A dispute between Cambodia and Vietnam over the placement of four border crossings, which began over two weeks ago, has yet to be resolved. In the meantime, the checkpoints remain closed. These are small local border gates and this will mainly affect local villagers and illegal loggers. Foreign tourists will cross the border to or from Ratanakkiri at the main checkpoint as usual.

It is interesting that the Vietnamese have asked for new border crossings in the middle of the forest, far from human habitation.

Vietnamese block border gates
9 January 2018
Vietnam has closed four minor border checkpoints in Ratanakkiri province after Cambodian authorities disagreed on the location of three, it was revealed in a monthly National Police meeting yesterday.

National Police spokesman Kirth Chantharith told reporters after the meeting that Ratanakkiri provincial authorities are discussing the issue with Vietnam’s Kon Tum provincial authorities.

He said the Vietnamese side was angry that Cambodia denied three out of the four border gates and so decided to close them all by fencing them off and digging ruts into the road leading to them.

According to a report by Ratanakkiri provincial police chief Nguon Koeun, the Vietnamese blocked the border gates by building fences on December 24 and 25.

“The closure of the above four checkpoints has affected the entry and exit of people at border station No. 505,” his report added.

The closures came after Ratanakkiri provincial authorities criticised the location of three of the gates, claiming they were too far away from villagers’ homes and hidden away in forests...
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/50100767/vi ... der-gates/

Who stole the tip box

The closed checkpoints in Ratanakkiri are still under discussion apparently; a reminder that borders remain a touchy subject between Cambodia and her neighbors.

Lesser known border tensions between Cambodia and Vietnam
9 April 2018
ASEAN countries relate to an omnipresent border issue that encompasses both, land and sea. Still relevant to this day, the land border imbroglio relates to contested locations along the common routes and to the demarcation of the border line, which Vietnam deems to be arbitrary. On the other hand, the maritime dispute encapsulates water and continental shelf areas in the Gulf of Thailand to the southeast of Cambodia and to the southwest of Vietnam.

To add fuel to the fire, Cambodia rejected Vietnam’s proposal to build four formal checkpoints, with the former only accepting one. In retaliation, Vietnam blocked off four heavily travelled, informal crossings. The primary contention as brought forth by San Chey, the country director of the Affiliated Network for Social Accountability is that Vietnam may want more efficient routes to smuggle illegal timber into Cambodia.

Early this year, Kirth Chantharith, a spokesman for the National Police of Cambodia, pointed out that Ratankkiri provincial authorities are hard at work trying to resolve the dispute, urging Vietnam to reopen the four blocked crossings that were shut in response to a denied building of formal barriers.
https://theaseanpost.com/article/lesser ... -vietnam-0