatic crisis. Monday's peace talks came after a sustained push by Malaysian Premier Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and US President Donald Trump, with the latter warning Thai and Cambodian leaders that trade negotiations would not progress if fighting continued. Thailand and Cambodia face a tariff of 36 per cent on their goods in the US, their biggest export market, unless a reduction can be negotiated. After the ceasefire deal was reached, Trump said he had spoken to both leaders and had instructed his trade team to restart tariff talks. Pichai Chunhavajira, Thailand's finance minister, said on Tuesday that trade talks with Washington are expected to be concluded before August 1, and that US tariffs on the country are not expected to be as high as 36 per cent. The ceasefire deal reflected a rare convergence of interest between the US and China, which also pushed for the talks, but the agreement itself remained fragile and third-party monitoring was essential to keep it in place, said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political scientist at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University. "The ceasefire agreement has to be enforced," he said. "It cannot be left to Thailand and Cambodia to implement because the hostilities are running so deep now." - Reuters
The Star
a day ago
- Business
- The Star
The hidden hurdles behind building South-East Asia's US$100bil supergrid
VIENTIANE: The hardest part of building a wind farm along the misty ridges of southern Laos wasn't hauling 25-tonne blades up mountain roads or laying 71 kilometers of cables in thick vegetation. It wasn't even removing unexploded bombs left over from the Vietnam War. Instead, it was bureaucracy that kept engineering veteran Nat Hutanuwatr up at night - the delicate diplomacy and seemingly endless paperwork required for neighboring South-East Asian nations to share clean electricity. It was, he says, like "climbing a series of Everests.' After more than a decade of government talks, biodiversity surveys and financial negotiations, Hutanuwatr's Monsoon Wind started exporting power to Vietnam this month. Its 133 turbines bring a heterogeneous region of 700 million people one step closer to a long-awaited supergrid - a vast, interconnected power network that will eventually carry clean energy from the expansive north to densely populated islands to the south. Part of the ambition behind the grid is fueled by environmental concerns. South-East Asia is a major driver of coal growth and breaking that dependence on fossil fuels - vital for the world to avoid the worst climate-change scenarios - requires a single network that allows inexpensive, clean power to flow. Reliable green electricity is also critical for a region that aims to succeed China as the factory of the world, attracting billions from major manufacturers with weighty climate commitments, from Apple Inc. to Samsung Electronics Co. An interconnected grid could boost the GDP of every South-East Asian country by between 0.8 and 4.6 percentage points, according to a US-funded study. Yet executing that vision has proved complex. Asean has long struggled with diverging priorities and tends to avoid bold decisions. It has no framework for cross-border energy deals, leaving developers alone to navigate a matrix of varying technical specifications and local political hurdles. And that's before considering the outlay, an investment that would require at least US$100 billion by 2045, according to the Asian Development Bank, roughly a quarter of Malaysia's gross domestic product. All of this makes Monsoon Wind an encouraging milestone, and evidence that a push is finally in motion to connect countries from Myanmar to the scattered islands of the Philippines and Indonesia. "We want this to be a role model for cross-border renewable energy exchange,' said Hutanuwatr, the chief operating officer of Bangkok-based renewables developer Impact Electrons Siam. "If we start with bilateral deals like our project, we can showcase how to make it work." There is heartening movement elsewhere too, with a 30-kilometere cable due to connect Malaysia's hydropower-rich Sarawak state to neighboring Sabah by October. That will eventually link up with the rest of the island of Borneo, including Indonesia's provinces and Brunei, and then with peninsular Malaysia across the South China Sea. These are small wins, but the industry is celebrating. Hutanuwatr still spends his days poring over paperwork in a makeshift office or driving over rough terrain to inspect wind turbines, but he hosted a team party in June to mark the completion of the Monsoon Wind farm. With a bottle of beer in hand, dressed in jeans and a hoodie emblazoned with the project name, he addressed a cheerful crowd of workers, recalling the first visit to pitch the idea of importing power to Vietnam's state utility. "They looked at us like we were crazy,' the 56-year-old said, smiling. The utility insisted he secure approvals from both Vietnam's prime minister and the Laos National Assembly - no small feat in countries where decisions are not always transparent or swift. He ultimately did as asked. "We now have expertise in negotiating with a range of difficult stakeholders,' he declared, before joining a round of karaoke. Leaders in South-East Asia, a region of political, geographic and economic diversity, first floated the idea of a supergrid in the late 1990s, but progress stalled for years due to the absence of a single vision and a patchwork of protectionist energy policies. "Asean doesn't have the institutional set-up to support this kind of ambitious infrastructure project,' said Hans Vriens of Singapore-based political risk advisory firm Vriens & Partners. "The supergrid is the perfect excuse to keep going to meetings and talking, while actually doing nothing.' Connections remained limited until a breakthrough 2018 pilot project linked Laos, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. That proved regional power trading was viable. Since then, progress has been tentative at best. In 2021, Malaysia banned sending solar power to neighbours to protect its local industry. It reversed the halt two years later, hoping to take advantage of demand from Singapore. Exporting renewable energy also became a hot political issue in Indonesia, but its projects have recently signed clean power deals with Singapore. The efforts that have succeeded are far too limited to cope with the rapid growth of power demand. Electricity consumption is set to grow four per cent annually through 2035, but annual investment in grid infrastructure needs to more than double to around US$22 billion just to keep pace, according to the International Energy Agency. Without interconnected networks, a much-needed rapid scale-up of renewables will stall. Bureaucracies haven't helped. While Asean has identified 18 priority grid connection projects that it aims to complete by 2045 - formally known as the Asean Power Grid - more than half of these supergrid projects are still in early planning stages, with timelines ranging from two years to indefinite. The lack of an integrated regional power market, plus the absence of harmonised grid codes of the kind seen in the European Union, are a "major barrier' to scaling up connectivity projects, according to Nadhilah Shani of the Asean Centre for Energy, a hub that tries to connect utilities, governments and developers. The Asean Secretariat did not respond to emailed requests for comment. But there is growing official enthusiasm, not least in Singapore - the wealthy financial hub eager to bolster both energy security and green credentials. The island is aiming to import six gigawatts of low-carbon power from neighbours by 2035, up from nearly zero today. Since 2021, it has backed a series of headline-grabbing projects through public tenders: a subsea cable to carry solar power from Indonesia, another to import hydro from Malaysia, and a hybrid land-and-sea transmission line to wheel offshore wind from Vietnam. The country began importing a limited amount of power from Laos in 2022. The splashiest of all, the SunCable project to bring Australian solar power thousands of kilometres across the sea to Singapore, is estimated at over US$20 billion. Singapore has set up a dedicated state-linked firm to manage such complex cross-border city-state's objectives are clear: a country less than half the size of Rhode Island doesn't have space for renewables, so it has no other option than to use its vast wealth to fund projects elsewhere and import the power. Currently dependent on natural gas, it also needs greener energy to support its tech, financial and climate leadership ambitions. "Singapore has contributed directly to regional integration efforts," said a spokesperson for the country's Energy Market Authority. It's studying how to enable efficient long-distance transmission and "establish a framework that will facilitate the development of subsea power cables needed to realise the Asean Power Grid." The South-East Asian country has become a "champion' of the supergrid, said Dinita Setyawati, a senior energy analyst at think tank Ember - and its ambitions could help the region make meaningful advances. "We're seeing more progress in the past two years alone than in the past 20 years,' she said. "If we can have other Asean countries on board and take a more active role," then the 2045 target should be realised. Back on the Laos border, Hutanuwatr and his team have started sending power to the "backbone' of Vietnam's grid. At its full capacity of 600 megawatts, the project will generate enough to power hundreds of thousands of homes and factories. "These bilateral trades are actually stepping stones that are essential. Then you replicate," said Pablo Hevia-Koch, head of the International Energy Agency's renewables integration. "It allows Asean to benefit incrementally from early-stage trading, while building the foundation for future.' Hutanuwatr credits the project's completion to his team's pragmatism. But Monsoon Wind's success lays bare the difficulties still ahead for those eager to repeat the feat. Every approval, every connection, every agreement was hard-fought, and one of a kind. A playbook would make it far easier for others to follow, Hutanuwatr argues. For now, "there are no given solutions,' he said, shrugging. "You just have to figure it out as you go.' - Bloomberg
The Star
a day ago
- Business
- The Star
Trump to resume Cambodia, Thailand trade talks after truce
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said the US will resume trade negotiations with Thailand and Cambodia after they agreed to halt clashes along their disputed border, taking credit for pushing them to peace after threatening punishing tariffs. The two South-East Asian nations reached a ceasefire Tuesday (July 29) after five days of fighting, including airstrikes and artillery shelling, left at least three dozen dead and displaced more than 150,000 on both sides of their roughly 800 kilometre frontier. ALSO READ: Thai army accuses Cambodia of breaking truce "I have instructed my Trade Team to restart negotiations on Trade,' Trump said in a social media post Monday. "I am proud to be the President of PEACE!' Both countries face 36 per cent US tariffs. Neighbouring Vietnam secured a 20 per cent rate, while levies for Indonesia and the Philippines were set at 19 per cent ahead of Trump's Aug. 1 deadline. Thailand's Acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said Monday night Trump told him in a phone call after the peace talks that "we will get something very good out of it. He will do his best to give us as much as he can.' The Thai baht was slightly weaker at 32.49 per dollar in early Asian trading Tuesday amid broad greenback strength. The country's stock market is set to reopen at 10 a.m. local time after being closed Monday for a holiday. Trump's remarks are the latest example of how the US leader has wielded trade as a way to resolve for geopolitical clashes, claiming credit for pressuring trading partners to end conflicts if they wish to retain continued access to US markets. The US in June brokered a deal between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda aimed at ending years of conflict. And Trump has similarly claimed credit for halting a clash between nuclear powers India and Pakistan earlier this year. Phumtham and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet reached their agreement in Malaysia on Monday in talks hosted by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, acting in his role as the chair of Asean. Envoys from China and the US were also at the negotiations, and a joint statement from the three South-East Asian nations after the talks said the meeting had been "co-organised by the United States of America with the active participation of the People's Republic of China.' In their remarks after the meeting, both Phumtham and Hun Manet thanked Anwar and Trump, as well as China, for helping reach the ceasefire. "The fact that the US and China are both in on it is good.,' said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a professor of political science at Chulalongkorn University. "Thailand needs the tariffs to come down from the US side. And Trump will see this as a win.' After its conflict with India was paused earlier this year, Pakistan hailed Trump's intervention while New Delhi disputed his claims that securing trade deals helped clinch their ceasefire. Both countries are still engaged in trade talks. In the DRC, Trump has said the US stands to get mineral rights from the country after brokering their deal. Congo is the second-biggest copper producer and largest source of cobalt, giving it prominence in Washington's efforts to reduce dependence on Chinese supply chains for minerals needed for a wide-range of cutting-edge technologies. - Bloomberg
