The governments of Vietnam and the United States are calling for greater transparency over a $1.7-billion canal project that is being built by a Chinese state-owned firm in southern Cambodia. The 180-kilometer-long Techo Funan Canal, which is scheduled to begin construction later this year, will connect the country’s capital Phnom Penh to the coastal province … Read more
It is not quite time for the aging leaders of Cambodia’s opposition to shuffle off the stage, as proposed by David Hutt in his article “Cambodia’s Opposition Needs to Take a Sabbatical” in The Diplomat on February 27. The choice of the word “sabbatical” is odd. A sabbatical is usually a period of paid leave … Read more
The death of Alexei Navalny in Russia serves as a reminder of the constant risks faced by Cambodian political prisoners and dissidents who have survived assassination attempts and other physical attacks. Navalny, the most prominent critic of the brutal dictatorship of Vladimir Putin, died in an Arctic prison where he was serving jail terms totaling 29 … Read more
Cambodia’s ruling party has unsurprisingly claimed victory in yesterday’s Senate elections, claiming to have won an overwhelming majority of the seats in the upper house. “The CPP won at least 50 of the 58 Senate seats up for grabs, or more than 80 percent of the total votes,” Sok Eysan, a spokesperson for the Cambodian … Read more
On Sunday, Cambodia will vote to elect a new Senate – and among those putting themselves forward for a seat is none other than former Prime Minister Hun Sen, who handed the reins of power to his son last year after nearly four decades in office. Hun Sen has previously announced that he will stand … Read more
Thai police rush into Kork Seim’s home in Rayong, Thailand just after 5p.m. on Friday afternoon. She is quickly rounded up along with her husband and their children, aged 2 and 4, and shuffled into a waiting car with no explanation. Despite their status as UNHCR people of concern, Seim and her family are sent … Read more
Tomorrow, Cambodia’s new prime minister will pay his first official visit to Thailand since taking the reins of power last year, with economic and border affairs likely to top the bilateral agenda. In a vague statement yesterday, the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Hun Manet will arrive in Thailand on Wednesday. During the … Read more
Cambodia’s government has embarked on a diplomatic charm offensive aimed at luring back the Western goodwill and investors who were pushed out by an unprecedented influx of Chinese money and a crackdown on political opposition and the independent press that began in 2016. The United States, Australia, Japan, France, and Germany are among the list … Read more
Human rights groups have condemned the Thai government’s arrest of three Cambodian political activists ahead of of Prime Minister Hun Manet’s first visit to the country later this week. On Friday, Radio Free Asia reported the arrest of Kung Raiya, a government critic who has spent two spells in prison over the past decade, opposition … Read more
There’s a polite warning about throwing stones in glass houses. There’s a more impolite instruction to know the extent of one’s own ignorance. In perusing the Phnom Penh Post’s recent piece (“PM calls for ‘ethical fourth estate’,” January 23), one is compelled to scrutinize what emanated from Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet. The scene? The … Read more