Thailand closes Cambodian border over scams, escalating border dispute
Thai soldiers and security officers stand guard on Tuesday at the closed border gate during a temporary reopening of the border to allow stranded Cambodians and Thais to return home following the border closure at the Ban Klong Luk checkpoint in Aranyaprathet district, Sa Kaeo province. Photo By Rungroj Yongrit/EPA
June 24 (UPI) -- Thailand closed its border to nearly all travelers to Cambodia as diplomatic tensions rise over a territory dispute between the two neighboring south Asian nations.
On Monday, the Thai military closed off its border crossing into Cambodia to almost all vehicles and people in both countries across seven of it 76 provinces, including to international tourists and traders.
Bilateral relations between Cambodia and Thailand have soured to its worst point in years after a brief fire exchange in May between military troops of both nations in a contested border area, which left one Cambodian soldier dead.
It led to the ongoing back-and-forth and a reported rising sense of nationalism on both sides, which has seen Cambodia ban Thai media, including films and television, Thailand's Internet bandwidth cut and an import suspension of fruit, vegetable, gas and fuel.
In addition, visa statuses were shortened by both governments as Thailand increased border restrictions.
The issue stems back more than a century, when borders were drawn up after France's occupation of Cambodia.
The new retaliatory measure covers the Thai provinces of Ubon Ratchathani, Surin, Buriram, Sri Sa Ket, Sa Kaeo, Chanthaburi and Trat.
According to statements by the Thai army and navy, the new travel restrictions "matched the current security situation" and also will aid in countering illicit or scam activities.
Human rights groups and United Nations experts have pointed to Cambodia as a global hotbed for illegal scam activity with some human-trafficking victims forced into criminal syndicates or held at scam centers in neighboring Myanmar.
Meanwhile, Thailand's Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra says travel exemptions will only be accepted in certain cases like medical or educational reasons.
Paetongtarn, 38, vowed Monday that her government would crack down on rampant Cambodian-run scams, which included the Internet suspension utilized by Cambodia's security agencies.
It arrives as the prime minister is facing backlash and calls to resign after a leaked telephone call with Cambodia's strongman ex-ruler Hun Sen, 72, prompted public fury.
Paetongtarn, the daughter of Thailand's ex-populist Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra who sat in the role from 2001-2006, was heard calling her father's old friend "uncle," and openly criticized a Thai military leader saying he "just wanted to look tough," adding how if he wanted anything that she would "take care of it."
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