Marcos to convene Cambodia and Thailand leaders in Cebu

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is set to convene the leaders of Cambodia and Thailand on Thursday in Cebu province on the sidelines of the 48th ASEAN Summit. The three-way meeting is scheduled for 6 pm and will be followed by the release of a joint press statement, according to a media advisory from the ASEAN chair Philippines.

The gathering marks the first leaders-level meeting of the regional bloc since the Philippines assumed the chairmanship. A fragile truce has been in place between Cambodia and Thailand since late December 2025. The truce followed months of border clashes that had disrupted an earlier ceasefire agreement reached in October 2025 during the 47th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur.

Background of the border tensions Tensions between Cambodia and Thailand escalated in mid-2025 over a long-standing border dispute. Clashes intensified in early December 2025 before the two countries reached the current fragile truce brokered in late December, just before the Philippines took over as ASEAN chair.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines recently assumed leadership of the ASEAN Observer Team that monitors the border situation between the two countries. Officials have described the truce as fragile following the earlier disruptions. The meeting in Cebu is expected to address the ongoing border monitoring arrangements under the Philippine-led observer team.