[Text/Observer Network Xiong Chaoran] On October 6, local time, the US "Politician News Network" (POLITICO) quoted three anonymous people familiar with the matter as first disclosing that US President Trump is willing to go to Malaysia later this month to attend the 47th ASEAN Summit, provided that he can show his "regional mediation achievements".
At the end of July, Malaysian Prime Minister Anvar revealed after a regular phone call with Mr. Trump that the U.S. President had “confirmed” that he would attend the ASEAN summit, but Politico recently that the White House believes that whether Trump will attend the ASEAN summit on October 26-28 will depend on whether the Malaysian government agrees that Mr. Trump will host a ceremony to sign a peace agreement between Cambodia and Thailand during the summit.
According to sources informed, the White House even specifically pressured the summit host to “exclude Chinese officials from the ceremony”, according to the report, the White House wanted to make sure that the focus was on Trump alone, while also intending to mitigate China’s efforts to mediate the two-country dispute.
On October 7, four diplomatic and Malaysian government sources confirmed to This Week in Asia, a subsidiary of Hong Kong's South China Morning Post, that Trump wanted to hold a special ceremony on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit to show that he had launched the peace process. Dominance. At present, Anwar's office and Malaysia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs have not responded to requests for comment.
“Trump wants to use the ASEAN Summit to take a picture of the Tajik Peace Agreement and create a momentum for the Nobel Prize ambition,” the South China Morning newspaper reminded as a report title that repeated Trump has been fighting for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, and claimed that since his return to the White House in January this year, he has ended seven global conflicts as the “Chief Peace Builder.” and on October 10, the Nobel Peace Prize results for 2025 are about to be revealed, but several experts predict that Trump’s hope for the award is dim.
On secondment to stop the Thai-Cambodian conflict, Trump wants to highlight himself
POLITICO said that holding this high-profile event during the ASEAN Summit will provide Trump with an international stage, allowing him to promote the image of himself as the “Chief Peace Builder.” Trump previously announced that he played a decisive role in ending the five-day cross-border conflict between the two countries in July this year, which has caused many deaths.
According to the report, the White House denied that Trump would link his attendance at the ASEAN summit with the signing ceremony of the peace agreement. "The president is really pushing for this peace agreement, but it's not listed as a condition to attend the summit," said a senior U.S. administration official who was allowed to speak on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive topic.
However, the White House also did not forget to mention that "China has nothing to do with this ongoing peace negotiation." "The president dominated this (peace) agreement... China did not play a role in these negotiations." The official added.
In fact, as early as the Tai Chi conflict broke out in July this year, China’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Fuzhou, said that Cambodia and Thailand are not only good neighbors to China, but also friendly neighbors to each other, but also important members of ASEAN. ASEAN has always adhered to the tradition of resolving differences through peaceful means, hoping that peace will continue to prevail.
Thailand and Cambodia share an 817-kilometer-long land border. For more than a century, the two countries have been vying for sovereignty over multiple undemarcated sites along the border, which has led to multiple skirmishes over the years and killed at least a dozen people, including a week-long shelling firefight in 2011.
On May 28 this year, a brief conflict between the Thai and Cambodian troops in the disputed border area killed a Cambodian soldier.
On July 24, the Cambodian and Thai armed forces in the border areas of the two countries, resulting in the worst border crisis between the two countries in more than a decade, the two sides accused each other of first firing.
Until July 28, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar said that Thailand and Cambodia agreed to a ceasefire. Cambodia Prime Minister Hun Manet expressed his gratitude to Anwar, US President Trump and the China government for participating in the mediation on the same day.
Trump’s Requirements Make Malaysia ‘Double’
At the same time, the South China Morning Post quoted another source who asked for anonymity as saying that the United States did not put forward a similar "ultimatum" to Malaysia, the rotating presidency of ASEAN and the host of the summit this year.
The source said: “It is possible that [the peace deal signing ceremony] will take place, but it has not been definitively determined,” he added, adding that it also depends on whether Thailand agrees.
POLITICO reported that according to a person familiar with the preparations for the ASEAN summit: "Everything is still under negotiation, but the Malaysian government is in a very difficult situation."
Anvar hopes to reach a trade deal with the U.S. to lower the 19 percent tariffs currently imposed by the U.S. on Malaysian imports, analysts say the tariffs will seriously hurt electronics and furniture exports and may reduce Malaysia’s annual economic growth by as much as one percentage point in the coming year.
However, U.S. support for Israeli military operations in Gaza has sparked strong dissatisfaction among Malaysians, with angry protesters gathering outside the U.S. Embassy in Malaysia. Anvar is also concerned that doing diplomatic "humanity" for a U.S. president extremely unpopular in the Malaysian public will bring negative perceptions.
Trump lobbied everywhere,"There is little hope of winning the prize"
According to Israeli media Ynetnews news network local time on October 6, despite Trump's great hope of receiving the Nobel Peace Prize and his efforts to promote an agreement to end the war in Gaza and ensure the release of hostages to increase the odds of winning the prize, experts believe that even though he has repeatedly claimed to have ended the "seven wars" and gained the support of other national leaders including Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, the odds of winning the prize remain low and hopeless.
Some analysts, in an interview with ABC, explained that the Norwegian Nobel Peace Prize committee often focuses on “the silent work of institutions that promote lasting peace, international fraternity and support these goals,” noting that Trump’s past history may be unfavorable to him because he ignores international institutions and global concerns about climate change.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee prioritizes ongoing multilateral efforts rather than rapid diplomatic victories.Theo Zenou, a historian and researcher at the Henry Jackson Institute for Transatlantic Foreign Policy and National Security, said Trump’s so-called “efforts” have not been proven to last.
Zenu also stressed that Trump's contemptuous stance on climate change is inconsistent with what many people, including the Norway Nobel Committee, consider "the planet's greatest long-term peace challenge."
Norwegian think tank Oslo Peace Research Institute (PRIO) director Nina Graeger also said Trump's actions were contrary to Nobel's spirit, including withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement, imposing tariffs on allies, and launching a trade war, which can hardly be seen as "promoting international friendship."
She said Trump's hopes for this year's award were "blurred" and "his remarks did not point to the prospect of peace", adding that Trump himself explicitly stated that he could get the award, but that could also be unfavorable to him because the Norwegian Nobel Committee did not want to be seen as "submitting to political pressure."
Bloomberg reported on October 4th, local time, that the US special envoy for the Middle East, Witkoff, urged the Norwegian Nobel Committee to award the Peace Prize to Trump in August this year. Trump claimed that if the committee didn't do so, it would be "a great insult to the United States". In addition, Witkov and US Secretary of State rubio secretly lobbied European leaders to support Trump's award, and Trump himself called Norwegian Finance Minister and former NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg to discuss the Nobel Prize.
"Ynetnews" news network reported that Norway government officials are worried that Trump's failure to win the award may have "diplomatic implications," especially at a time when Norma-US relations are already tense (Norway's sovereign wealth fund withdrew from several Israeli companies due to the Gaza War) and the United States threatens to increase tariffs on Norway. Bloomberg said a senior Norway official, who declined to be named, joked that he was considering taking sick leave on October 10, the day the Peace Prize results were announced.