BANGKOK, December 8. /TASS/. Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul apparently doesn’t remember the joint declaration he signed on the settlement of the border with Cambodia in Kuala Lumpur this October, The Nation daily reported on Monday.
"No. I do not remember it," the daily quoted the Thai premier as saying in response to a question whether the provisions of the October declaration applied to the recent escalation in the border areas shared by Thailand and Cambodia.
In October, the prime ministers of Thailand and Cambodia, Anutin Charnvirakul and Hun Manet, signed a peace deal in the presence of US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the 47th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Kuala Lumpur.
The document outlined further steps towards a peaceful settlement of border tensions between the two countries. The parties committed "to de-escalating tensions and restoring confidence and mutually beneficial relations" between the two countries.
Thailand-Cambodia recent conflict escalation
The Royal Thai Army reported earlier in the month that a Thai service member had been killed, and another four wounded, in clashes on the Cambodian border. According to the military, Cambodian forces began shelling Thai positions at 5:00 a.m. local time on December 8 (10:00 p.m. GMT on December 7).
On December 8, Cambodia notified the ASEAN Observer Team of another round of tensions on the border with Thailand and called for a full investigation into the renewed military activities.
According to the Cambodian Defense Ministry, the attack came after several days of provocations by the Thai military aimed at sparking another round of confrontation, the ministry noted, adding that Cambodia would remain committed to respecting all previous agreements on resolving the border conflict peacefully based on international law, which was why it had not responded to new Thai attacks.