MOFA regrets Cambodia refusal of Taiwan office

Tuesday, January 15, 2008
CNA

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday that it regrets Cambodia's statement that it will not allow Taiwan to set up an office in Cambodia.

"We regret Cambodia Foreign Ministry's stance to make politics take precedence over all other matters," the MOFA's acting spokeswoman Phoebe Yeh said after Cambodia's media reported that the Cambodian Foreign Ministry issued a statement that the country abides by the "one-China" policy, and will not allow Taiwan to set up offices there.

The semi-official Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TETRA) had requested permission from Cambodia to set up an office in the country.

Yeh said that the plan to set up an office in countries that Taiwan has no diplomatic relations with aims at developing substantial and mutually beneficial relations, which has nothing to do with the countries' relations with China.

Taiwan Request for Commercial Office Denied

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
09 January 2008

Cambodian authorities have denied a request from the Taiwanese Overseas Commercial Development Council to open an office in the country, officials said.

Cambodia does not recognize Taiwan as a sovereign state, but follows a “one-China” policy. China considers the island a renegade province.

“I completely turned the request down,” Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong said. “There can’t be any official representative or commercial or cultural mission or whatever from Taiwan. Cambodia permanently adheres to its one-China policy.”

Taiwan has no diplomatic representation in Cambodia, though many factories in the garment and textile sectors are Taiwanese owned.

The commercial office could have been used as an “unofficial embassy,” government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said. “It's better for these Taiwanese small business owners in Cambodia to establish their own association to coordinate their businesses.”

To please the People's Republic of China, Hun Sen's regime benefactor....

Cambodia rejects Taiwan's bid to open business representative office

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- The Cambodian government has reiterated its rejection of the so-called Taiwan External Trade Development Council's request to open a business representative office in Cambodia, local newspaper the Deum Ampil reported on Wednesday.

The council plans to open a branch in Cambodia and a number of other countries in Asia to seek new markets for Taiwanese businesses, according to the reports of Channel News Asia (CNA) on Monday.

The attempt to reopen a business representative office is impossible, said Om Yentieng, advisor to Prime Minister Hun Sen.

A Taiwanese business representative office was opened in 1993 in Cambodia but closed following factional fighting in 1997.

The Taiwan business council also plans to organize a delegation visit to promote business ties with both Cambodia and Myanmar, according to CNA.

Some 1,000 Taiwanese investors do business here, mainly in the garment sector, said Om Yentieng, adding that five shoemaking factories in Cambodia are owned by Taiwanese investors, with each employing around 8,000 to 10,000 Cambodian workers.

The Cambodian government consistently supports China's One-China policy and in July last year announced its opposition to Taiwan's bid to join the United Nations.

"There is only one China in the world, namely the People's Republic of China, and Taiwan is an integral part of China," Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Hor Namhong told Xinhua at the time.