ព័ត៌មាន​

Southeast Asian nations displayed a rare show of unity on Sunday against China’s sweeping maritime claims, calling for the first formal talks with Beijing over a sea dispute that has raised tensions and exposed deep divisions in the region. As Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrived in ...

THE ten-member Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) is used to fending off “interference” by the West in the internal affairs of some of its members. In recent years the human-rights record of the regime in Myanmar has been the tenderest of these sore spots. ...

The US “pivot to Asia,” which will be punctuated next week with the Cambodian visit of US President Barack Obama, will likely put Cambodia in a tough spot in the region, caught between the renewed focus of the United States and the increased influence of ...

When Asia-Pacific leaders gather this weekend in Southeast Asia—a bright spot in a sputtering global economy—their Cambodian hosts may extend a warm welcome to U.S. President Barack Obama, but they will view officials from Beijing as old friends. Mr. Obama’s visit to Cambodia—this year’s host for ...

Along the Phnom Penh waterfront the city’s landmark flags have been raised and the street children and beggars are being removed – an unwanted sight for a government out to impress the biggest gathering of world leaders this country has ever seen. At the center of this will ...

Cambodian authorities have disrupted several events held by nongovernmental organizations and have threatened to arrest anyone holding protests ahead of sensitive regional summits to be held in the capital Phnom Penh, rights groups said Wednesday. The Independent Democracy of Informal Economic Association (IDEA) said authorities in ...

Newly re-elected US President Barack Obama will attend a series of top-level Asian meetings next week, with Cambodia hosting an Asean summit, and China in attendance with new leadership. The high-profile meetings will present challenges for the US president, whose administration has become more deeply ...

As Cambodia prepares to host a series of top-level meetings in Phnom Penh next week, questions remain over how it will approach major issues such as the South China Sea. Analysts now say next week’s meeting will be a test of whether Cambodia will continue ...

Some of the U.S.’ most senior lawmakers are urging Barack Obama to speak out on what they called Cambodia’s deteriorating human rights situation when the U.S. president makes what will be the first visit to the country by a sitting American leader later this month. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen will hold bilateral talks with U.S. President Barack Obama when the newly re-elected American leader visits Phnom Penh during this month’s East Asia and Asean Summits. Mr. Hun Sen announced the bilateral meeting in a letter to Mr. Obama on Wednesday congratulating ...

US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta will travel to Australia, Thailand and Cambodia next week as part of America’s strategic tilt to the Asia-Pacific, even as crises in the Middle East demand the Pentagon’s attention and resources. In a week-long trip starting Sunday, Panetta will head to ...

Officials in Laos announced that construction of the controversial Xayaburi dam will begin with a kickoff ceremony at the construction site Wednesday. Protests from human rights activists and environmental groups have delayed the project for 18 months, but the joint Laotian and Thai project is apparently ...

China has done a lot to support Cambodia over the years, with millions of dollars in aid, loans and investment. But after reports last week that China has pledged another $500 million in soft loans and grants-and publicly thanked Cambodia for its support in Southeast ...

The disputes over sovereignty in the South China Sea are approaching a tipping point. As former ASEAN secretary-general Rodolfo Severino said last month: “The disputes cannot be resolved anytime soon, if at all. The most that can be done is to prevent them developing into armed ...

China has pledged more than $500 million in soft loans and grants to Cambodia and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao thanked it for helping Beijing maintain good relations with the regional grouping ASEAN, a Cambodian junior minister said. A summit of the 10 members of the Association ...

The Philippines has summoned Cambodia’s ambassador over comments linked to Manila’s territorial row with Beijing. Hos Sereythonh was asked to explain remarks accusing the Philippines and Vietnam of playing “dirty politics” over the issue of Asean and the South China Sea. [H]e did not turn up on ...

Foreign Minister Hor Namhong on Friday put the blame for last week’s failure among Asean countries to release a joint communiqué on territorial disputes in the South China Sea firmly back on Vietnam and the Philippines. More than a week since discussions related to the territorial dispute between Asean’s members ...

Outlining America’s position on territorial disputes between Asean members and China over the South China Sea, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday also expressed views on a matter a little closer to home: the benefits Cambodia gains from U.S. development assistance. Speaking to reporters ...

The “one community, one destiny” motto Cambodia adopted when it took over the rotating chairmanship of Asean this year could not have sounded more hollow as it did Friday when the 10-member bloc failed to produce a joint closing statement for the first time in ...

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday raised the issue of territorial disputes in the South China Sea with Prime Minister Hun Sen and outlined the strong focus the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama is currently placing on the Asean region, officials said. Arriving in ...

China may not be in ASEAN, but it’s looking more and more like an honorary member – at least where the South China Sea is concerned. ASEAN foreign ministers yesterday took a significant step towards involving the burgeoning superpower in South China Sea discussions, adopting key ...

There was a sense of déjà vu at the Peace Palace yesterday as a week of largely closed-door ASEAN meetings kicked off in earnest with the same contentious issue that so dominated April’s ASEAN Summit: a code of conduct for the South China Sea. With China ...

A dispute over territory in the South China Sea is once again set to hang over talks when China and the U.S. join in on a week of high-level Asean meetings that start in Phnom Penh on Friday. So far, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has ...

The planned theme of yesterday’s ASEAN defence ministers roundtable was military cooperation between countries, particularly in times of natural disaster, but it was a theme invariably pushed to the background by other regional developments. Among them was what appeared to be a cooling-off period in the ...