Cambodia closes 2 border crossings with Thailand

Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Manet gestures as he arrives to attend a joint congress between the Senate and the National Assembly in Phnom Penh on June 2, 2025. Photo by AFP

According to The Khmer Times, on Sunday, Hun Manet said he had been informed by the governor of Udor Meanchey province that Thailand’s Military Region 2 had decided to shut down the Choub Korki border checkpoint, effective the same day.

In response, Hun Manet said he supported the provincial governor’s proposal to "permanently" close Cambodia’s side of the checkpoint. He also ordered the immediate closure of the Choam crossing.

"Since June 7, Thai army has unilaterally implemented closures of border checkpoints between Cambodia and Thailand without much consideration of its negative effects on people of both countries," Hun Manet wrote on Facebook. "It has never been Cambodia’s intention to cause difficulty for people in our both countries who need to use border checkpoints. Yet, if Thai army continue to use this method to put pressure on Cambodia, Cambodia can answer accordingly at anytime."

Hun Manet also voiced concern over what he described as mixed signals from Thai authorities. While political leaders, including Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, have repeatedly called for bilateral negotiations to reopen the border checkpoints, the Thai military has taken actions that contradict those calls, he said.

He added that Cambodia would reopen its checkpoints within five hours if Thailand does the same.

According to AFP, tensions between the two neighbors escalated after a Cambodian soldier was killed in a border clash near the disputed Preah Vihear area in late May.

Efforts to defuse the situation were further complicated when a recording of a diplomatic call between Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen and Paetongtarn was leaked online on June 18. The call, which took place on June 15, was meant to ease tensions but instead sparked public outcry in Thailand.

In the audio, Paetongtarn refers to Hun Sen as "uncle"—a common form of respect in Thai culture when addressing an elder—but critics argued the tone was overly deferential given her role as prime minister.

Paetongtarn later apologized, explaining that her comments were part of a strategy to stabilize a tense border dispute and that she did not anticipate the recording would be made public.