Thailand will begin construction of a border fence along its frontier with Cambodia in April, Thai military officials said.
The project aims to stregthen security and curb cross-border crime, according to the Royal Thai Armed Forces.
Officials said the pilot phase would cover approximately 1.3 kilometres in Chanthaburi Province, between border markers 52 to 54. The district borders the Cambodian provinces of Pailin and Battambang.
The stretch represents a small section of the nearly 800-kilometre border between the two countries and is expected to take around 45 days to complete.
Vithai said the project was not linked to any territorial dispute and had been agreed upon with Cambodian authorities, who have also built a parallel road on their side. Future phases will add electronic fencing fitted with sensors and CCTV cameras for round-the-clock monitoring.
The fence comes against a backdrop of long-running tensions between the two neighbours.
A Long-Standing Dispute
At the heart of the dispute is the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple, contested under the colonial-era Franco-Siamese Treaty of 1907. The International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 and 2013 that the temple belongs to Cambodia, though Thailand has continued to claim parts of the surrounding area.
Armed clashes between 2008 and 2011 killed dozens and displaced thousands of civilians.
The most recent conflict began in May 2025 with a skirmish near Preah Vihear that left a Cambodian soldier dead. Fighting escalated through the year.
A first ceasefire in October collapsed within weeks. A second, signed in late December, ended 20 days of fighting. The clashes killed dozens and displaced more than half a million people on both sides.


