Thailand’s nine-month-old government is worried about the economic fallout if the border conflict in the Mom Tre region escalates and leads to a border closure with Cambodia, at a time when the kingdom’s economy is already in a slump.
According to The Nation, Prime Minister Phaythong Shinawatra, 38, who has been in office for just nine months and two weeks, and Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai And the defense minister urged the military not to close the border, citing Cambodia’s request and economic concerns over disruptions to cross-border trade.
Thai government Urged the military to exercise restraint in response to the rise in tensions along the border following clashes on the morning of May 28, 2025. According to the report, the Thai military really wants to close the border, but the government has opposed the move, citing concerns about the potential economic impact, especially on cross-border trade, and fears of worsening the impact on Thailand’s domestic economy.
The Thai government has stressed the importance of a diplomatic solution, especially with the Cambodia-Thailand Joint Border Committee meeting scheduled for mid-June. At this stage, Thailand is very cautious about crises that could affect the economy because at present, the engines of Thai economic growth such as investment, purchasing power of citizens, exports and tourism are all on the decline.
Recently, the Thai Council for Social and Economic Development claimed that Thailand’s economic growth, which was previously predicted to be only 2.8 percent, will continue to decline to only 1.8 percent due to domestic crises and external problems, especially the US tariff.
Analysts have said that in the event that the Cambodian border issue escalates and leads to a border closure, the level of impact on the Thai economy will decrease further because the trade volume between Cambodia and Thailand is also quite large. In 2024, the bilateral trade volume between Cambodia and Thailand was worth more than $4 billion, of which Thailand exported more than $3 billion to Cambodia, while Cambodia exported only nearly $800 million to Thailand.
Separately, according to statistics from the General Department of Customs and Excise of Cambodia, in the first four months of this year, trade between Cambodia and Thailand reached $1.49 billion, of which Cambodia’s exports to Thailand totaled only nearly $328 million. Based on these figures, any attempt to close the border would hit Thailand’s exports harder than Cambodia’s.
According to Thai media reports, the Poipet border crossing alone has 300 trucks carrying goods a day and about 2,000 passengers. In addition to the Poipet border crossing, Cambodia has seven international border crossings with Thailand and several regional and bilateral border crossings. These crossings are all trade and connectivity points.
Regarding the issue of the conflict, Prime Minister Hun Sen of Cambodia made a clear statement, broadcast live from the National Assembly and Senate for the first time on the morning of June 2, 2025, that in order to resolve the thorny issue and end the long-standing conflict between the two countries, Cambodia requests the Thai side to support Cambodia’s position in bringing up the border case in the four disputed areas: the Mom 3 area, Ta Moan Thom temple, Ta Moan Toch temple, and Ta Krabey temple. Go to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at once.
The King said that in the event that the Thai side does not support it, Cambodia will continue to resolve the dispute through this mechanism, but he did not rule out continuing the resolution through existing mechanisms. Cambodia is also ready, including the military, to defend its sovereignty and territory.
Separately, in the same congress, Samdech Techo Hun Sen, President of the Senate, who led the congress, expressed his support and said that The mechanism for resolving the border dispute in the disputed area has not progressed at all after efforts to resolve it according to the memorandum of understanding signed since 2000. Samdech Techo stated that 25 years of efforts have been nothing more than searching for markers along the old border, so Cambodia and Thailand should join hands to go to the International Court of Justice to help decide on the existing mechanism. Samdech Techo also expressed hope that the conflict will not escalate and that cooperation between Cambodia and Thailand will remain the same.
