Exports to E.U. Tumble, Drinking Age on the Rocks, China War Games Anger U.S.
Good morning, Cambodia. It’s Friday, March 24, and this is your Weekly Dispatch.
LINED UP: Hun Sen’s succession plans are omnipresent: He promoted the country’s top military officer, Hun Manet, to four-star general, and Hun Manith, to deputy commander of the Royal Army.
STONE DENY: A report calling Cambodia an authoritarian state with an awful human rights record was met with a yawn. Officials dismissed the research as the “unverified” accusations of foreigners.
WOOD WOES: Park rangers in Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary are short on manpower, equipment, everything — but they say their toughest foes are wealthy, well-armed, illegal logging barons.
THE LEDE
Trade War
The Strongman flatly rejected any government need for foreign aid or preferential trade agreements in fiery, line-in-the-sand testament to the Kingdom’s rapidly souring relations with the E.U.
Europe last week slammed Cambodia’s human rights record and threatened further suspensions unless it sees substantial improvements on a range of human rights issues.
Cambodia has lost $1 billion in E.U. trade because of a 2020 suspension, which hit 20% of exports. The losses unleashed brutal socio-economic hardship for the hundreds of thousands of garment sector workers.
The government shows no signs of improving its abysmal rights record — in the past week jailing two activists and shutting three media outlets — all but daring the E.U to make good on its threats.
Nepo Babies
Hun Sen promoted two of his sons to the top echelons of the Kingdom’s military. Analysts called it a show of strength designed to cement long-term control of the nation’s powerful armed forces.
Hun Manet, the country’s top military officer, was promoted to four-star general. Hun Manith, the prime minister’s second son and the country’s chief intelligence official, was promoted to deputy commander of the Royal Army.
The prime minister denounced cries of “nepotism,” saying critics were plotting to derail CPP plans to install Hun Manet as next prime minister.
Forest Cover
The Hun Sen family clapped back at The Cambodia Daily Khmer for highlighting Hun Manet’s ties to a notorious logging tycoon.
The prime minister dismissed the story as a “malicious” insult to his son’s honor. Hun Manet called the allegations “preposterous” and demanded proof of allegations that he is the “mastermind” of a criminal logging syndicate.
In fact, The Daily story in Khmer only cited the reporting from Mongabay, the environmental news outlet, which alleged the Hun Sen family’s connection to illegal logging, a claim that is longstanding and much debated.
TALKING POINTS
War Games
More than 3,000 Chinese troops landed in Cambodia for three weeks of joint military exercises. The first-ever drills between the two navies at Ream Naval Base will inflame Washington suspicions of China’s growing influence.
Harsh Criticism
The government blasted a U.S. human rights report that called Cambodia an authoritarian, “one-party state” responsible for serious human rights abuses. Officials dismissed the findings as “unverified” allegations of foreign-funded NGOs.
Cut Down
Forestry crimes have intensified in the Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary, according to park rangers. Officials blamed a shortage of staff, equipment and nearly every other resource for losing the battle against well-armed, well-connected illegal logging tycoons.
Hot Takes
So much for going green. The Kingdom released a 20-year Power Development Masterplan, revealing “significant delays” in its transition to clean energy. Renewables are expected to drop from 60% today to 35% by 2030, solar projects will stagnate, and reliance on coal will increase.
Soft Launch
Travelers from Thailand and Vietnam continue to top the list of visitors to Siem Ream more than six months after the Kingdom lifted Covid-19 restrictions. China remains a distant third, and businesses are struggling as the Kingdom waits for the return of big-spending international tourists.
No Limit
Critics put the momentum to establish a minimum drinking age on ice. The draft law, reportedly backed by government and alcohol-industry heavyweights, has languished for nearly a decade. Cambodia is one of the few countries without a legal purchase age.
Game Time
King Norodom Sihamoni ignited the Southeast Asian Games ceremonial torch at Angkor Wat, beginning a 45-day countdown to the event’s Phnom Penh opening on May 5. The torch will visit the Asean countries and Timor-Leste before returning April 27. More than 11,000 athletes are expected to compete.
BACKPAGES: From The Cambodia Daily Vault
Study: Karaoke Ban Sends Women to Brothels Industry
March 20, 2003
A report on the effects of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s November 2001 order to close all karaoke bars and nightclubs has found that conditions for women formerly employed in the karaoke industry have significantly declined as a result.
Drug Police Bust Gov’t Rights Official
March 20, 2003
Cambodian anti-narcotics police officers said on Wednesday they have arrested a senior government official, holding a rank equal to undersecretary of state, in a drug bust that uncovered thousands of methamphetamine pills and precursor chemicals.
Gov’t, UN Reach Draft Agreement on KR Trial
March 18, 2003
UN head negotiator Hans Corell on Monday evening disclosed details of the draft agreement toward a trial of former Khmer Rouge leaders that was finalized in the morning with Cambodian negotiators—an agreement that answers many of the quibbles of critics of the process but now must be approved by the UN General Assembly and the Cambodian National Assembly.
WEEKEND READING
Peace Is on Cambodia’s Ballot, However Voters Define It
Everywhere you look in Cambodia’s capital are signs of the top two leaders of the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) with the slogan “Thank You, Peace.”
Met Museum Kicked Me Out for Praying to My Ancestral Gods
My danced prayer to looted Cambodian antiquities was too much for the New York museum.
Photos: Hun Manet, via Facebook. King Norodom Sihamoni, via Hun Sen’s Facebook page.
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