Thailand-Kamboja Heats Up, PM Paetongtarn Shinawatra Visits Border

Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra / PHOTO via Instagram @ingshin21

JAKARTA - Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and former influential Cambodian Prime Minister visited various parts of their disputed land border on Thursday.

Tensions have risen between the two neighboring countries over regional disputes and the Thai government is on the verge of collapse.

The worsening of the relationship was sparked by brief armed clashes in the border area late last month that killed a Cambodian soldier.

What happened later was a series of countermeasures by the two countries including troop mobilization, suspension of fuel and gas imports by Cambodia from neighboring countries.

In addition, part of the checkpoints were closed by Thailand along the land border of 817 km (508 miles).

The conflict complicates the crisis facing Thai PM, who is struggling to revive a shaky economy.

Paetongtarn is now struggling to keep a fragile coalition united in the face of protests and the motion of not believing parliament.

Reported by Reuters, upon arrival on Thursday, June 26 morning in the Thai border town of Aronyaprathet in Sa Kaeo province, Cambodia, Paetongtarn was greeted by a crowd of supporters, with some holding big signs that read "Love You Prime Minister Paetongtarn".

Thailand's PM said the purpose of his visit was to review ongoing crackdowns on transnational crimes and measure the impact of border restrictions, which caused Thailand to stop all vehicles, tourists and traders from all land border crossings to Cambodia.

"We want to see the impact of this policy and what the government can do to help, this is the main goal of our visit today," Paetongtarn said in a meeting with officials.

Earlier this week, he linked the rise of illegal online fraud centers with Cambodia, but Cambodian authorities have denied its involvement.

Human rights group Amnesty International on Thursday accused the Cambodian government of "deliberately ignoring" violations by cybercrime gangs trafficking people from around the world, including children, of being slaves in brutal fraud complexes.

Amnesty identified 53 fraud centers and dozens of other suspicious locations across the country, including in the capital Phnom Penh.

A Cambodian government spokesman said the country rejected allegations of absence of action.