BANGKOK, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- Thailand and Malaysia may hold talks on expanding a border security wall to help curb illegal border crossings and smuggling.
The Thai News Agency, in a report carried in Wednesday's Bangkok Post, quoted Interior Minister Aree Wong-araya as welcoming such discussions on a ministerial level.
Thailand and Malaysia share a 400-mile frontier. The four Thai provinces along that frontier have become a battleground for Muslim separatists, who are believed to use Malaysia as a safe haven. Currently there is a 3-kilometer-long wall (about 1.8 miles) on Thailand's southern border between the Thai town of Sadeo and Padang Besar in Malaysia. There is talk of extending it south by an additional 27 kilometers (17 miles).
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is scheduled to visit Thailand Feb. 11-13.
The Thai minister was responding to a report in a Malaysian newspaper quoting Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar as suggesting talks with Thailand over the economic and social impact of extending the wall.
