Government
International relations
Parliaments share auditing experience
The Cambodian, Laos, and Vietnam parliaments have shared a stage to discuss their expenditure experiences and improve transparency and auditing of public investment in areas such as infrastructure. ...
Sum Manet
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/36507/parliaments-share-auditing-experience/
Thailand rail link held up by compensation claims
Government officials are working to settle compensation claims for 50 families living alongside a kilometer of rail track in Poipet town, to allow a rail link between Cambodia and Thailand to open by the middle of the year. ...
Chea Vannak
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/36509/thailand-rail-link-held-up-by-compensation-claims/
PM offers Myanmar a ‘win-win’
During the inauguration of a pagoda in Prey Veng on Friday, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced he will send several advisers to Myanmar to share lessons from his “Win-Win” policy, which he credits with ending Cambodia’s civil war. ...
Touch Sokha and Cristina Maza
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/pm-offers-myanmar-win-win
Cambodia eases deeper into China’s defensive embrace
Cambodia currently faces significant foreign policy challenges amid great power rivalry in the Asia-Pacific. Against the backdrop of US President Donald Trump’s uncertain and unpredictable foreign policy in the region, China’s economic, military, and strategic influence over Cambodia continues to grow. China is now Cambodia’s ...
East Asia Forum
https://aecnewstoday.com/2017/cambodia-eases-deeper-into-chinas-defensive-embrace/
Myanmar urges closer ties with military
Myanmar’s army chiefs want to increase cooperation with Cambodia in a bid to build closer bilateral ties, according to a senior military official. ...
Ros Chanveasna
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/36280/myanmar-urges-closer-ties-with-military/
Church underpins Cambodia-Vietnam ties
For decades, political and economic upheaval in Southeast Asia separated ethnic Vietnamese communities in the United States from those in Asia, as their lives followed radically divergent trajectories. ...
Cristina Maza
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/church-underpins-cambodia-vietnam-ties
Let’s talks about debt: US envoy
US ambassador to Cambodia William A. Heidt says he wants the Cambodian government to sit down and talk about a multi-million-dollar debt owed to America from the days before the Khmer Rouge regime. ...
Ven Rathavong
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/36077/let---s-talks-about-debt--us-envoy/
PM calls out US again for bombs
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday used a speaking slot at a children’s rights conference to once again castigate the United States, urging the UN to “increase its volume” in condemning the US for dropping bombs that maimed and killed children. ...
Touch Sokha and Erin Handley
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/pm-calls-out-us-again-bombs
Joint Cambodia, Laos tour packages
Cambodia and Laos, in a bid to promote bilateral tourism, will create joint tour packages to facilitate the visit of tourists to both countries. The tour packages will focus on provinces, in both countries, that lie on either side of the Mekong river. ...
Sum Manet
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/36005/joint-cambodia--laos-tour-packages/
In further shift, military cancels drill with Australia
Breaking further from traditional partners, Cambodia has aborted a planned military exercise with Australia, a defense official said on Tuesday, tilting the country’s allegiances once again toward China. ...
Aun Pheap and Michael Dickison
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/in-further-shift-military-cancels-drill-with-australia-125943/
Laos Dismisses Concerns Over Hydropower Project
High-ranking Laos officials said on Wednesday that the proposed Pak Beng hydropower dam will not have a major impact on downstream communities, claiming that they would take time to study its potential impacts. ...
Sun Narin
http://www.voacambodia.com/a/laos-dismisses-concerns-over-hydropower-project/3735377.html
PM slams US take on Party Law
Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday launched a not-so-thinly-veiled attack on the US over its recent public airing of concerns over the newly amended Law on Political Parties, arguing that its past bombing of Cambodia left it no moral high ground from which to criticise the ...
Touch Sokha
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/pm-slams-us-take-party-law
Border row amid state visit by Laos
Lao President Bounnhang Vorachith is expected to arrive in Phnom Penh today for a state visit to the Kingdom. Meanwhile 600 kilometres away, Cambodian and Lao troops remain in a stand-off after a territorial dispute over a Cambodian-built road near the countries’ border. ...
Shaun Turton and Touch Sokha
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/border-row-amid-state-visit-laos
Forces build up on Laos border over construction dispute
More than 400 Laotian soldiers have crossed into Cambodian territory to block military engineers from constructing a road, sparking an armed buildup in the border area over the past two weeks, Cambodian officials said on Sunday. ...
Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/forces-build-up-on-laos-border-over-construction-dispute-125410/
US congressman urges CPP to drop party-busting bill
A U.S. congressman on Wednesday called on the CPP to abandon an imminent vote on legislation that would give the Cambodian government sweeping new powers to abolish its political rivals, the same day the U.S. ambassador met with CNRP acting President Kem Sokha to discuss ...
Ben Sokhean and Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/us-congressman-urges-cpp-to-drop-party-busting-bill-125317/
A year after letter to Hun Sen, U.S. Senator says little sign of progress in Cambodia
The senators say they wrote as friends of Cambodia, who wish to see a strong relationship between the two countries but who are troubled by the increased social and political turmoil in Cambodia. ...
Governments target trafficking
Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos are joining forces to boost their fight against human trafficking in the region, the kingdom’s National Police chief said yesterday. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/35519/governments-target-trafficking/
Donors silent as CPP plots party-busting legislation
The National Assembly will vote on Monday on landmark legislation giving the government unprecedented new powers to suspend and dissolve its political rivals, and with barely a note of concern from the democracies helping bankroll the country. ...
Ben Sokhean and Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/donors-silent-as-cpp-plots-party-busting-legislation-125228/
Russian FSB director meets PM
Nikolai Patrushev, director of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) and a top adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, met with Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday to discuss ways the two countries can combat terrorism and transnational crime, the prime minister announced via Facebook. ...
Cristina Maza
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/russian-fsb-director-meets-pm
US lawmakers urge new administration to ensure fair elections
Two pro-CNRP U.S. lawmakers called on newly confirmed U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to take a hard-line stance with the Cambodian government ahead of upcoming elections, in a letter signed on Thursday.Alan Lowenthal, a Democrat representing Long Beach, California, home to the largest Cambodian ...
Ben Paviour
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/us-lawmakers-urge-new-administration-to-ensure-fair-elections-125004/
PM again asks Trump for ’70s-era debt relief
Prime Minister Hun Sen has once again called for the United States to drop the debt Cambodia incurred during the 1970s Lon Nol regime, just days after US Ambassador William Heidt said in no uncertain terms that the US had no such plans. ...
Touch Sokha
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/pm-again-asks-trump-70s-era-debt-relief
RCAF gets Korean gear
Cambodia is expecting a shipment of military vehicles donated by South Korea, according to a sub-decree. The Ministry of Finance in December released about $1 million to the Defence Ministry to cover the equipment’s transportation, it says. ...
Mech Dara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/rcaf-gets-korean-gear
Cambodia against ‘internationalization’ of Rohingya crisis
Prime Minister Hun Sen emerged from a meeting with visiting Burmese President Htin Kyaw on Saturday declaring he did not support the “internationalization” of Burma’s escalating Rohingya crisis, going against mounting global fears of an impending genocide. ...
Khuon Narim and Hannah Hawkins
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cambodia-against-internationalization-of-rohingya-crisis-124604/
PM affirms ‘One-China’ stance
Prime Minister Hun Sen has told a solidarity dinner with the Cambodian-Chinese Association that Cambodia backs the “One-China policy” and will not allow the Taiwanese flag to be raised in the kingdom. This stance would avoid affecting the good relationship between the two countries. ...
May Titthara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/35123/pm-affirms----one-china----stance/