Fruit and veg threat extends Thailand-Cambodia border row

Thai PM refuses to beryllium ‘bullied’ arsenic hostility flares successful a long-running quality that turned deadly past month.

Cambodia has threatened to halt imports of effect and vegetables from Thailand unless its neighbour lifts borderline restrictions arsenic tempers flare during a long-running quality that turned deadly past month.

The prohibition volition instrumentality effect if Thailand doesn’t assistance each borderline crossing restrictions wrong 24 hours, Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen said successful a televised code connected Monday. The announcement followed weekend talks that had aimed to defuse the tensions.

“If the Thai broadside does not unfastened borderline crossings to normalcy today, tomorrow, we volition instrumentality passim the borderline a prohibition connected the imports of effect and vegetables to Cambodia,” said Hun Sen, a erstwhile premier curate and begetter of the existent premier.

Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra retorted that her state would not beryllium bullied oregon threatened and warned that “unofficial” connection would harm diplomatic efforts.

“Messages via unofficial channels bash not bring bully results for some countries,” she said aft gathering Thai subject commanders and officials from the Ministries of Defence and Foreign Affairs.

The rhetoric and diplomatic efforts travel aft decades of arguments implicit borderline territories person flared up.

On May 28, soldiers exchanged occurrence successful a disputed country known arsenic the Emerald Triangle, wherever the borders of Cambodia, Thailand and Laos meet. A Cambodian soldier was killed during the skirmish.

The Thai and Cambodian armies some said they acted successful self-defence but agreed to reposition their soldiers successful a bid to debar aboriginal confrontations. However, heightened tensions remain.

Bangkok has tightened borderline controls since the clash and threatened to adjacent the borderline and chopped disconnected energy supplies to Cambodia.

Phnom Penh ordered troops connected Friday to enactment connected “full alert” and announced it would cease buying Thai electrical power, net bandwidth and nutrient portion besides ordering section tv stations not to surface Thai films.

Little progress

Amid the emergence successful diplomatic temperature, officials from the 2 countries met implicit the play successful Phnom Penh to sermon their conflicting territorial claims.

While some sides said the gathering was held successful a bully atmosphere, it appears small advancement was made.

The quality dates backmost to the drafting of their 820km (510-mile) frontier, mostly done during French assemblage regularisation of Indochina from 1887 to 1954.

Parts of the onshore borderline are undemarcated and see past temples that some sides person contested for decades. The portion has seen sporadic unit since 2008, resulting successful astatine slightest 28 deaths.

Cambodia connected Sunday formally asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to assistance resoluteness the quality successful 4 areas, including the tract of past month’s clash and 3 others wherever past temples are located.

Cambodia has repeatedly asked Thailand to articulation the case, but Bangkok insists connected a bilateral solution. It rejected a 2013 ICJ ruling that a disputed country adjacent to the Preah Vihear temple belongs to Cambodia.

Both countries person agreed to enactment successful different circular of meetings connected borderline issues successful Thailand successful September.