Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen speaks during the 26th International Conference on The Future of Asia on May 20. (Photo by Kai Fujii) Nikkei staff writers May 20, 2021 09:30 JST Updated on May 20, 2021 20:28 JST
TOKYO — Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen has defended his close relationship with China, pointing to Beijing’s large injections of financial support to his small nation.
China is Cambodia’s key political patron and largest source of development assistance, having helped funnel billions of dollars for infrastructure projects. This has fueled criticism that Phnom Penh has become over-reliant on, and a proxy for, Beijing. But Hun Sen, speaking remotely to Nikkei’s Future of Asia conference on Thursday, called that criticism “unjust.”
“If I don’t rely on China, who will I rely on? If I don’t ask China, who am I to ask?” Hun Sen said to the forum, held in Tokyo and online through Friday.
There have also been suggestions that Cambodia intends to host Chinese military assets at bases on its soil. Hun Sen reiterated previous denials that there were plans to do so at a naval base where the Chinese government is helping to expand facilities.
He pointed to Cambodia’s constitution, which prohibits foreign military bases within the country. He added that any country was welcome to send ships to Cambodia, a sentiment he echoed regarding development aid.
“We do not close the door to anyone in accepting assistance for building the country,” he said.
Hun Sen remained defiant about European Union trade sanctions imposed on the country last August.
Brussels partially suspended preferential access to the EU bloc for 20% of Cambodia’s exports, over what it called systemic human rights violations. The move was a blow for the country’s $10 billion garment manufacturing sector, which relies on the European market.
Among the EU concerns was the forced dissolution of Cambodia’s main opposition party, the Cambodian National Rescue Party, which came close to winning a national election in 2013. Since the party’s dissolution in 2017, its leader has been charged with treason and senior members have fled abroad to avoid jail. More than 100 supporters have been hauled before courts in mass trials.
Hun Sen said the EU assessment “did not conform with reality” and claimed the existence of more than 20 small political parties was proof that Cambodia remained democratic. In almost the same breath, however, he noted some opponents must be “rehabilitated” in order to participate in politics.
He was dismissive of the impact of the EU’s preference withdrawal, saying it had been eclipsed by the “huge” economic fallout of the pandemic. Cambodia would not seek to overturn the decision, he added.
“We continue to export 20% of our goods to Europe by paying tariffs to them,” he said.
“But we cannot accept that our country cannot implement its own laws. An independent sovereign state has to implement its laws.”
With Cambodia battling an aggressive coronavirus outbreak, he also touched on the need to make COVID-19 vaccines easily available and eliminate restrictions on the movement of medical goods and services across borders.
“Asia needs to attach high priority and utmost importance to ensuring that the COVID-19 vaccines and medications are global public goods, which will be supplied and distributed upon humanitarian cause to every country, particularly the vulnerable ones,” he said.
Cambodia, which recorded fewer than 500 cases and no virus-linked deaths in 2020, is grappling with its worst coronavirus outbreak since the pandemic began, recording more than 20,000 infections since February. Its health authorities are rushing to roll out a vaccine campaign and have delivered at least one shot to more than 2 million citizens.
While the country received some AstraZeneca stocks via the United Nations-backed COVAX program, the bulk of its vaccine supplies are from China, something Hun Sen emphasized.
“Without assistance from China,” he said, “maybe we will not have vaccines for our people.”
Reporting by Shaun Turton.
Read on for a full run-down of the first day’s speeches and discussions.
If you’re a head of state in a democratic country, it generally isn’t a good idea to wear your best watches in public. Bill Clinton, for example, famously wore a Timex during his time in office, but since leaving the White House has been spotted with the likes of Jaeger LeCoultre, Audemars Piguet and A. Lange & Söhne on his wrist. Similarly Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison was in hot water recently over an image that appeared to have him wearing a white gold Rolex Daytona (though it turned out not to be true). The bottom line is that if you’re a leader who’s meant to represent the people who voted you into office, it isn’t a great look to be flaunting luxury goods that your electorate could never begin to afford. But this hasn’t stopped the Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen from putting his watches on full public display, a point that the leader of a political opposition party is now capitalising on in the election.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen spotted wearing what appears to be a Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime 6300G. Image: superwatchman.com
Political opposition leader Sam Rainsy has started a campaign to raise money for impoverished Cambodians by selling raffle tickets to win his Casio that is worth the grand total of $5. Each raffle ticket will cost $5 and Rainsy anticipates selling more than 10,000 tickets in the three weeks that the competition will run.
Sam Rainsy wearing a Swatch. Image: wikimedia.org
This clever fundraising exercise is a political manoeuvre designed to point the spotlight directly on the watch collection of Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has ruled the country since 1985. Despite the average per capita GDP in Cambodia being just $1,500 a year, Hun Sen owns a collection of watches estimated to be worth several million dollars, including pieces from Patek Philippe and Richard Mille.
Wearing a Patek Philippe 6002 Sky Moon Tourbillon. Image: Insane Luxury
“If people want to buy my watch, they can buy a $5 raffle ticket, and if they are lucky, they will be awarded with the watch. People can buy more than one ticket if they like,” said opposition leader Sam Rainsy.
It is probably unlikely that this campaign be enough to see Hun Sen sell his collection of beautiful watches, but it does go to show that a nice watch isn’t always a good thing, particularly of you work in politics.
Massachusetts lawmakers condemn Hun Sen’s crackdown and political charges against Members of Cambodia’s leading opposition political party
Washington (January 13, 2021) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), lead Democrat on the East Asia Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Congresswoman Lori Trahan (MA-03) released a statement in response to the scheduled January 14, 2021 trial of prominent political opposition leaders in Cambodia. The Government of Cambodia, led by Prime Minister Hun Sen, announced last year their intention to try dozens of activists belonging to the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), the country’s main opposition party which was outlawed in 2017, sending many of its leaders into exile. Trials against some of the activists are scheduled to begin this week, while many are prevented from entering Cambodia to participate in their own defense.
“Prime Minister Hun Sen’s campaign to silence his political opponents by denying them the right to defend themselves in court reveals disdain for the rule of law,” said Senator Markey, Senator Warren, and Rep. Trahan. “Convening a kangaroo court to punish his critics for their opposition, along with his continued attacks on the press and civil-society, is a reflection of Hun Sen’s growing weakness, not strength. We call upon the Government of Cambodia to allow any individuals facing charges to return safely to Cambodia to participate in their own trials. However, it is clear that these trials are politically motivated and are operating outside the rule of law. The Cambodia Democracy Act sends the clear message that the U.S. Congress intends to help the Cambodian people deliver on the promise of the Paris Peace Agreements of a generation ago so they can participate freely in their government. We should pass that legislation.”
On January 14, 2021, Cambodia’s Phnom Penh Municipal Court will reportedly try 47 CNRP activists and officials, including Acting CNRP President Sam Rainsy, who lives in exile abroad, and others linked to politically-motivated charges of trying to organize protests against and overthrow the government of Hun Sen. The government has also failed to offer credible evidence to support charges of treason against Kem Sokha, CNRP President, for allegedly attempting to overthrow the Cambodian People’s Party. The Government of Cambodia has failed to issue passports and visas for opposition leaders and activists charged, making it unlikely they will be to answer their court summons in person. In 2020, Senator Markey introduced the Cambodia Democracy Act, in response to the deteriorating human rights and democracy situation in Cambodia.###
Posted by: Analyst S | Posted on: December 9, 2020
Talking on live show of Youth Voice for Justice of CNRP America, Mr. Sophoan adamantly articulated the viable plan returning back to Cambodia of CNRP leadership led by Mu Sochua as it is a mature political attitude responding to the court’s summons.
Legally speaking, the repatriation plan is purely to fight with the accusation of the Phnom Penh municipal Court summoned by deputy prosecutor Seng Heang. The accusation is bogus “plotting” to commit treason and “incitement” to commit a felony which are a serious crime without bleeding or hurting anybody physically and mentally at all. The accusation is politically motivated. The due process is non-existent as en mass trial was created by improper en mass name listing all together to attest to a public building. The court proceeding is set up to denounce all justice attempts because the defendants are not allowed to having sufficient time to prepare themselves at all including seeking or exercising rights to obtaining legal counsel or attorney. While the initial accusation is high the chance of trial in absentia is pretty bogus, this returning back to fight the legal accusation is apolitical. And no one can block or ban this physical presenting of the defendants as well as manipulating the court proceeding.
Political pragmatism has been visibly emerging among Cambodian people and their leaders. Court proceedings are considered the most safety net of social reform and social order revitalization although it is a bad court or a good court. When a society is at war, the brave men and women are needed to carry gun; but when a society is at peace, the brave men and women are needed to carry pen and paper. The court of Cambodia has been notoriously known for its “travesty of justice”. Many men and women have already been thrown in jail because of this bad court practice, and the sacrifices of those men and women shall deepen a new successful chapter of history of Cambodia. The grand policy to walk into the court room in order to restructure, repaint, restore human resource and refinance it, is very pragmatic and optimistic.
We, the undersigned 32 civil society organizations, urge the Governments of Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, India, Japan, New Zealand, Sweden, the Netherlands, the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America to echo the European Union (EU) in its call for the respect of human rights in Cambodia. On August 12, 2020, the EU will partially suspend Cambodia’s “Everything But Arms” (EBA) tariff preferences in response to the Cambodian government’s “serious and systematic violations” of four human and labor rights conventions: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966), the International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention concerning Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize No. 87 (1948), the ILO Convention concerning the Application of the Principles of the Right to Organize and to Bargain Collectively, No. 98 (1949), and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966).
The Cambodian government continues to crack down on civil society, independent media, and the political opposition and human rights defenders to silence critical voices in the country. In the past three years it has adopted a series of repressive laws that unduly restrict human rights. In November 2019, the Cambodian authorities had arbitrarily detained nearly 90 people solely on the basis of the peaceful expression of their opinions or political views as well as their political affiliations. While 74 opposition members, detained on spurious charges, were released from detention in December 2019, the charges against them remain, and they risk re-arrest. Opposition leader Kem Sokha’s criminal trial for unsubstantiated treason charges has been marred by irregularities since it began in January. Sokha remains banned from politics and faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted. The Prime Minister announced that the trial could drag on into 2021.
In April, the Cambodian government used the Covid-19 crisis to adopt an unnecessary and draconian state of emergency law that provides the authorities with broad and unfettered powers to restrict freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association – rights that have already been severely restricted during his 35 years in power. Currently, another 30 political prisoners are behind bars due to the Cambodian government’s continued onslaught on free speech in the guise of combating Covid-19.
Cambodia committed to protecting and promoting fundamental human rights, providing equal protection of the law, and holding genuine periodic elections when it ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Cambodian government ratified all of the fundamental ILO Conventions that protect the rights of workers and trade unions. Respect for human rights and the rule of law are essential for a stable and flourishing business environment over the long term.
Cambodia agreed that access to the EU’s Everything But Arms preferential trade scheme is conditional on adherence to the principles in 15 core human rights and labor rights conventions. The European Commission’s decision on February 12, 2020 to partially suspend Cambodia’s EBA preferences followed a yearlong process of ‘enhanced engagement’ between the EU and Cambodia during which the Cambodian government was given every opportunity to cooperate and make significant progress in improving its protection of human rights and labor rights. The European Commission concluded that Cambodia had failed to take necessary measures to retain full EBA benefits.
