Thai fruits under threat as Cambodia weighs import ban amid deadly border clash

Cambodia on Monday, June 16, 2025, threatened a total ban on Thai fruits and vegetables, escalating a tense standoff over a deadly border clash that has reignited long-standing territorial disputes between the two Southeast Asian neighbours.

The warning comes just days after a May 28 armed confrontation in a disputed “no man’s land” along the Cambodia-Thailand border left one Cambodian soldier dead.

Both countries have blamed each other for the fatal skirmish, which occurred in one of four contested zones that each side claims as sovereign territory.

Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen, the country’s former prime minister, announced in a nationally televised speech on Monday that all Thai fruit and vegetable imports would be halted by Tuesday if Thailand fails to lift its recently imposed border restrictions.

“If Thailand doesn’t lift the blockade, they should prepare to eat their fruits themselves,” Hun Sen said, warning of harsher retaliation if the standoff drags on.

Thailand imposed the curbs last week, citing citizen safety concerns due to heightened troop deployments in contested areas.

Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra defended the move on Monday, stating it was meant to avoid further escalation.

“Unprofessional public remarks outside bilateral channels only damage the interests of both sides,” she said.

While both nations held diplomatic talks in Phnom Penh over the weekend, no concrete progress emerged.

In a bold move, Cambodia has now escalated the dispute to the United Nations’ International Court of Justice (ICJ), seeking arbitration on four contentious zones.

Cambodia’s State Secretariat of Border Affairs confirmed it would no longer engage in bilateral talks on those areas, ending decades of traditional dispute resolution through joint border committees.

Thailand, in turn, expressed “deep disappointment”, reiterating that it does not recognise ICJ jurisdiction in the current dispute.

However, both sides agreed to participate in another round of border talks, scheduled to take place in Thailand this September.

Much of the fiery rhetoric appears designed to appease nationalistic critics on both sides of the border.

In Thailand, Prime Minister Paetongtarn faces pressure from hardline conservatives who oppose her and her father, former PM Thaksin Shinawatra.

The current crisis revives memories of the long-simmering dispute over the Preah Vihear temple, which the ICJ awarded to Cambodia in 1962.

The verdict led to intermittent, violent clashes in 2011, and the court reaffirmed its decision in 2013.

With diplomacy teetering and trade threats mounting, regional analysts fear the row could spiral unless cooler heads prevail.

“These disputes have a deep history. But without compromise, both sides stand to lose economically and diplomatically,” one ASEAN policy analyst said.

If no breakthrough emerges soon, Southeast Asia could witness one of its most serious bilateral crises in over a decade — a confrontation that now spans territory, trade, and political pride.

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