China, Cambodia issue joint statement

Chinese president Hu Jintao meets with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen in Phnom Penh, Mar. 31. (Xinhua)

Xinhua, April 2, 2012

China and Cambodia will work more quickly on an action plan for the implementation of the comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation between the two countries, a joint statement said Monday.

The joint statement, issued at the end of Chinese President Hu Jintao's state visit to Cambodia, said the two sides agreed to maintain the good tradition of high-level visits and exchanges and maintain two-way visits by leaders of political parties.

The two countries will value and deepen bilateral economic cooperation and trade from a strategic perspective and further raise its scale, quality and level, the statement said.

The two sides agree that annual bilateral trade will double from the current 2.5 billion U.S. dollars to 5 billion dollars by 2017.

The Chinese side is ready to continue to provide economic assistance within its capacity to Cambodia for its national development and support Cambodia's infrastructure development, such as transportation, energy, telecommunications and water conservation.

China gains influence with development push into Cambodia

December 5, 2010
By John Pomfret
Washington Post

KOH KONG, Cambodia — Down a blood-red dirt track deep in the jungles of southwestern Cambodia, the roar begins. Turn a corner and there is the source — scores of dump trucks, bulldozers, and backhoes hacking away at the earth. Above a massive hole, a flag flaps in the hot, dusty breeze. It is the flag of the People’s Republic of China.

Here in the depths of the Cardamom Mountains, where the Chinese-backed Khmer Rouge communists made their last stand in the late 1970s, China is asserting its rights as a resurgent imperial power in Asia. Instead of exporting revolution and bloodshed to its neighbors, China is now sending its cash and its people.

At this clangorous hydropower dam site hard along Cambodia’s border with Thailand, and in Myanmar, Laos, and even Vietnam, China is engaged in a massive push to extend its economic and political influence into Southeast Asia. Spreading investment and aid along with political pressure, China is transforming a huge swath of territory along its southern border. Call it the Monroe Doctrine, Chinese-style.

Ignored by successive US administrations, China’s rise in this region is now causing alarm in Washington, which is aggressively courting the countries of Southeast Asia. The Obama administration has cultivated closer ties with its old foe Vietnam. It has tried to open doors to Myanmar, which US officials believe is in danger of becoming a Chinese vassal state. Relations have been renewed with Laos, whose northern half is dominated by Chinese businesses.

In an Oct. 28 speech about US policy in Asia, before embarking on her sixth trip to the continent in two years, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton used military terminology to refer to US efforts: “forward-deployed diplomacy.’’

During a recent trip to Phnom Penh — the first by a US secretary of state since 2002 — Clinton, while speaking to Cambodian students, was asked about Cambodia’s ties to Beijing. “You don’t want to get too dependent on any one country,’’ she told them.

Still, China powers ahead.

China has concluded a free-trade deal with all 10 countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, while a similar US pact is only in its infancy. It is cementing ties with Thailand, a US ally, despite recent political unrest there.

In Cambodia, Chinese firms have turned mining and agricultural concessions in the eastern part of the country into no-go zones for Cambodian police. Guards at the gates to two of them, a gold mine and a hemp plantation, shoo travelers away unless they are able to pay a toll.

“It’s like a country within a country,’’ Cambodia’s minister of the interior, Sar Kheng, quipped at a conference this year.

China’s real estate development firms have barged into Cambodia with all the ambition, obtrusiveness, and verve that American fruit and tire firms employed in Latin America or Africa in decades past. One company, Union Development Group of Tianjin, in northern China, won a 99-year concession for 120 square miles of beachfront on the Gulf of Thailand.

There, Chinese work teams are cutting a road and mapping hotels, villas, and golf courses. The estimated investment? $3.8 billion. The target market? The nouveau riche from Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.

In October, China pledged to support the construction of a $600 million railway between Phnom Penh and Vietnam that will bring China a major step closer to incorporating all of Southeast Asia, as far south as Singapore, into its rail network.

Across Cambodia, dozens of state-run Chinese companies are building eight hydropower dams. The total price tag for those dams will exceed $1 billion. Altogether, Cambodia owes China $4 billion, said Cheam Yeap, a member of the central committee of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party.

“This takeover is inevitable,’’ said Lak Chee Meng, a reporter on the Cambodia Sin Chew Daily, one of the country’s four Chinese-language dailies, serving 300,000 Khmer-Chinese and an additional quarter-million immigrants and businessmen from mainland China. “Cambodia is approaching China with open arms. It’s how the United States took over its neighborhood.’’

The perennial question about China’s rise is when will Beijing be able to translate its cash into power. In Cambodia, it already has.

Cambodia has avoided criticizing the dams under construction along China’s stretch of the Mekong River, structures that specialists predict will upend the lives of millions of Cambodians who live off the fishing economy around the great inland waterway, Tonle Sap.

Cambodia so strictly follows Beijing’s “one China’’ policy that it has refused Taiwan’s request to open up an economic office here despite the many millions of dollars’ worth of Taiwanese investment in Cambodia.

China, Cambodia Agree to Further Military Ties

2010-09-17
Xinhua

The Chinese armed forces were willing to further boost friendly and cooperative relations with their Cambodian counterparts, said a senior Chinese military official Friday.

Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister Liang Guanglie made the remark in a meeting with visiting Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Tea Banh in Beijing.

Liang hailed the good relations between China and Cambodia, with close high-level contact and expanding areas of cooperation.

Recent years had witnessed the smooth development of China-Cambodia military ties, with frequent visits on various levels and exchanges in military training, education and logistics, said Liang.

China would like to work with Cambodia to continuously deepen the friendship and cooperation between the two nations and two armed forces, Liang added.

Tea Banh said Cambodia appreciated China's support and help with Cambodia's development and national defense building and was ready to enhance cooperation with China.

Cambodia would continue to firmly adhere to the one-China policy, Tea Banh said.

He also expressed the hope to further promote military cooperation and exchanges between Cambodia and China.

Comrade-strongman Hun Sen's warning

Prime Minister Hun Sen speaks Wednesday at a decentralisation conference in Phnom Penh. Photo by: HENG CHIVOAN

Hun Sen warns councillors

Thursday, 29 January 2009
Written by Vong Sokheng
The Phnom Penh Post

PRIME Minister Hun Sen has warned that future district, provincial and municipal councillors - to be elected through indirect nationwide elections in May - should not meddle in foreign affairs, despite the impending devolution of political power to the sub-national level.

Hun Sen, speaking to more than a hundred high-ranking government officials at Chaktomuk Theatre Wednesday during a decentralisation conference, highlighted the Taiwan-China dispute as one in which council members should hold their tongues.

"After the election, if the councils become independent and recognise Taiwanese independence, it will be wrong, as there is no such law," Hun Sen said, referring to Beijing's commitment to a "peaceful reunification" with Taiwan.

"Cambodia recognises the one-China policy," he said.

Cheam Yeap, spokesman of the ruling Cambodian People's Party , said that the prime minister was merely expressing concerns that the new councils may become confused about central government policy.

"The premier's message was to repeat government policy so that the new councils understand our foreign policy," he said.

On May 17, Cambodia will hold its first elections for positions on district, provincial and municipal councils as part of the government's drive to transfer more decision-making powers to the local level.

Hun Sen said also that the central government does not have sufficient ability to effectively provide public services in the Kingdom's remotest areas, and that it was preparing local administrations by equipping them with staff, finances and other resources.

"We hope that the reform will provide better services and bring about a reduction in poverty," he said, adding that after the May elections, councils will be able to remove local officials if their performance falls below a certain level.

But Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker Yim Sovann said that since the only eligible voters were sitting members of the country's commune councils, local people would have no hand in electing new officials.

"People are not able to express their rights to elect their leaders in their districts and provinces," he said. "The SRP will participate in the election. We will have our representatives, who will act as a watchdog over local developments."

Sorry Taiwan, you are not communist enough to set feet in Cambodia: Hun Sen's warning

Hun Sen Warns Local Officials Off Taiwan

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
28 January 2009

Prime Minister Hun Sen warned local government officials on Wednesday they would not be allowed to travel to Taiwan, nor any Taiwan officials to Cambodia.

“We cannot make any political or diplomatic relations with Taiwan,” Hun Sen said in public remarks to launch new decentralization legislation. “But we can make trade relations with Taiwanese people.”

Cambodia officially recognizes a one-China policy, which considers Taiwan a rogue province. There is no official office here for Taiwan, though there are some businesses.

“Businessmen will be allowed to come to Cambodia, and civil airlines company, private airline companies from Taiwan, EVA Air and China Air, can fly from Taipei to Phnom Penh, but not planes with Taiwanese flags,” Hun Sen said. “We won’t allow Taiwanese national flights into Cambodia.”

Cambodia has passed the Law on Administrative Management for Provincial, District and Municipal Councils, which allows commune councils to elect other councils for the three other levels of sub-national government. The first election will be held May 17.

Hun Sen’s speech was a warning to would-be members of these councils that though they would have some power outside of the central government, the central government would control foreign policy.

“Cambodian politicians will not be allowed to go to Taiwan,” he said. “And Taiwanese political officials will not be allowed in Cambodia, including members of parliament and presidential advisers.

Former Taiwan Worker Warns of Exploitation

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Washington D.C
20 January 2009

A rights worker and a victim of fraudulent marriage, who traveled to Taiwan and was exposed to danger and hardship, warned other young Cambodian women not to take the risk or fall for promises of lucrative work abroad.

“Do not fall into a trick when people say they will give you a lot of money to work abroad,” said one young woman, as a guest on “Hello VOA” Monday.

The woman, who asked that her identity remain anonymous, said she was forced to work constantly, without rest, and escape was impossible. She was told she would have to pay back all of the money she owed in expenses for her travel, or she would have to call and ask her parents to pay.

“I was afraid they would kidnap my parents for money,” the woman said. “That’s why I continued to work until I was rescued.”

Women who find themselves in trouble in Taiwan have an extra problem, said Ya Navuth executive director of the rights group Caram, because Cambodia’s one-China policy, which does not recognize the island, hampers retrieval efforts.

“But we have our network over there in Taiwan to help us,” he said.

Caram rescued four women in 2008, he said, and he warned Cambodian women not to be fooled into promises of riches for work in Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea and elsewhere.

If a woman feels she is being exploited, she should call the organization’s hotline, he said. The numbers: +855 12 949 914, or +855 12 961 427.

Communist regime in Phnom Penh sides with communist China to oppose Buddhist Dalai Lama

Cambodia opposes Dalai Lama's attempts to sabotage Beijing Olympics

PHNOM PENH, April 21 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia opposes attempts by the Dalai clique to sabotage the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing by making use of the Tibet issue, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong said on Monday.

Cambodia also opposes any foreign interference in China's internal affairs, said Hor, who is also minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation, during a meeting with a visiting Chinese delegation.

The Olympic Games have nothing to do with politics and Cambodia fully supports China's hosting of the 2008 Olympics, Hor told the delegation headed by Zhang Xuan, deputy party chief of China's Chongqing city.

King Norodom Sihamoni will attend the games' opening ceremony in Beijing, he added.

The Cambodian government has consistently adhered to the one-China policy and opposed Taiwan independence, he said.

Hun Sen praises Hero-King [for pushing Cambodia into China's sphere of influence]

Hero-King Sihanouk (C) and Chairman Mao (L)
Hero-King Sihanouk (R) and Premier Chou En Lai (L)
Hun Sen (L), Thomico (C) and Hero-King Norodom Sihanouk (R)

05 April 2008
By Sav Yuth
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

The prime minister of Cambodia praised Hero-King Norodom Sihanouk calling him the one who linked the relationship between Cambodia and China 50 years ago and it still lasts until now. This relationship brings tremendous benefits.

On Saturday 05 April, Prime minister Hun Sen indicated, during the inauguration of the construction site for the more than 120-km road linking Kampong Thom to Preah Vihear provinces, that, once again, the Cambodian government fully supports the one-China policy, as well as his gratitude to former monarch Norodom Sihanouk who organized the relationship policy with China that lasts until now.

Hun Sen said: “I am grateful to Samdech Preah Norodom Sihanouk, the former monarch, who organized the relationship policy with China since 50 years ago, and this relationship is his heritage to his next generations of children…”

Hun Sen also warned against any activities that aim at dividing China’s territory, and he warned against any activity that will take hostage the Olympics game hosted by China. Similarly, he warned against the Tibet and Sudan issues also.

The government’s standing on the one-China policy and its gratefulness to the former monarch both took place in one single day, prior to the arrival of former King Norodom Sihanouk in Cambodia on Sunday.

Prince Sisowath Thomico, the personal secretary of the Hero-King, called Hun Sen’s praise of the former king a welcome for the return of King Norodom from Beijing.

Prince Thomico said: “I fully support the new policy of Samdach Prime minister, in particular, the political path of the Hero-King from the past which provided well being to the Cambodian people.”

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy said that he supported the one-China policy since long ago, however, he believes that the government should be concerned about the issues of price inflation, workers salary, insufficient civil servants salary, and landlessness, rather than repeating over and over the same diatribe.

Sam Rainsy said; “(Hun Sen) should be thinking of the issues of price inflation, insufficient workers salary, people losing their lands, people having to proper housing, lack of lands for planting crops.”

A government official indicated that the relationship between Cambodia and China is celebrating its 50th anniversary, starting from the Sangkum Reastr Niyum regime led by then-Prince Norodom Sihanouk.

Hun Sen Meets with Yang Jiechi

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen Meets with Yang Jiechi

2008/02/02
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China

On February 1, 2008, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen met with visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi in Phnom Penh. Both sides hoped to take the 50th anniversary of the China-Cambodia diplomatic relations and "China-Cambodia Year of Friendship" as an opportunity to push bilateral all-round friendly cooperative relations to a higher level.

Hun Sen said that under the careful cultivation of the generations of leaders of the two countries, Cambodia-China friendship and mutual trust have been strengthened in an all-round manner and the bilateral cooperation has yielded fruitful results with bilateral relations reaching one new level after another. China's rapid development has offered favorable opportunities to this region and China's support and help has played an important role for Cambodia to improve its capability of independent development and safeguard national independence and sovereignty. Hun Sen said as an inheritor and promoter of Cambodia-China friendly relations, he himself and the Cambodian government will remain committed to pushing forward bilateral relations.

Yang made positive comments on the friendly cooperative relations between China and Cambodia, as well as the results of the cooperation in all areas. He said the two countries are friendly neighbors. Over the past half a century since the forging of diplomatic relations, the China-Cambodia friendship created and cultivated by leaders of the two countries has withstood the tests of changeable international situation and has been consolidated and developed continuously. Yang said bilateral relations have entered a new stage for development with increasing political trust, dynamic exchanges in all areas and fruitful cooperation on economy and trade. Both sides have also maintained close communication and coordination on such international and regional issues as China-ASEAN relations, East Asia cooperation, and development of Great Mekong Sub-region.

Yang highly appreciated the Cambodian government's adherence to the one-China policy, firm opposition to "Taiwan independence", condemnation of Taiwan's "referendum on U.N. membership" and support of China's peaceful reunification. Yang said China hopes to take the 50th anniversary of the China-Cambodia diplomatic relations and "China-Cambodia Year of Friendship" as an opportunity and work with Cambodia to push bilateral all-round cooperative partnership to a higher level.

On the same day, Hor Namhong, Deputy Prime Minister & Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Cambodia, held talks with Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi. Both sides during their meeting reached consensus in the following four aspects to further expand bilateral friendly cooperation. First, maintain high-level exchanges and consolidate the political basis of bilateral ties. They vowed to well hold activities to mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic ties between both countries and "China-Cambodia Year of Friendship". Second, further tap potential for cooperation, give play to complementary advantages and expand economic and trade cooperation for mutual benefit and a win-win situation. Cambodia supports Chinese businesses to actively participate in hydroelectric power stations, roads and other infrastructure construction in Cambodia. Third, improve exchanges and cooperation in the fields of diplomacy, culture, sports, public health, tourism and protection of cultural relics, and between localities, expand cooperation area and enrich China-Cambodia comprehensive cooperative partnership. Fourth, strengthen coordination and cooperation on such international and regional affairs as the reform of the UN Security Council, as well as ASEAN-China, ASEAN plus China, Japan and ROK and Great Mekong Sub-region cooperation to safeguard common interests of both sides.

With regard to the Taiwan question, the Cambodian side reaffirmed firm adherence to the one-China policy, holding that the separatist activities aimed at "Taiwan independence" pose severe threats to peace and stability of this region and any separatist attempts to split Taiwan from China are doomed to failure. The Cambodian side also expressed sincere sympathy and solicitude for Chinese people in snow stricken areas.

Yang arrived in Phnom Penh on January 31 for a three-day official visit to Cambodia.

Taiwan 'Regrets' Denial of Liaison Office

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
17 January 2008

The Taiwanese government said this week it regretted Cambodia’s decision to bar a business liaison office from opening in Phnom Penh, the China Post reported.

Cambodia strictly follows a one-China policy, which categorizes Taiwan as a rogue province, and last week Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong rejected a request by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council to open an office in Phnom Penh.

“We regret Cambodia Foreign Ministry’s stance to make politics take precedence over all other matters,” Phoebe Yeh, a spokeswoman for the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was quoted saying.

Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said Thursday such business offices acted as “unofficial” embassies for Taiwan.

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy said Thursday neighboring countries like Vietnam and Thailand managed to have Chinese embassies along with Taiwanese trade offices, “but that does not affect their one-China policy.”

“They recognize that even if it is just for business purposes, there should be one office to coordinate and settle technical issues,” he said.

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.”

Funcinpec: Our founding-father supported the One-China policy, so do we

Then-Prince Sihanouk standing next to Chairman Mao Zedong of the PRC

Funcinpec supports One-China policy

Friday, September 7, 2007
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

Funcinpec showed its position through a statement issued on 05 September where it said that it supports the One-China policy. In its declaration, Funcinpec stated: “The Funcinpec solemnly declares anew its unwavering determination to support the One-China policy forever, just as it did in the past, as well as in the future.” The statement added: “The Hero-King, Preah Bat Samdech Preah Norodom Sihanouk, the architect-father of Funcinpec had pioneered since the 80s to maintain his political standing towards the People’s Republic of China and considering it as a sovereign state, i.e. a single China with a bright path towards the respect of the sovereignty of a country that must not be interfered nor violated whatsoever, and this was done to guarantee the stability and sovereignty of Cambodia, as well as those of the region.”

Watch out: Cambodia is now the new "stability" policy broker of Asia

12/07/2007
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Cambodia has condemned Taiwan's bid to join the United Nations, saying the move threatens regional stability.

Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian told a visiting US delegation last month that he planned to hold a referendum next year on joining the UN.

Cambodia's foreign ministry has issued a statement calling the plans hazardous and an act of provocation against China, which is one of Cambodia's strongest allies.

Beijing gives hundreds of millions of US dollars in aid to the impoverished country.

China considers Taiwan a renegade province and has pledged to recover it, by force if necessary.

Phnom Penh has repeatedly backed Beijing's "one-China" policy.