Thailand tightens border security amid tensions with Cambodia
Effective from Saturday, the Burapha and Suranaree task forces have been authorized to determine necessary measures at border checkpoints, according to a statement signed by Army Chief Pana Claewplodtook.
The nations are looking to defuse tensions following an exchange of gunfire between troops on May 28 in the disputed Chong Bok border region, which resulted in the death of a Cambodian soldier. The countries are set to hold talks at a Joint Boundary Commission meeting on June 14 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital.
While the task forces must consider the needs of trade and daily lives of the local populations of both countries, "they may order the closing or opening of any or all border checkpoints under any conditions or time frame deemed appropriate' to protect Thailand's sovereignty, the army said in its statement.
The move follows comments from Defense Minister Phumtham Wechayachai that border tensions have been exacerbated by Cambodia's reinforcement of its military presence. As a result, Thailand has "deemed it necessary to implement additional measures and to reinforce our military posture accordingly,' he said.
Meanwhile, two border checkpoints in Thailand's eastern Chanthaburi province have been ordered to close temporarily for tourists by a commander of the provincial marine corps task force, The Nation, an English-language news website, reported on Saturday.
The order cites an announcement of martial law in some parts of the province due to the security threat from Cambodia. Still, Cambodian migrant workers employed in Thailand are exempt, and cross-border trade will continue as usual, according to The Nation.
Cross-border trade and custom activity remains operational as usual in Ubon Ratchathani province, Thai Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira said in a post on X upon his visit to the northeastern region. The finance ministry has prepared fiscal measures for all circumstances, he said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Diplomat
14 hours ago
- The Diplomat
Advancing Australia's Trilateral Partnership With Two ASEAN Neighbors
Fruitful relations between Australia, Indonesia, and Timor-Leste should be consolidated through the establishment of new trilateral mechanisms. In October, Timor-Leste is set to become the 11th member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the most consequential regional grouping to Australia's north. For the first time ever, Canberra will have two ASEAN neighbors. Within the bloc, Indonesia has been the biggest supporter of Timor-Leste's application to join ASEAN. Australia too has been an important supporter of Dili's desire to join the grouping. Good relations with both Timor-Leste and Indonesia are both a strategic and diplomatic imperative for Australia. This is especially the case since regional cohesion falters under the weight of U.S.-China strategic competition and security challenges such as the Myanmar civil war and the Thailand-Cambodia border conflict. Closer communication, consultation and cooperation between Australia and its Southeast Asian neighbors is an investment in our shared future Timor-Leste's accession is an ideal moment for the Albanese government to build momentum for the elevation of the Australia-Indonesia-Timor-Leste trilateral partnership, from the foreign minister to the leadership level. As part of such an arrangement, annual trilateral leaders' and ministerial-level summits should be held, in line with the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP), which aims to increase and strengthen trilateral meetings between Indonesia, Australia, and Timor-Leste. The trilateral meetings could focus on areas of shared interests and challenges like border security, defense infrastructure and maritime security. For instance, they could together increase their maritime security capabilities by running regular maritime patrols, holding annual joint military exercises, training, and naval port visits. Joint maritime training and patrols would be particularly beneficial for Timor-Leste's tiny navy, which continues to struggle combating illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in its maritime waters. The country losses approximately $300 million per year due to illegal fishing in the Timor Sea. The 2022 Australia-Timor-Leste Reciprocal Defense Cooperation Agreement tries to address these security challenges, by increasing bilateral security cooperation, especially in the maritime domain. As part of the deal, Timorese defense personnel operating or training in Australia will receive the same protections, responsibilities, and privileges as Australian personnel will receive in Timor-Leste. In 2023, Australia committed to donating two Guardian-class patrol boats to Timor-Leste by 2024. Nonetheless, the Timor-Leste navy is yet to receive the vessels due to the inadequate condition of the Port Hera Naval base. Ironically, Timor-Leste was the central factor in the significant decline of Australia-Indonesia bilateral relations in the second half of the 1990s. The 1995 Australia-Indonesia security agreement was torn up by Indonesia in 1999 after the Australian-led multinational invention in East Timor, which had been an Indonesian province since its forcible incorporation in 1976. This marked an all-time low in the bilateral relationship, but in the years since it has been able to recover from this setback and has matured over time. In the 2006 Lombok treaty, Jakarta and Canberra recognized each other's territorial integrity, and they upgraded their strategic ties to a CSP in 2018. Under the new Australia-Indonesia Defense Cooperation Agreement, the two neighbors have pledged to ramp up joint military exercises and training to unprecedented levels and allow both nations to operate from each other's countries for mutually determined cooperative activities. Since its independence in 2002, Timor-Leste has taken a realist foreign policy approach. The key priorities of Timorese foreign policy have included campaigning for full ASEAN membership and ensuring strong ties with its two large neighbors, Australia and Indonesia. Today, Timor-Leste enjoys cordial relations with Indonesia, its largest trading partner. Citizens of Timor-Leste also have visa-free access in Indonesia. No doubt, without the crucial support of Indonesia, Dili's aspiration of becoming an ASEAN member would have been virtually impossible. The Indonesian National Armed Forces also provide military education and training to personnel from the Timor-Leste Defense Force. The neighbors maintain a joint border security task force, which often conducts joint border patrols along the Indonesia-Timor-Leste border. They've also resolved and determined most of their land boundaries. While the region of Naktuka remains a disputed border area, Timor-Leste's Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao recently stated that the two nations are 'working together to resolve the dispute in accordance with international law.' Subsequently, the deepening of bilateral ties between the three neighbors sets solid foundations for a high-level trilateral. It would also realize the full potential in existing trilateral ties. The trilateral partnership should also reaffirm ASEAN's 'centrality 'in the Indo-Pacific. Australian foreign policy sees ASEAN at the center of a peaceful, stable and prosperous region, where sovereignty is respected, and all countries benefit from strategic balance. In 1974, Australia became the grouping's first dialogue partner. Since its humble beginnings over 50 years ago, the ASEAN-Australia partnership has gained in strength. In 2010, the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement came into effect. And, in 2021, the ASEAN-Australia relationship was elevated to a Strategic Comprehensive Partnership. Overall, Australia prioritizes a strong relationship with Southeast Asia and its northern neighbors. In Indonesia and Timor-Leste, Australia will very soon have two ASEAN countries right on its doorstep. Amid growing unpredictability in the region, now is the time for Australia to seek a high-level trilateral with its two important neighbors.
Japan Times
3 days ago
- Japan Times
Thai soldiers injured by landmine near Cambodia amid fragile ceasefire
Three Thai soldiers were injured by a land mine on Saturday while patrolling a border area near Cambodia, the Thai army said in a statement, days after the two neighbors agreed to a detailed ceasefire following a violent five-day conflict last month. One soldier lost a foot and two others were injured after one of them stepped on a land mine as they patrolled an area between Thailand's Sisaket and Cambodia's Preah Vihear provinces. The soldiers are being treated at a hospital, the army said. Thailand said the incident took place within its territory and in an area recently cleared of land mines. It added it would lodge a complaint against Cambodia for violating a treaty that bans the use of land mines and for infringing on Thai sovereignty, the Thai foreign ministry said in a statement. Both Thailand and Cambodia are signatories to the Ottawa Convention against land mines. Cambodia's defense ministry said on Saturday that it "has yet to receive clear confirmation from Cambodian front-line forces concerning the explosion," adding that its army has been strictly respecting the spirit of the ceasefire. The incident is the third time in a few weeks that Thai soldiers have been injured by mines while patrolling along the border. Two previous incidents led to the downgrading of diplomatic relations and triggered five days of violent clashes. The Southeast Asian neighbors were engaged in deadly border clashes from July 24-28 in the worst fighting between the two in more than a decade. The exchanges of artillery fire and jet fighter sorties claimed at least 43 lives and left over 300,000 people displaced on both sides. A fragile ceasefire has been holding since Thailand and Cambodia agreed on Thursday to allow observers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to inspect disputed border areas to ensure hostilities do not resume. Bangkok earlier accused Cambodia of planting land mines on the Thai side of the disputed border that injured soldiers on July 16 and July 23. Phnom Penh denied it had placed any new mines and said the soldiers had veered off agreed routes and triggered old land mines left from its decades of war.
Japan Times
3 days ago
- Japan Times
Thai gallery removes China-focused artworks after 'pressure' from Beijing
One of Thailand's top art galleries removed, at China's request, materials about Beijing's treatment of ethnic minorities and Hong Kong from an exhibit on authoritarian governments, according to a curator and email communications. In what the artists called the latest attempt by Beijing to silence critics overseas, the Bangkok Arts and Cultural Center changed multiple works by artists in exile in the exhibit on authoritarian governments collaborating across borders. On Thursday, some works previously advertised and photographed had been removed, including a multimedia installation by a Tibetan artist, while other pieces had been altered, with the words "Hong Kong,' "Tibet' and "Uyghur' redacted, along with the names of the artists. Three days after the show, "Constellation of Complicity: Visualizing the Global Machinery of Authoritarian Solidarity,' opened on July 24, Chinese Embassy staff, accompanied by Bangkok city officials, "entered the exhibition and demanded its shutdown,' said the exhibit's co-curator, Sai, a Myanmar artist who goes by one name. In a July 30 email, the gallery said: "Due to pressure from the Chinese Embassy — transmitted through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and particularly the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, our main supporter — we have been warned that the exhibition may risk creating diplomatic tensions between Thailand and China." Artist names have been blacked out after "pressure from the Chinese Embassy." | REUTERS The email said the gallery had "no choice but to make certain adjustments," including obscuring the names of the Hong Kong, Tibetan and Uyghur artists. Several days later, Sai said, the embassy demanded further removals. The Chinese Embassy in Bangkok and Foreign Ministry in Beijing, and Thailand's Foreign Ministry did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration did not respond to an email seeking comment. A gallery representative at the exhibit said the team had agreed not to comment on the issue. 'Authoritarian pressure' Rights groups say China carries out a sophisticated campaign of harassment against critics overseas that has often extended into the art world, allegations Beijing has denied. People view the show at the Bangkok Arts and Cultural Center on Thursday. | REUTERS Sai, co-founder of Myanmar Peace Museum, the organization that put together the exhibition, said the removed pieces included Tibetan and Uyghur flags and postcards featuring Chinese leader Xi Jinping, as well as a postcard depicting links between China and Israel. "It is tragically ironic that an exhibition on authoritarian cooperation has been censored under authoritarian pressure,' he said. "Thailand has long been a refuge for dissidents. This is a chilling signal to all exiled artists and activists in the region." Sai said he was speaking from overseas, where he had fled after Thai police sought to find him. The superintendent of Pathumwan Police Station, who oversees the gallery's Bangkok neighborhood, said he had received no reports of such an incident. Thailand this year returned to China 40 Uyghurs, members of a mainly Muslim ethnic minority numbering about 10 million in China's far western region of Xinjiang, in a secretive deportation. U.N. experts had warned they would be at risk of torture, ill-treatment and "irreparable harm." China denies abusing Uyghurs. The Bangkok exhibition also features works by artists in exile from Xinjiang as well as Russia, Iran and Syria. An art installation at the Bangkok Arts and Cultural Center on Thursday | REUTERS China has been steadily increasing its influence in Southeast Asia, where governments are balancing cooperation with the regional giant against concerns over sovereignty. Beijing recently sought unsuccessfully to block screenings in New Zealand of a Philippine documentary on that country's struggles in contested parts of the South China Sea amid alleged harassment from the Chinese coast guard and maritime militia, local media reported. It was pulled from a film festival in the Philippines in March due to "external factors," the filmmakers said. Black screen Chinese officials returned to the Bangkok gallery on Wednesday, asked to remove another flyer and reiterated "enforcement of the One China policy,' Sai said, citing updates from contacts. That policy, observed by governments that have relations with Beijing, acknowledges Beijing's position that the People's Republic of China is the sole legitimate government representing all of China, including Taiwan. China has never renounced the use of force over the self-governed island. Taiwan's government says only Taiwan's people can decide their future. Foreign governments refer to Tibet and Xinjiang as part of China. The artists called the censorship Beijing's latest attempt to silence critics overseas. | REUTERS Works withdrawn from the Bangkok exhibit by Tibetan artist Tenzin Mingyur Paldron included video of Tibetans carrying Palestinian flags while calling for accountability for genocide and a film titled "Listen to Indigenous People." The works were previously advertised, and Sai shared images of them previously on display. "By forcing (the gallery) to remove significant parts of my work, the Chinese government has once again demonstrated that it desperately wishes to cut Tibetans off from the rest of the world,' said Paldron, adding that China did not "want its complicity in other colonialisms and genocides to be recognized.' "Who are museums for?" he said. "They should be for the people, not dictators of any ideology." Video monitors showed a black screen during a recent visit. A film by a Uyghur artist played, but there was a black mark where her name had been.
