Thomas Miller
The Phnom Penh Post
DESPITE signs of progress in areas ranging from military cooperation to development aid, comments in recent weeks from Cambodian and American officials underscore the fact that bilateral relations remain snagged on an issue some three decades old: Cambodia’s wartime debt.
Before the US-ASEAN summit two weeks ago, Prime Minister Hun Sen called upon the United States to cancel the debt, calling it “dirty”. But a US State Department official said last week the US would not do so for fear of setting a “bad precedent” for countries in similar positions.
The principal sum of the debt, according to the US State Department and the International Monetary Fund, is US$162 million for shipments of cotton, rice, wheat flour and other agricultural commodities in the 1970s. Interest has ballooned the total debt to $445 million.
The Kingdom had an overall debt burden of $3.2 billion in 2009, according to the IMF, which noted in an assessment that year that Cambodia is at “moderate risk of debt distress”.
In congressional testimony Friday, Joe Yun, deputy assistant secretary for the US state department’s bureau of East Asian and Pacific affairs,
said the US would not forgive Cambodia’s debt because it considers Cambodia both able to pay and obligated to do so under international law.
Officials at the Ministry of Economy and Finance did not respond this week to requests for comment about the debt.
Beyond the debt issue, Yun observed a “generally positive trend” in bilateral relations in his remarks last week, noting that the US has been Cambodia’s top trading partner since 1998. Moreover, under President Barack Obama, he said, the US would provide US$72 million to Cambodia this year, making it the fourth-largest recipient of foreign aid in the East Asia-Pacific region. But the debt could be a “spoiler” in the countries’ relationship, said Carlyle Thayer, a professor at the Australian Defense Force Academy who called on the US to forgive it.
Cambodia incurred the debt under Lon Nol, who came to power in a 1970 coup d’etat. The US subsequently supported Lon Nol with economic, food and military aid, including an infamous bombing campaign.
Historians have long said that the bombs, believed to have killed tens of thousands of civilians while devastating the Cambodian countryside, may have slowed the Khmer Rouge in the short term, but also likely strengthened them as well.
Kenton Clymer, a professor at Northern Illinois University and an expert on US-Cambodia relations, said in an email yesterday that a reduction of the debt would be appropriate in view of the countries’ tumultuous history. “I suspect that the American legal position is correct, that a change of government does not relieve a country of previous debts. On the other hand, US bombing of Cambodia and American policy during the Khmer Republic did help create conditions that made a Khmer Rouge victory more likely,” Clymer said.
The US dropped 2,756,941 tons of ordnance in Cambodia, according to historians Ben Kiernan and Owen Taylor. William Shawcross put the cost of the bombing at $7 billion.
But an argument based on the historical injustice of the debt in view of the American legacy in the region was “not going to work politically” in negotiations with the US, Thayer said.
Phay Siphan, a spokesman for the Council of Ministers, indicated yesterday that the government viewed debt forgiveness as a potential way to move beyond their contentious past.
“We don’t want to put the blame and point a figure at each other,” he said. “Right now we have a new chapter.”
15 comments:
Great uncle Sam. First you helped Lon Nol to plot a coup d'etat, then you bombed Cambodia killing innocent people, then you abandonned us to the Communist hands, and now you have the audacity to make us pay for all your mistakes. Is this what you call friendship?
Is making Cambodia paid for your mistakes or forgive the debt a bad precedent?
To whom
who were American dogs from 1970 to 1975 and still beleive that Americans are their god:
Americans forced you to fight against Vietcong,
Americans dropped bombs on Cambodia,
Americans dropped you in 1975 in the Khmer-rouges bloody hands.
Americans still be your god ?
Always Khmers false ?
Even Americans themself, they recognize that they were wrong.
I don't deny what Americans do good things to Cambodians now:
buy garnment with tax exemption,
help Cambofdian education and health..
I support a direct WAR COMPENSATION to the Khmer people without Hun Sen's involvement. A FUND must be setup for money transfer under strict UN supervision.
Hoon Sex have to repay all debts to U.S. you are the next cambodia government.
DON'T PAY THEM BACK! PM HUN SEN! AND ANOUNCE IT IN THE INTERNATIONAL FORUM PLEASE! YOU ARE A GREATEST!!
1:27
Fuck you asshole!
Pakistan owns US in Billions of dollars and US still forgives Pakistan without their appearling... So, and now we should know and learn moving forward...
We need to nuke Cambodia....just to save Khmer people. Bring back the KH soldier and clean out the CCP.
I have some ideas regarding to US Debts. If we looked in the past, Many million people were killed by bombing B-52.Cambodia was downturn to the war between bloc communist and US. Lon Nol he has no choice to borrow US money because he was in control of US administration, Nixon who made secret plan to drop thousand B-52 and many people died. Who are responsible for? Neutrally, i would said USA now force Cambodia to pay because political issue. it is not money issues because Cambodia improve relationship with China.The money for US is very smalll amount which cannot compare with the war in Iraq and Afganistan. US now continue trying to dominate the world by fighting to country regarded as torrism. Hand of US is fulled of blood ciliv people included Cambodian. I dont understand why it has such cruel policy? we have many ways to solve the problem why make s choice to do the war. Now has tension Korea and China. However, US, China, Russia, England, and France will keep the earth existing in the planet system to avoid establishing WW III.
I can't believe the U.S. still have to gut ask Cambodia to pay back this debt after all they have done to the country. The secret bombing from 1969 to 1973 that killed about 1 million people and damaged the Cambodia infrastructure would have summed up to be much more than the debt that we owed to them. Talking about the international law, did the U.S. abide by the international law when it secretly bombed Cambodia? Personally, I think the plea from Cambodian government is completely viable and the U.S. should really reconsider their position. P.S. My grandfather(to whom I had never seen as he'd died before I was even bore) was also a victim of the U.S. operation when they dropped the bomb near Psar Deum Kor in Phnom Penh.
under the international law, US has been committing crime against Cambodia and its People, bombing killing innocent millions of Cambodia people. US even prayed agent orange on the Cambodian village along the northern bank of Mekong. US had brought Cambodian to war and genocide. in reality US owes Cambodia and Cambodian people's life. Cambodia should lay a justice campaign bringing US to International Court
If Sihanouk, the master of Khmer Rouge which included Hun Sen at that time sat still, didn't create the war.
The war debt would not have been existed.
Sihanouk and Khmer Rouge thirsted for power, now you all got what you asked for.
Ah Hun Sen,
Where are the monies you had collected from tourists visiting Angkor Wat since 1993???
2,000,000 X $20.00 = $40,000,000 for 3 days visits.
Part of those monies can be paid for this American debt.
Hun Sen Khmer Traitor, and Hanoi's slave for life.
If Hun Sen will not pay the debt back,catch Hun Sen and put in Cuba jail.
US says Cambodia still has the duty to re-pay the US $400+ million debt borrowed by a previous US-supported Lon Nol government.
Bloody outrageous!!!
This is just more proof (as if anyone should need it) that the USA government are a pack of blood-thirsty criminal bastards, devoid of any human decency whatsoever!
Cambodian government should tell US government to f... off!
Or, if they prefer to be more polite than the mongrels deserve, the Cambodian government should deduct the $400 million from the uncountable millions of dollars in damages the US should pay to Cambodia for the incredible destruction caused by the criminal US bombings of Cambodia, and other crimes.
In other words, Cambodian government should send in a huge bill to the US government for a bloody sight more money than $400 million!
The US war mongers obviously have no limit to their bastardry. They should be paying many billions in war reparations to all the dozens of countries they have waged criminal wars against - a very short list should include Viet Nam, Cambodia, Laos, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan.......
The sooner the US imperialist empire disappears from the face of the earth, the better! It cannot come too soon - before they launch their next illegal wars based on lies and profits against other innocent countries, such as Iran, Venezuela, or wherever else the war profiteers of Wall Street have set their targets.
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