Adm. Timothy J. Keating, right, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, gestures as he talks to journalists at Ministry of Defense in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2007. The United States is ready to assist Cambodia in military training and exercises to improve the country's capabilities to fight global terrorism, Keating said Tuesday. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)Tue Aug 21, 2007
PHNOM PENH (AFP) - The region's top US military commander Tuesday expressed concern over China's rapid military build-up, just days after an unprecedented display of Beijing's firepower during war games with Russia.
"China professes to be advocating a peaceful rise," said Admiral Timothy J. Keating, head of the US Pacific Command, during his first official trip to Cambodia, where he met with senior defence officials.
"Some of the systems they're developing and some of the capabilities that they're demonstrating would indicate to us that perhaps their intentions aren't exactly beneficial to security ... throughout the pacific," he said.
"So we're watching carefully," he added after talks with Cambodian Defence Minister Tea Bahn.
Cambodia has in recent years become a stronger focus for both Washington and Beijing. China, a former patron of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime, continues to eclipse the impoverished country's other donors with hundreds of millions of dollars in largely-unconditional aid.
Just moments before Keating's arrival at Cambodia's defence ministry, Chinese ambassador Zhang Jin Feng was seen leaving with a delegation of senior Chinese military officials.
Zhang divulged little about her talks, and Keating downplayed the ambassador's appearance, and said that his visit to Cambodia this week was not to counter Beijing's regional military influence.
"I don't view my visit as offsetting anyone else's. We're anxious to have more transparency with China," he said.
"We are not competing against the People's Republic of China militarily."
But after years in the diplomatic wilderness, Cambodia's star has abruptly begun to rise with the United States.
In particular, military ties to the country, largely snapped after Prime Minister Hun Sen ousted his then-political counterpart in a 1997 coup, were re-established two years ago with the promise of limited military aid.
Since then, at least three senior US military commanders, including Keating, have made swings through Cambodia, and in February the navy's USS Gary became the first US warship to visit the former communist country in more than 30 years.
Keating said more cooperation is possible, mainly in the form of training and military exercises.
Cambodia has also emerged as a key regional partner in Washington's "war on terror," and Keating told reporters that the US would ramp up counter-terrorism cooperation with authorities here.
"We're willing to do what we can to make their capabilities even better, and this involves information sharing, surveillance techniques and the capability to track the flow of finances around the world," he said.
Porous borders and poor policing have made Cambodia a concern for terror watchers, who warn that extremist organisations could use the country as a refuge or staging ground for operations.
"China professes to be advocating a peaceful rise," said Admiral Timothy J. Keating, head of the US Pacific Command, during his first official trip to Cambodia, where he met with senior defence officials.
"Some of the systems they're developing and some of the capabilities that they're demonstrating would indicate to us that perhaps their intentions aren't exactly beneficial to security ... throughout the pacific," he said.
"So we're watching carefully," he added after talks with Cambodian Defence Minister Tea Bahn.
Cambodia has in recent years become a stronger focus for both Washington and Beijing. China, a former patron of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime, continues to eclipse the impoverished country's other donors with hundreds of millions of dollars in largely-unconditional aid.
Just moments before Keating's arrival at Cambodia's defence ministry, Chinese ambassador Zhang Jin Feng was seen leaving with a delegation of senior Chinese military officials.
Zhang divulged little about her talks, and Keating downplayed the ambassador's appearance, and said that his visit to Cambodia this week was not to counter Beijing's regional military influence.
"I don't view my visit as offsetting anyone else's. We're anxious to have more transparency with China," he said.
"We are not competing against the People's Republic of China militarily."
But after years in the diplomatic wilderness, Cambodia's star has abruptly begun to rise with the United States.
In particular, military ties to the country, largely snapped after Prime Minister Hun Sen ousted his then-political counterpart in a 1997 coup, were re-established two years ago with the promise of limited military aid.
Since then, at least three senior US military commanders, including Keating, have made swings through Cambodia, and in February the navy's USS Gary became the first US warship to visit the former communist country in more than 30 years.
Keating said more cooperation is possible, mainly in the form of training and military exercises.
Cambodia has also emerged as a key regional partner in Washington's "war on terror," and Keating told reporters that the US would ramp up counter-terrorism cooperation with authorities here.
"We're willing to do what we can to make their capabilities even better, and this involves information sharing, surveillance techniques and the capability to track the flow of finances around the world," he said.
Porous borders and poor policing have made Cambodia a concern for terror watchers, who warn that extremist organisations could use the country as a refuge or staging ground for operations.
14 comments:
Hi Uncle Sam,
Not long ago you had burned once with Yuon-Hanoi.You both had destroyed everything what Cambodia had left from the past.
Now you train Khmers to fight with China ...and you will leave us again once it was in April 17th 1975.
Don't you think is enough for you guys who are fighting now in Iraq ?
Everywhere you go you had created so much suffering to the innocent people...when you left behind your
fight...a miilion & million refugees.
Your Democracy is always failed cuz you do not have a good heart for it.
thats true ! these big country nowaday is no different from the roman' empire. They are in a differnt form of tactic to conquer and destroy.
To the Cambodian leaders, what ever you do, do not fight their war for them. The Chinese and the American they are all the same. They don't care about the lives of the innocent khmer people, when the going gets tough they just abandon us to be slaughtered. We must learn from history, no nation/country that we can rely on beside ourselves.
The Chinese and the American, they don't see us as their friend, they see us as something inferior race and thus expendable for their games of world domination and ideologies. Do not fall into the trap again.
Cambodia is not the right place for US Admiral Timothy J. Keating or any other people to make statements on a third country's strategic interests in Cambodia or in the region. Cambodia pursues a policy of permanent neutrality. It should downplay the role and importance of its army and any military assistance. It needs, however, a strong navy to dfend and protect its maritime border. It should seek assistance to equip its navy, long term scholarships for navy officers to study international maritime law, marine science, marine fauna, seadbed, coastal gegraphy and resources, seaboard development,and medicine.
Let Cambodia not rely on using one power to offset the domination of another. This stategy did not work in the past and led it to desaster as alluded to by previous commentators. Let it abandon any militaristic culture. Let it think out of the box to find alternatives to the army to defend its borders.
The US is very fond of helping the military and military regimes around the world to turn them into the clients of its armament industry and to get them to serve its strategic interests.
LAO Mong Hay, Hong Kong
America is now getting more and more interested in Cambodia. Why? Because we have something in the ground. Oil. Now it's time for China and US try to get our interest. We Cambodian must be very careful.
Why American want to train us to fight terrorist? Why not train us to fight corruption, build bridges, schools...
Fighting global terrorism? What about the local terrorism sponsored by the ruling party? Remember the grenade attack on peaceful demonstrators in March 1997? What about fake bomb plots carried out the Cambodian security service to frame those activists whose peaceful campaign goes against its dubious interests?
Come on, Admiral Keating, your naval intelligence can tell you that Tea Banh's brother, Tea Vinh, is the big boss of pirates at sea. Tea Vinh is in charge of the Cambodian Navy, but he also engages in smuggling, piracy and protection of illegal fishing by the Thais.
What is the cause of terrorism? Oppression, corruption and poverty breed fundamentalists who see themselves as the saviours of the world in moral decline. We lost count of the oppressive regimes, past and present, that America has supported. Is it a good idea that we should buy and maintain the American weapons to fight global terrorism for America?
Our wound has just started to heal with the existing first aid kit, don't open it up again in order to try a different brand of first aid kit. It may look fancy, but it may hide a biological germ that heals this wound quickly but also infects other parts of our body. Fighting global conspiracy (the initiator) is more important than fighting global terrorism (the initiated).
Every body now interest in cambodia.Everybody hate the United states of America and Everybody scare of the mighty chinese military power!cambodia got not thing to lose, beause everybody just love cambodia including brad pit, and jolie too. But be carefull with vietnam and thailand, these two baster alway putting our khmer people down, taking our land, and killing our people!!vietnam need to stop abuse our khmerkrom people, and need to stop playing cambodia's internal politic, if there no vietnam or thailand cambodia would a properous country in southeast asia and liberate our khmer kampuchea krom!! we all kon khmer including in cambodia and abroad need to be united!....in older to help our own people in cambodia today, and kampuchea krom!!!!!uprising the khmer nation!!!!down fall the communist vietcong!!
long sarot, lot sarong.
takeo kingdom of cambodia
It's better to be trained by America, than by the damn youn. Why are the damn khmer soldiers being trained in youn? A 3 year study. Khmer soldiers are being sent to youn for training? Why are we training with a damn communist army?
Taking military training from both sides. But do not let super power buy your country.
Fooled by USA once was a mistake, two millions were killed. fooled second time will be twice killed.
American and Chinese don't care about Khmer. If American care about Khmer they would had stopped the "Killing Field". Three million people was slaughtered and the world including the American would just stand there and watch. American only do what is beneficial to them. We didn't have the oils like Iraq or Kuwait. "Free the Iraque people" What a joke? More like "Free the oil". The Chinese was the one behind the "Killing Field." The planed behind the killing field was to get rid all of Khmer race and replaced it with the Chinese population. As far as the Vietnamese and Thai, they are just waiting for our weakest moment to crush us like a little ant so they can take more of our land. Only Khmer can help Khmer. We need to be strong and love one another like a family should be. Let us stop point fingers at one another. We need to believe in our self, because Angkor was not built by an inferior people. Khmer is smart, brave, and very compassionate people.
I love Khmer very much
You can't blame the super power for "using" Cambodia, because they also "used" other countries, including Thailand and Vietnam. The big difference? The Siem and the Youn had smarter leaders than Cambodia. In a world where nobody can be isolated, it's all about leadership, and how they can handle negotiations and politics with the super power. You have retarded leaders, then the pepole will suffer. You have a true leader who care for the people, then you have a strong country.
Look at our past and current leadership....Sihanouk, Lon Nol, Hun Sen, and whoever is between them. So far, all failure. Sad to say, but the least worse of the three is Hun Sen, but his corruption is too much, and Cambodia will go down hill due to inability to control corruption.
All I am saying is that American has no good intension by assisting Cambodian in military training combating terrorism. Deep in your heart, do you believe Alquda will blow up Phnom Penh anytime soon? I am not blaming a super power countries, but don't act like they are helping us if they are only doing it for their benefit. You are right that the super power nation always had used other countries, but it just bother me when they said that they are helping when they are not.
As far as our neighbors have a "smarter" leader, I am somewhat agree with you, but I still believe that it is not completly a leaders faulted 100% for what has happened to us. We individual khmer needs to take responsibility for our history. Before, we point fingers at someone else, which is very easy, we need to dig down deep in our self as Khmer and ask, what have we done for Khmer? We all need to pull our weigh to make a difference. Do something, volunteer your times, get involve with a community, talk among your friends and families to see what can we do to help? Donate money,$1 or $5 will do so much for an orphanage children who is suffering and dying as I am posting this comment. One thing, I would like to suggest to all of my brothers and sisters out there who is living abroad that love Khmer and would like to help Khmer, please go to visit our homeland.
Corruption definetly destroying our country. I know a lot of people will hate me for saying this, but I believe that it is natural that if you are hungry, you will eat and if you are full, you will not think about foods as much. At the same time, I do know that many powerful Cambodian leader, out their who is full and still eating. Corruption will not stop over night my brother and we got a lot of work to do. Through education, by understanding of who we are and knowing our capability, we will one day get to the promise land. Thank you for responding to my comment.
I love khmer very much
the person above me is rational about the solution to corruption. These people talking about corruption always think that removal of officials in the office will do the jobs. It is like replacing a dead fish with another one into the basket. Education and ethics are the solution, which some of you seem to lack yourselves lol. Corruption in Cambodia now isn't Hun Sen's faults. It is the 30+ years of civil war that fucked up people's minds. However, nowadays, many young Khmer are very interested in learning. That's a good sign because intellectual knowledge is all that you really need to be a force to reckon with.
I would like to challenge all of my brothers and sisters who love khmer out there to test your heart. For those of you out there who take your time to read about Khmer, I know you love Khmer,but the questions is what can we do to make the different? Being Khmer,I am very hurt to see our people still suffering due to the lack of basic needs such as waters,and foods. In my opinion, these two basic needs are the funtamental caused of corruption. Let us all spread these words today and do something together within your community and friends. Let just not talking about helping, but just "do it." These are some few example what I will do. I will get about 10-15 closest friends or families who shared the same feeling about our people and make a commitment $5-$10 monthly to donate for a good cause such as: dig a well, donate school supplies, donate cloths, sponsor a needy family within a villege, donate to an orphanage facility such as children of AIDS etc.
The big questions that I encountered when I spoke to all of my friends is, who can we trust with our money when send it? That is an excuse question. We all have friends or family in Cambodia who have a good heart. Let find those good hear people and give him/her 10% or 20% of what we collected to work for us. On a monthly basis, send us a feetback reports, such as pictures or video tape of proof where our money goes, the 10% or 20% will keep on coming.
My brothers and sisters, we all can make a diffrences. Let us not wait another 5 yrs or 10 yrs to do something. Our people need us now more than ever. Let not point fingers and blame somebody else. The broblems will always be there, if we are not part of the solution.
I love Khmer very much.
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