An "impediment" to deepening ties: Will Hun Sen blink?

An "impediment" to deepening ties: Will Hun Sen blink?

Knowing how China has been treating him differently, will Hun Sen do as President Obama has suggested? Or will he shrug his shoulders and continue to tight the noose on the oppositions and human right activists. Should the Cambodian Opposition leaders and Human Right activists celebrate?

It depends on how President Obama addressed the issues and how he treated Hun Sen during the meeting... And it depends on whether Hun Sen react or respond to the U.S. Does Hun Sen needs to deepen ties with the U.S?

Most Cambodian leaders' attitude is like the attitude of the late "Samdech Euv" Norodom Sihanouk. The relationship with the U.S is far less important than with the Chinese, especially when Chinese economy is much stronger than American's for the time being and China always claims that their assistance to Cambodia has no string attached.

For now no one should rejoice yet...

Welcome: President Obama, wearing a traditional silk shirt, returns a greeting to Bun Rany, wife of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who stands centre, before a dinner in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Source: AP Photo 
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Los Angeles Times
Obama holds 'tense' meeting with Cambodia leader

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President Obama is escorted by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen before a meeting in Phnom Penh. (Vincent Thian / Associated Press. / November 19, 2012)

By Kathleen Hennessey

November 19, 2012, 9:17 a.m.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- On the heels of his historic trip to Myanmar, President Obama landed in Cambodia on Monday night for a dose of summitry and quickly found himself in a "tense" meeting with his host, an aide said.

Obama met with Cambodia Prime Minister Hun Sen in the marble hallways of the Peace Palace, his first stop after leaving the country's eastern neighbor. Obama was the first sitting U.S. president to visit Myanmar, and he cast his trip as a reward for that government's recent "flicker of progress" toward democracy after decades of authoritarian rule.

But Obama was not willing to shower the same encouragement on Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rouge official and target of human rights watchdogs.

Hun Sen did not smile before entering the private meeting with the president. Once out of earshot of the media, Obama told the prime minister that Cambodia must undertake fair elections and release political prisoners, calling such shortcomings an "impediment" to deepening ties between the two countries, according to Ben Rhodes, deputy national security advisor for strategic communication.

Rhodes had signaled that Obama would deliver a frank message in Cambodia. The president took heat from human rights activists in the buildup to his Asia trip -- not only for his visit here, but for his decision to honor Myanmar's steps toward greater democracy. They argued the president was moving too quickly to reward too little progress, with the military in Myanmar still wielding influence and some political prisoners still being held.

Obama is in Southeast Asia to underscore his effort to strengthen ties in the region, part of his broader plan to counterbalance China's growing influence.

The president is set to attend a meeting of the Assn. of Southeast Asian Nations and the East Asia Summit before returning to Washington on Tuesday

Thailand uses Muscle to get "arm-twisting" or bilateral talk with Cambodia

From the very beginning of the conflicts, Thai military did not want to have a third party involved with border issues between Thailand and Cambodia fearing that the world would know the truth about Thailand's naked aggression.

The meeting in Bogor, Indonesia, failed for Thailand refused to send its high officials to meet Gen. Tea Banh and Hor Nam Hong there. Mr. Tea and Hor went home empty-handed.

Since then Thailand has prepared for a bigger war with Cambodia by conducting military exercises instead. New additional war planes freshly purchased from Sweden had also arrived in Thailand. 

Now to prove that Thailand means business, Abhisit is demanding again for the "bilateral talk" while Thailand is flexing its military muscle at the border. Thai military have warned that sophisticated weapons would be used. The CNN report below helps prove that Thailand would do whatever it takes to twist Cambodia's arm.

In addition, Thailand blamed Cambodia that it was Cambodian soldiers who started the fight. Perhaps Thai leaders think that they can fool the world again about their naked aggression.

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Troops clash in disputed area along Thailand-Cambodia border

By the CNN Wire Staff

April 23, 2011 5:01 a.m. EDT

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Each side blames the other for the violence
• Authorities have evacuated thousands of people from nearby villages
• Cambodian officials accuse Thai troops of attacking
• Thai officials say Cambodia violated an agreement over weapons and troops

Bangkok, Thailand (CNN) -- Renewed clashes in a disputed area along the Thailand-Cambodia border killed at least one Thai soldier and left 11 people injured Saturday, Thailand's MCOT news agency reported.
The skirmish came a day after officials said three Thai soldiers and three Cambodian soldiers were killed in fighting there.

Each side blames the other for the violence, which erupted Friday near two temples in the Phanom Dong Rak district of Thailand's Surin province.

Authorities have evacuated thousands of people from nearby villages.
 Cambodian state-run media described the situation as a "Thai invasion."

In a letter to the U.N. Security Council on Friday, Cambodia's deputy prime minister said Thai troops had engaged in a "large-scale attack with many types of weapons," targeting areas around temples "deep inside Cambodian territory."

Thai army Lt. Col. Siriya Khuangsirikul accused Cambodia of violating an agreement not to bring weapons or post troops in the disputed area.

Cambodian Lt. Gen. Chhum Socheat claimed Thai troops shelled and damaged temples, and flew over Cambodian territory with spy planes, Cambodia's state-run Agence Kampuchea Presse reported.

At least 10 people were killed when renewed fighting flared up in another disputed border area between the two nations in February, prompting the U.N. Security Council to issue a statement calling on both sides to implement a permanent cease-fire and "resolve the situation peacefully and through effective dialogue."

Those clashes, which lasted four days, stemmed from a longstanding conflict related to the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple. Both Cambodia and Thailand lay claim to the temple, which sits atop a cliff on Cambodian soil but has its most accessible entrance on the Thai side.

At the time, each nation accused the other of firing first, according to a statement from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.


Conflict over the site has taken place periodically for years. In 1962, the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, ruled that the site was in Cambodia, adding that the structure was "an outstanding masterpiece of Khmer architecture."

But Thailand says the 1.8-square-mile (4.7-square-kilometer) area around Preah Vihear was never fully demarcated, and blames a map drawn at the beginning of the 20th-century during the French occupation of Cambodia.

CNN's Kocha Olarn contributed to this repor

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Cambodian, Thai armed clashes force 5,000 Cambodian villagers flee home

PHNOM PENH, April 23 (Xinhua) -- Two straight days of armed clashes between Cambodian and Thai troops over the disputed border areas have forced 1,420 Cambodian families to flee their home for safe shelter, said a senior government official on Saturday.

As of Saturday at 4:00 p.m., 1,420 families with 5,000 people have been evacuated to a safe shelter in Banteay Meanchey province' s Samrong district, some 30 kilometers from the fighting zone, Nhim Vanda, the first vice-president of the Cambodian National Committee for Disaster Management, said on Saturday.

The two straight days of armed clashes on Friday and Saturday broke out at the Ta Mon Thom temple and Ta Krabey temple in Oddar Meanchey province, left troops on both sides killed and injured, the temples were in damage and villagers' properties were destroyed.

In the villages near the fighting areas, Cambodian soldiers have found shrapnel and craters resulted from the artillery shelling by Thai troops during the clashes.

Cambodia's Ministry of Defense on Saturday afternoon issued a statement to condemn Thailand for its "repeated deliberate acts of aggression against Cambodia."

"Thai side used DK 75 and 105 mm heavy guns loaded with poisonous gas in today's (April 23, 2011) assault," it said. "Thai military aircraft, including reconnaissance planes flew deep into Cambodia's airspace."

"Heavy weapons, including 130 mm, 105 mm and 155 mm artilleries have also been used during this latest military onslaught," the statement said.

The latest military clashes between the two countries'troops reoccurred just more than two months after the deadly clash on Feb. 4-7 at the border disputed area next to the Preah Vihear temple, a World Heritage Site.

Cambodia's Preah Vihear temple was enlisted as a World Heritage Site on July 7, 2008. Just a week after the enlistment, Cambodia and Thailand have had a border conflict due to Thai claim of the ownership of 1.8 square miles (4.6 sq km) of scrub next to the temple, triggering a military build-up along the border, and periodic clashes between Cambodian and Thai soldiers have resulted in the deaths of troops on both sides.

Meanwhile, Indonesia, as current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), strongly called for the immediate cessation of hostilities between Cambodia and Thailand that recommenced since April 22, a press statement said on Saturday.

"Indonesia also calls for the two sides to continue to resolve their differences through peaceful means as has been reflected in addressing the border dispute between the two countries," said Kusuma Habir, a spokesperson at the Foreign Ministry.

She said that Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa is in communication with his Cambodian and Thailand counterparts to address this latest development.