Cambodia will start military conscription next year as tensions with Thailand persist

In this photo released by Agence Kampuchea Press (AKP), Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet delivers a speech during ceremony to put in used the military building in northern Kampong Chhnang province, Monday, July 14, 2025. (AKP via AP)

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Manet said Monday that his country will implement military conscription starting next year, in an announcement that coincides with persistent border tensions with Thailand.

Relations between the neighbours have deteriorated sharply following an armed confrontation on May 28 in which one Cambodian soldier was killed in one of several small contested patches of land.

The sides have agreed to de-escalate their dispute to avoid further clashes, but continue to implement or threaten measures that have kept tensions high, alongside exchanging sharp words.

The dispute has also roiled Thailand’s domestic politics. Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra was suspended from office after making what critics saw as a disparaging comment about her country’s military in a phone call to Cambodia’s former Prime Minister Hun Sen, who leaked a recording of it.

Hun Manet, Hun Sen’s son and successor, said that starting in 2026, an existing law on conscription would be implemented to fill shortages and upgrade the military’s capabilities.

“This is our commitment,” Hun Manet said in a speech to military forces in the northern province of Kampong Chhnang. He wore his military uniform displaying his rank of a four-star general.

Hun Manet said that soldiers joining the ranks through conscription were more effective than a voluntary force and at least as professional.

The conscription law was passed in 2006, but never activated. Cambodians of both sexes, aged 18 to 30, must serve but for women, service is voluntary.

Thailand has long implemented conscription for men reaching 20 years of age, with an annual lottery determining who among them is called up.

The CIA’s World Factbook estimates Cambodia’s armed forces total 200,000 personnel, including a large force of military police. It says Thailand has 350,000 active-duty personnel in its armed forces.

Hun Manet also called for increasing the military budget. Cambodia is one of the region’s poorer countries, with a US$9.32 billion national budget for 2025, out of which the biggest share, US$739 million, went for defense.

He also repeated calls for Thailand to reopen without conditions all border crossings it had closed, saying that Cambodia would reciprocate within hours.

Sopheng Cheang, The Associated Press