Foreign Ministry affirms Ban Nong Chan is Thai territory, cites past protests against Cambodian encroachment

Thailand insists Ban Nong Chan in Sa Kaeo is Thai territory, rejecting Cambodia’s claims. MFA cites past protests over encroachment and flag-raising.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday clarified Cambodia’s accusations that Thailand violated its sovereignty by erecting barbed wire in the Ban Nong Chan area of Khok Sung district, Sa Kaeo province, along the Thai-Cambodian border.



Foreign Ministry spokesman Nikorndej Balankura said the area was originally used as a temporary shelter for Cambodian refugees fleeing conflict in 1981. Over time, however, Cambodia expanded settlements beyond the designated area, in violation of the 2000 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU 43). Thailand repeatedly lodged protests against this encroachment, but Cambodia failed to respond.



Nikorndej explained that Thailand’s barbed wire fence was erected to safeguard Thai sovereignty and protect citizens, particularly against the laying of anti-personnel landmines by Cambodian forces. He stressed that this action did not contravene agreements reached at the recent General Border Committee (GBC) meeting in Malaysia, where both sides agreed to refrain from building or expanding military infrastructure across the border.

Benjamin Sukanjanajtee, Director-General of the Department of Treaties and Legal Affairs, added that Ban Nong Chan lies between boundary markers 46 and 47, demarcated under the 1947 Franco-Siamese agreement. Thailand allowed the UNHCR to establish a temporary refugee camp there in 1981 on humanitarian grounds, with Thai troops erecting fencing to secure the area. After Cambodia’s civil war ended in 1999, Cambodian settlers expanded housing and farmland beyond this boundary.



Thailand’s National Security Council convened four meetings to address the issue, resolving to prevent further expansion of Cambodian settlements while pursuing peaceful negotiations and boundary demarcation.

In August 2002, Thai officials met with Cambodia’s Joint Boundary Commission (JBC) chairman, urging relocation of the encroaching community. Cambodia responded that it first needed to verify the exact boundary markers. Later, in September 2017, Thailand formally protested Cambodia’s actions after Cambodian authorities raised their national flag and established official offices in Ban Nong Chan. Bangkok called for the flag’s removal and the relocation of the community, citing a violation of Thailand’s sovereignty and Article 5 of MOU 43. Cambodia, however, never issued a reply.

(2025/08/23-00:00)