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
In April, Cambodia’s former Prime Minister Hun Sen will end his eight-month sabbatical. After resigning from his position as prime minister last year, after almost four decades in the job, to make way for his eldest son, he will return to frontline politics as the new president of the Senate. His ruling Cambodian People’s Party … 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
Yesterday, former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra received his first foreign visitor since his parole and release from detention over the weekend: Cambodia’s former prime minister, Hun Sen. The 71-year-old former leader flew to Thailand on a private jet and drove to the Shinawatra family compound in western Bangkok in a Maybach limousine for a … Read more
Hun Manet’s first 100 days as prime minister show that Cambodia’s leadership has no vision for the future and that an effective transfer of power has yet to take place. The new prime minister took over from his father Hun Sen on August 22. His lack of credibility was immediately clear when he addressed the United Nations … Read more
Advertisement The vice of world politics is to judge a leader’s actions by their reputation, rather than the other way around. Perhaps because Hun Manet had never held a political or elected office before becoming Cambodia’s prime minister in August, and was so veiled in his father’s shadow as to be almost unperceivable, one could … Read more
Advertisement Was this Hun Manet’s first gaffe since taking over Cambodia’s prime minister in August? A few weeks ago, the head of the taxation department, Kong Vibol, spoke about the imposition of a new 20 percent tax on capital gains (from 2024) and increased enforcement of existing levies, amid reports that revenue collection in the … Read more