A planned meeting intended to negotiate a cessation of renewed hostilities between Thailand and Cambodia has fallen into doubt after Bangkok rejected Phnom Penh’s request to hold talks in a neutral country, raising fresh questions about the prospects for dialogue amid continuing border clashes.

Cambodia had proposed relocating discussions to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, seeking a neutral venue to reduce tensions and facilitate progress on truce terms.

However, Thailand’s government insisted that negotiations take place on its own soil, underscoring Bangkok’s preference for bilateral engagement and complicating efforts to firm up the agenda for the meeting this week.

The dispute over the venue follows a period of intensified fighting along the disputed 817-kilometre border that reignited in early December, shattering the temporary ceasefire that had been brokered by regional mediators.

The clashes have involved exchanges of artillery and rockets, caused multiple military and civilian casualties, and forced large numbers of residents on both sides to flee their homes amid deteriorating security conditions.

Both governments previously agreed to resume talks after an Association of Southeast Asian Nations foreign ministers’ meeting in Kuala Lumpur, but the venue row has cast uncertainty over whether representatives will convene as scheduled.

Analysts say that the impasse highlights deep mistrust between the neighbours and underscores the challenges in translating diplomatic agreements into durable peace, even as regional actors urge restraint and renewed negotiations to halt the violence and prevent further humanitarian hardship along the frontier.