Murders in the forest

People light candles at the killing site of Cambodian anti-logging activist Chut Wutty in Koh Kong province May 11, 2012. About three hundred people traveled to the Cardamom Mountains in Koh Kong province, in Southwestern Cambodia, to investigate alleged illegal logging and commemorate the death of slain prominent environment activist Chut Wutty. Communities, affected by deforestation, wanted to show the government that they will continue fighting even though their activist was killed. REUTERS/Samrang Pring

September 20, 2012
By Olesia Plokhii
Reuters

And Cambodia is being skinned alive.

Since Apr. 26, a crusading forestry activist, a muckraking journalist and a 14-year-old girl have been killed in Cambodia because they tried to safeguard the country’s dwindling land reserves. They are all victims of a decade-long battle over Cambodia’s ecological future, a fight that in the past two years has turned more bloody and corrupt. Their deaths offer the world a stark vision of how crony capitalism has replaced totalitarianism as the threat to human rights in Southeast Asia. In Cambodia, the price of a human life pales in comparison with a blank check.

I worked at the Cambodia Daily in Phnom Penh for one year (2011-2012), covering the oil business, land evictions, the environment and forestry. That’s why I was with Chut Wutty, the nation’s foremost forest conservationist, on Apr. 26 when he was killed. On the third day of an investigation into illegal logging in Cambodia’s Cardamom mountains, we stopped at what Wutty said was a military-controlled illegal logging outpost. There, he was shot dead during a confrontation with soldiers who were protecting the site and preventing us from leaving. A soldier was also shot dead under mysterious circumstances in the firefight, although Wutty did not fire any shots. When the murderers began concocting a cover-up, a colleague and I were threatened with death. “Just kill them both,” they icily said within earshot of us. After six hours of paralyzing fear and pacing at the scene of the murder, we were transferred from police custody into the care of our editor in chief as night fell.

Chinese, Cambodian legislators meet to enhance bilateral ties [-Will Hanoi tolerate this?]

Xinhua | 2012-9-19

Cambodian and Chinese legislators met here on Wednesday to exchange views and experience in environment protection and resource preservation.

The Chinese delegation of the National People's Congress (NPC) is led by Huang Xianzhong, vice-chairman of NPC Environment Protection and Resource Conservation Committee.

Meeting with Acting-President of Cambodian National Assembly Nguon Nhel, Huang said the visit was to study Cambodia's measures and legal frameworks in protecting environment and resource management.

He also hailed Cambodia for its efforts in protecting environment and cultural heritage.

Insight: Asean Front & Center

From left to right, Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa joins Kan Pharidh, a permanent representative of Cambodia, and Surin Pitsuwan, the secretary general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, to release balloons at the 45th Asean Day ceremony in Jakarta on Aug. 8, 2012. (AFP Photo/ Bay Ismoyo)

A. Lin Neumann | September 07, 2012

Jakarta Globe

It can still seem odd to think about, but Asean really matters these days. For much of its 45-year history, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations was an alliance that conjured images of sheer boredom and empty platitudes.

Begun in 1967, as communist armies were nearing victory in Indochina, Asean started as an alliance of right-wing states that were part of a broad US-backed anti-communist front. The five original members — Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand — were virtually all authoritarian states (the Philippines became a dictatorship in 1972).

The bloc has grown, of course, and new members have been added. There are now three fairly open democracies — Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand — while the rest are still basically authoritarian. But much has been accomplished. Territorial tensions among members states have largely been laid to rest, trade and investment within the bloc have grown markedly and great steps have been taken toward a unified economic community, which is to be in place by 2015.

China pledges to consolidate ties with Cambodia - 洪森同志，吃我的便便

Chinese premier Wen Jiabao (R) shakes hand with Prime Minister of Cambodia Hun Sen in Urumqi, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, September 2, 2012. Photo: Xinhua

Xinhua | 2012-9-2

He voiced appreciation for Cambodia ... for its important role in maintaining the overall situation of friendly relations between China and the ASEAN.

Chinese premier Wen Jiabao on Sunday pledged to consolidate China's traditional friendly relations with Cambodia and promote cooperation between the two countries.

The pledge was made by Wen in a meeting with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on the sidelines of the second China-Eurasia Expo, being held in Urumqi of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Northwest China.

"China and Cambodia are intimate neighbors, whose relationship has withstood the test of time and practice," according to Wen.

He said China was ready to consolidate their friendly ties and deepen cooperation in such areas as transportation infrastructure, agriculture and health.

Chinese leader thanks Cambodia for role in sea row

September 03, 2012
AP

BEIJING – China’s premier has thanked Cambodia for its support in a Southeast Asian regional bloc amid tensions between Beijing and several nations over territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

The official Xinhua news agency said Wen Jiabao told Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen in a meeting yesterday that China will promote closer cooperation with Cambodia.

In mid-July, foreign ministers of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) failed to issue a joint statement after their annual meeting in Phnom Penh when host Cambodia rejected a proposal by the Philippines and Vietnam to mention their territorial disputes with China in the document.

Xinhua said Wen thanked Cambodia for its “important role in maintaining the overall situation of friendly relations between China and the ASEAN.”

Chair not to blame for communique failure [-More undiplomatic denial from Sin Serey, the Cambodian ambassador in S'pore]

August 30, 2012
The Nation
Opinion

I wish to make some clarifications to the article published in The Nation on August 25 under the title "Asean and China: Navigating Turbulent Waters Ahead" by Yang Razali Kassim.

When reading this article, one may wonder how ignorant and unscholarly this so-called "senior fellow" at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore) is. For sure he may have been doing either sloppy work or he has a particular political goal. But it is sad for someone with the position of "senior fellow" to have written such an article without having the real knowledge and information on Asean, both collectively and individually.

First, it is ignorant to say the "Asean chair, who refused to seek a compromise position, resulting in the non-issuance of a joint communiqué". On the contrary, it was the Asean chair that had attempted from July 9 to 13 to seek a political compromise on the language related to the South China Sea in the joint communiqué. Cambodia, as chair of Asean, wanted to have a compromise formula for the South China Sea. Cambodia had circulated a paper and written explanations. But what should we do when two members of Asean put national and bilateral interests above Asean's interest? The two Asean member-states decided to stick to their positions, and one of them even stated it was "non-negotiable". Who should have been held responsible for the non-issuance of the joint communiqué? Cambodia's position was to observe Asean practice when there is no consensus on a particular issue.

Chinese Police To Help Deport Taiwanese Extortion Suspects [-Chinese interference in Cambodia's domestic affairs?]

Cambodia has no diplomatic relations with Taiwan; it follows the one-China policy.

21 August 2012

Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer

PHNOM PENH - A team of Chinese policemen arrived from Beijing on Tuesday to help Cambodian authorities deport 15 Taiwanese nationals who were arrested in connection with an extortion racket earlier this month.

“We had some evidence provided by the Chinese government to arrest the Taiwanese [suspects],” said Khieu Sopheak, a spokesman for the Ministry of Interior.

The 15 suspects, including four women, were arrested Aug. 8 in Kampong Speu province on suspicion of using Internet phone systems to extort money from people in China and Taiwan.

They were arrested for entering the country without passports or documentation. Cambodia has no diplomatic relations with Taiwan; it follows the one-China policy.

ASEAN in crisis: Divided we stagger [-Nobody trust Cambodia, the ASEAN chairman, to resolve this crisis?]

Can Indonesia heal the deepening rifts in South-East Asia?

Aug 18th 2012

The Economist

JAKARTA, PHNOM PENH AND SINGAPORE

FOR decades the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) has led a largely blameless existence, untroubled by the glare of publicity as it gently sought to bring coherence to a region of enormous political and economic differences. Not for ASEAN the highs and calamitous lows of, for example, the European Union. All that has now suddenly changed. On its 45th birthday newspapers and blogs are at last paying ASEAN plenty of attention, though marked more by despair than praise. Some even question its very survival.

The cause of the furore is the widening division in the ten-member grouping over China’s maritime claims in the South China Sea. The division was laid bare publicly at a meeting last month of ASEAN foreign ministers in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh. For the first time in its history ASEAN failed to issue a joint communiqué. Its members could not agree on what to say about China. Broadly, those members with claims in the South China Sea themselves—Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei, supported by Singapore and Thailand—want ASEAN to register serious concerns over what they see as China’s belligerent actions to enforce its claims in the waters of the South China Sea and over the Spratly, Paracel and other islands and atolls. However, non-claimants, mainly Cambodia supported by Laos and perhaps Myanmar, are loth to alienate China. They go along with China’s insistence on dealing with the issue with each country in turn. This year Cambodia holds the rotating chair of ASEAN.

Right after the Phnom Penh fiasco, Indonesia’s foreign minister, Marty Natalegawa, in a vigorous exercise in diplomacy, tried hard to paper over the cracks. Since then, however, there has been no let-up in the unASEAN-like public rowing. Last week the Philippine government sent the Cambodian ambassador packing. He had accused the Philippines and Vietnam of playing “dirty politics” in their push to put the South China Sea on ASEAN’s agenda. The regional press is full of articles and letters lambasting Cambodia’s stance.

Cambodian PM meets Chinese provincial official to boost ties

Xinhua | 2012-8-16

Cambodia Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday met Sun Jinlong, the deputy secretary of Anhui's provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, expressing Cambodia's willingness to work with the central China' province in promoting trade and investment.

During their meet, Sun spoke highly of Cambodia's fast economic development under the 27-year leadership of Hun Sen.

Also, he dedicated his maiden visit to this kingdom to the strengthening and expansion of friendship and cooperation between China's Anhui province and Cambodia.Moreover, he hopes to seek potential possibilities for his province to invest in Cambodia in all domains.

Beijing considers stronger foreign ties

August 15, 2012
By Kathrin Hille in Beijing
Financial Times

When the Association of Southeast Asian Nations last month failed to agree a joint position on the South China Sea, the disputed waters contested by several of its members and China, many observers lamented the organisation’s weakness.

But in Beijing, the outcome was quietly celebrated as a success for its new foreign policy strategy as China seeks to use key allies to push through its own interests in the region.

Cambodia, which this year chairs the 10-nation Asean group, blocked an attempt by the Philippines and Vietnam to include a reference in the summit communiqué to a recent stand-off with China in the South China Sea.

“We co-ordinated very well with Cambodia in that case and . . . prevented an incident which would have been detrimental to China,” says Chen Xiangyang, a foreign policy expert at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.

A ship divided, with rough seas ahead

Aug 15, 2012
By Yang Razali Kassim
Today Online

On the 45th anniversary of ASEAN last week, Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa expressed optimism that a regional code of conduct to govern behaviour in the South China Sea would be ready by year-end.

In doing so, he signalled ASEAN's shift to a new and more active phase to resolve the territorial disputes in the South China Sea by pushing for an early adoption of the long-stalled Code of Conduct (CoC).

Dr Natalegawa's confidence followed his success in securing an ASEAN consensus on a six-point statement of principles on the South China Sea late last month after it failed to issue a joint communique at the group's annual meeting in Phnom Penh.

Cambodia would need to focus on repairing the fissures in ASEAN so that it can host a credible second summit in November.

Beijing Denies Creating Rifts over S. China Sea

Tuesday, 14 August 2012
VOA News

China is denying that it is attempting to create discord within the ASEAN regional bloc in an attempt to exert more influence in disputed areas of the energy-rich South China Sea.

Some observers say Beijing does not want the 10-member Southeast Asian grouping to unify on the matter because China would rather deal with its much weaker rival claimants separately.

China's response

But an article in China's official Xinhua news agency dismissed the allegations, calling them Western attempts to stoke "mistrust and enmity between China and its close neighbors."

​The accusations intensified last month when ASEAN failed to move ahead on the South China Sea issue at a regional summit in Cambodia. The group failed to produce a joint statement for the first time in its 45-year history, an impasse that was widely attributed to Chinese political pressure.

Cambodia ambassador recall sparks speculations of crisis

Tuesday, August 14, 2012
By Amando Doronila, MANILA
Philippine Daily Inquirer/Asia News Network

The abrupt recall last month of Cambodian Ambassador Hos Sereythonh from Manila a year short of his three-year posting left shockwaves in the capitals of 10 Southeast Asian nations and sparked speculation on whether the Philippines and Cambodia had plunged into a serious diplomatic crisis, perhaps even on the brink of war.

According to diplomatic practices, envoys are relieved after an outrageous breach of protocol involving civilized states, which then require urgent steps to avert armed conflict.

That was not the case when Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario made a surprise announcement to the press last week that the Cambodian foreign ministry had sent him a letter announcing that Sereythonh had been recalled and would not be able to complete his term that was supposed to end on July 27, 2013. The letter did not give any explanation for the relief.

Enough Tit-For-Tat diplomacy

12/08/2012
By Davan Long
Letter to the Bangkok Post
Postbag

The spat over disagreements in wording which resulted in the omission of the post-summit joint statement altogether at the Asean summit in Phnom Penh last month seems to have regrettably taken on a life of its own, and grows uglier as each day goes by, with no clear end in sight.

The hot topic now is no longer the absence of the joint statement, but how the fallout has been dealt with.

Less than two weeks after the summit ended, it was agreed by the member states to adopt six principles which, according to Cambodian officials, were the very same principles tabled by Cambodia as the meeting's chair but were categorically rejected by Vietnam and the Philippines during the meeting.

Despite that commendable progress, thanks in large part to the intense diplomatic manoeuvring from Indonesia, Cambodia and the Philippines continue to uncharacteristically trade barbs in public.

The end of ASEAN centrality?

Speaking Freely is an Asia Times Online feature that allows guest writers to have their say.

Aug 8, 2012

By Amitav Acharya

SPEAKING FREELY

Asia Times Onlune

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) suffered a major loss of face, at least in the perceptions of some international media and academic experts, owing to its failure to issue its customary joint communique at its last ministerial meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting, or the AMM) in Cambodia held during July 9-13.

The reason, as has been widely reported, was the refusal of Cambodia as the ASEAN chair to incorporate the positions of Philippines and Vietnam regarding their dispute with China over the South China Sea. As a result, the idea of ASEAN centrality, which assumes that ASEAN, rather than the great powers like China, Japan, the US or India, should be the building bloc and hub of developing a wider Asian or Asia-Pacific regional architecture, is facing a severe test. But there may be some silver linings and useful lessons which, if acted upon, can put ASEAN in a better position to move forward.

Much has been made of the infighting and putdowns inside the AMM deliberations, based on leaked accounts, that led to the impasse in Phnom Penh. Many observers have noted that this was the first time ASEAN had failed to issue a joint communique in its 45 years history.

But ASEAN's rise to regional and international prominence has never been smooth. The ASEAN process ground to a virtual halt in 1968-1969 over the Philippines' claim to Sabah. Moreover, the expansion of its membership and functions has its costs and consequences.

To kill a mocking belligerence

07 Aug 2012
Author: Abhijit Iyer-Mitra
The Pioneer (India)

The recently concluded Asean summit witnessed Beijing at its bellicose best on the issue of the South China Sea. Some countries fell in line with the assertiveness. Most others including India have refused to succumb. Yet, it requires more than talk to counter Chinese designs

Asean, according to some accounts, came very close to rupture last month. During the summit, the Philippines and Vietnam were denied the opportunity to voice their concerns about China’s increasing military assertiveness in the South China Sea —including the seizure of a new shoal of reefs. Cambodia had earlier conveyed to both countries that it did not want the issue brought up, while those countries contended it was their right to do so and Asean had always had a tradition of supporting their own — even if only perfunctorily — against outsiders. Nobody in Asean, however, had expected Cambodia to go as far as it did — turning off Philippine Foreign Minister Albert De Rosario’s microphone the moment he touched on the subject (blamed conveniently, of course, on a ‘technical glitch’).

Leave aside the rupture and the frenzied media speculation, what happened last month was typical Chinese diplomacy at work — clunky, clumsy and crude. The one seeming flaw with China (and not just Chinese diplomats) is that they take grave offence at words. In essence, much of the Chinese diplomacy consists of being polite and assuming that being polite somehow translates into problem- solving. Contrast this with the US’s method which accepts harsh verbal criticism in public and fiery exchanges in private, aimed specifically at thrashing out issues. This is a narrative that seems common to most diplomats: the Indian, the American or any other that, when confronted with a situation — say, “You chaps transferred nuclear bomb technology to Pakistan” — the standard response is denial. And, when the denial is refuted it is treated as a sign of bad manners. Such behaviour is hard to translate culturally, but at some level combines the culture of speech restrictions in China with that age-old Asian tradition of ‘saving face’. Of course, the Chinese also tend to have completely bizarre public temper tantrums, most famously referring to former Hong Kong Governor Chris Patten as a “prostitute”, and far worse adjectives for the Dalai Lama.

Stop throwing mud

August 7, 2012
Nguon Serath
Special to The Nation
Asia News Network

Even after Asean issued a six-point joint statement on the South China Sea two weeks ago, the war of words between Cambodia and the Philippines has intensified, raising concerns over the East Asia Summit scheduled for November.

Both sides were using the media to defend their positions at the annual meeting of Asean foreign ministers in Phnom Penh last month, which ended without a joint statement for the first time in 45 years.

The war of words between the two countries flared up after an article by Erlinda Basilio, under-secretary of the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs. She defended the Philippines position at the annual meeting, which was to insist on mentioning its maritime territorial dispute with China.

Cambodia has launched a regional diplomatic response, with ambassadors in Thailand, the Philippines and even Japan writing letters to newspapers to defend its position as Asean chair.

Asia Pacific nations are sailing into troubled waters

This is the first of a two-part series about China's actions in the South China Sea

Aug 5, 2012

Written by Richard Scamehorn

Lancaster Eagle Gazette (Lancaster, Ohio, USA)

During the week of July 9 to 13, the 10-nation Association of South Eastern Asian Nations -- Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam -- conducted its annual conference in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Vietnam and Laos have their northern borders with China.

Two visitors also attended -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham and an unnamed representative of China.

Some for and some against

At the conference, the Philippines stood out as the most vocal against China's claims and actions in the South China Sea, whereas host Cambodia was the most outspoken against the Philippines and those against China. Cambodia and Laos are bankrolled by China.

Earlier in the week, ASEAN members drafted a set of guidelines for maritime rights and navigation in the South China Sea, even for procedures when governments disagree. This proposal was presented to China at the meeting, with no response.

Asean path to economic union muddied by sea rift

Sun, 05 August 2012
By Neil Chatterjee
Oman Daily Observer

DISCORD in Southeast Asia over how to deal with Beijing’s claims in the South China Sea comes as the region struggles to overcome competing national interests and form a European Union-style economic community by 2015. Political leaders and officials say the row may not directly affect plans by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) for the economic integration of countries ranging from wealthy Singapore to impoverished Myanmar.

But what doesn’t help is China’s growing investment in the bloc’s poorer members, which critics say gives it influence that it has effectively used to block a unified Asean stance in the South China Sea dispute. The South China Sea, which stretches from China to Indonesia and from Vietnam to the Philippines, lies atop what are believed to be rich reserves of oil and gas.

“It’s not going to hold progress (on integration) hostage,” Asean Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan told diplomats in Jakarta, referring to a recent meeting in Cambodia, where rifts over the South China Sea prevented the group’s foreign ministers from issuing a communiqué for the first time in its history.

ASEAN diplomacy all at sea

Baby Hor no. 2: Hor Monirath

Friday, 03 August 2012
David Boyle
The Phnom Penh Post

The headaches at number 3, Samdech Hun Sen Street, have just been getting worse since the ASEAN summit at Phnom Penh’s Peace Palace in June descended into an ungainly squabble.

Cambodian diplomats and politicians at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have found themselves nose diving into a protracted bilateral dogfight with the Philippines – that has many commentators crowing is unbefitting of the ASEAN chair.

How Cambodia ended up trading barbs for weeks after the summit with a country separated from it by Vietnam and more than 1,000 kilometres of ocean has left many scratching their heads.

For the third time this week a Cambodian ambassador yesterday publicly bought into the dispute, which has raged over who was responsible for the failure of ASEAN to issue a foreign ministers joint communiqué during the summit for the first time in its 45-year history.

In The Japan Times Online yesterday, Cambodia’s ambassador in Tokyo, Hor Monirath, rehashed well-worn accusations that the Philippines and Vietnam had “hijacked” the communiqué by insisting it specifically mentioned their bilateral disputes with China over the South China Sea.