Sralanh Khmer newspaper
Translated from Khmer and posted online
Hun Sen once again praised China for its aid with no strings attached and said that China gives aid without imposing any conditions, which is completely unlike some other countries. But the aid-giving superpowers with the exception of China insist that no countries give Cambodia aid without strings or conditions; the difference is only how Cambodia decides to use this aid.
Hun Sen stated in Kratie province yesterday while inaugurating a road-construction site that China never ordered Cambodia to build this or that road. The Chinese leaders work with all their partners on an equal footing, he said. On the contrary, the West gives Cambodia aid and asks Cambodia to have specific development projects and reform targets.
Observers said that China does not interfere in Cambodia's internal affairs and China gives Cambodia unconditional assistance... but many Chinese companies have received cheap concession lands and have been exploiting natural resources in Cambodia on a large scale. At the same time, China has used its so-called aid without strings attached to inflate twice or thrice the prices for the construction projects contracted to Chinese firms, such as the restoration of the hydroelectric power stations. Hun Sen probably is aware of this unscrupulous Chinese practice, but because he has already put himself in this dire strait vis-a-vis communist China, he is afraid to expose this painful trickery and continues to blindly glorify China.
As far as Western aid is concerned, it is not given to Cambodia so that Hun Sen can do whatever he likes with it. Western countries need to impose conditions, especially on the reform of the justice and administrative systems and the making of anti-corruption laws with specific transparency. Western aid does not have ties or impose conditions that concession lands must be given to any Western company like communist China's aid does in Cambodia. Therefore, the aid from China and that from the West to Cambodia are antipodal to each other in their nature and objective.
It is known that Hun Sen's babbling in Kratie yesterday was to extol China and downplay the West in a bid to cover up the incompetence, theft, and embezzlement of his government officials. However, this unorthodox theory similar to the cry of a blinded troll that Hun Sen has resorted to cannot fool or divert the attention of the Western aid donors and the Cambodian people. What Hun Sen said in Kratie can only more clearly show that he has become inextricably enmeshed in this so-called string-less Chinese aid when the movement to oppose the Cambodian Government's incorrect use of foreign aid is underway. As a matter of fact, at the beginning of this week the superpowers that gave aid to Cambodia, including the United States, Germany, Canada, France, and Japan, criticized the Hun Sen Government by reminding it to stop making empty promises and instead to bring the anti-corruption laws into shape.
The brief story above shows that Hun Sen is struggling weakly under the strong pressure of the aid donors, especially those in the West. One clear image brought up to the public's mind by Hun Sen's violent vociferation in Kratie yesterday is that Hun Sen sees that it is time for him to kneel down and salute the Western aid donors concerning their demand that he must lead the country truly in accordance with the state of law.
Hun Sen stated in Kratie province yesterday while inaugurating a road-construction site that China never ordered Cambodia to build this or that road. The Chinese leaders work with all their partners on an equal footing, he said. On the contrary, the West gives Cambodia aid and asks Cambodia to have specific development projects and reform targets.
Observers said that China does not interfere in Cambodia's internal affairs and China gives Cambodia unconditional assistance... but many Chinese companies have received cheap concession lands and have been exploiting natural resources in Cambodia on a large scale. At the same time, China has used its so-called aid without strings attached to inflate twice or thrice the prices for the construction projects contracted to Chinese firms, such as the restoration of the hydroelectric power stations. Hun Sen probably is aware of this unscrupulous Chinese practice, but because he has already put himself in this dire strait vis-a-vis communist China, he is afraid to expose this painful trickery and continues to blindly glorify China.
As far as Western aid is concerned, it is not given to Cambodia so that Hun Sen can do whatever he likes with it. Western countries need to impose conditions, especially on the reform of the justice and administrative systems and the making of anti-corruption laws with specific transparency. Western aid does not have ties or impose conditions that concession lands must be given to any Western company like communist China's aid does in Cambodia. Therefore, the aid from China and that from the West to Cambodia are antipodal to each other in their nature and objective.
It is known that Hun Sen's babbling in Kratie yesterday was to extol China and downplay the West in a bid to cover up the incompetence, theft, and embezzlement of his government officials. However, this unorthodox theory similar to the cry of a blinded troll that Hun Sen has resorted to cannot fool or divert the attention of the Western aid donors and the Cambodian people. What Hun Sen said in Kratie can only more clearly show that he has become inextricably enmeshed in this so-called string-less Chinese aid when the movement to oppose the Cambodian Government's incorrect use of foreign aid is underway. As a matter of fact, at the beginning of this week the superpowers that gave aid to Cambodia, including the United States, Germany, Canada, France, and Japan, criticized the Hun Sen Government by reminding it to stop making empty promises and instead to bring the anti-corruption laws into shape.
The brief story above shows that Hun Sen is struggling weakly under the strong pressure of the aid donors, especially those in the West. One clear image brought up to the public's mind by Hun Sen's violent vociferation in Kratie yesterday is that Hun Sen sees that it is time for him to kneel down and salute the Western aid donors concerning their demand that he must lead the country truly in accordance with the state of law.
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