US Ambassador William Heidt speaks at the opening of a Coca-Cola factory in Phnom Penh in December as Prime Minister Hun Sen (right) looks on. Pha Lina |
Ruling party ramps up criticism of US
Phnom Penh Post | 14 April 2017
Pointed critiques of the United States by Cambodia’s ruling party are
nothing new given the long-fractious relationship between the two
states, but the volume of scorn recently heaped on America’s actions
both at home and abroad by Phnom Penh appears to point to a new
strategy: that the best defence is a good offence, according to
analysts.
Long viewed as part of a Cambodian effort to realign itself with
China, Cambodia’s mounting criticism of the West, and the US in
particular, is now inviting a different interpretation, with observers
asserting that the government is mounting a pre-emptive attack in hopes
of delegitimising international criticism ahead of “inevitable”
irregularities in upcoming elections.
Recent months have seen the government and Cambodian People’s Party
surrogates repeatedly lash out at America over various issues,
culminating this week in an 11-page press release from the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs. The statement, released on Monday night, lobs
accusations of interference at various external actors – including, most
pointedly, the United States.
The document, titled To Tell The Truth, castigates the
international community in general, but begins by accusing Cambodia’s
current favourite punching bag of destabilising the Kingdom in an
attempt to establish a new regime.
In the days preceding the statement, government spokesman Phay Siphan
took to Facebook, sharing a slew of posts that accused the United
States of violating international law for bombing Syria on April 6.
Siphan also questioned how America can make human rights criticisms
while struggling with racism and police brutality at home.
Reached by phone on Monday, Siphan appealed to the US to “put human
rights first”. He also accused US government-funded news sources Radio
Free Asia and Voice of America of inciting instability.
“They talk up colour revolutions and try to incite the people . . .
they are happy in an air conditioned room while the US launches Tomahawk
missiles,” he said.
On Sunday, CPP spokesman Sok Eysan publicly asked the NGO community
why nobody was reacting to “violent police crackdowns” on Americans
protesting the same attack in Syria.
“When the Cambodian police crack down on people who illegally protest
in order to keep the peace leading up to the forthcoming commune
elections, the human rights organisations in Cambodia are quick to
react,” he later told The Post. “They don’t react to the US government because they are afraid the US will cut off their funding.”
However, David Josar, deputy spokesman at the US Embassy, maintained
that the US’s “judicial system is well equipped to handle any
allegations of misconduct by either protesters or police. The right to
free speech, without fear of retaliation, is a critical part of any
democracy.”
“In Cambodia, as in the rest of the world, the United States supports
democratic principles, not specific parties . . . We are proud of our
longstanding partnership with the Cambodian people and government,”
Josar added yesterday in response to the ministry’s press release.
While the United States has taken a – largely unanswered – battering
this week, the steady stream of attacks began months ago. In December,
Hun Sen compared protests against Donald Trump’s election to protests
following Cambodia’s 2013 election, accusing American police of a “savage crackdown”.
Post-election protests in Cambodia – sparked by a lack of a credible
investigation into poll irregularities – ultimately culminated in a mass
peaceful sit-in being brutally dispersed by masked, plainclothes thugs
wielding metal pipes.
A few weeks after the protest remarks, the prime minister began what would become a repeated appeal to Trump to cancel Cambodia’s “dirty debt” to America, accrued during a period of US interference in Cambodia.
In January, the Cambodian government cancelled an annual joint
military exercise with the United States after holding an inaugural
military exercise with the Chinese just the month before.
In February, the government justified
its hard line on the free press by invoking Trump’s own criticisms of
the media, with Siphan threatening to “crush” US-funded media outlets
VOA and RFA.
The growing trend has puzzled many long-term observers, who say
Cambodia has gone much further than necessary to demonstrate its
realignment with China, or even to send a message to Washington that it
won’t tolerate interference.
“There’s nothing in it for Cambodia . . . is greater dependence on
China and Russia in Cambodia’s long-term interest or [for] short-term
gain?” asked Southeast Asia specialist Carl Thayer.
The ministry’s latest statement, he added yesterday, “just tells me
even more so that the Hun Sen regime is feeling very insecure about the
upcoming commune elections”, which Thayer said he expected the CPP to
“bulldoze its way through”.
“I say it’s short-sighted . . . The United States is not going to
leave Southeast Asia, so things are going to get worse for Cambodia,”
Thayer continued, explaining that alienating the US would inevitably
also alienate other members of ASEAN, the European Union and Australia.
The US, he added, “can’t keep rewarding countries that kick you in the shin and insult you”.
Billy Tai, a London-based human rights consultant who worked in
Cambodia during the previous election cycle, said everything the CPP
does should be analysed through the lens of upcoming elections.
“I think it’s all part of the great scheme in preparation for the
next election cycle,” he said, noting that the attacks on America are
both meant to anticipate external criticism and win internal approval.
“The real target audience is the voting public who will read this
almost Trump-esque diatribe and probably find favour with it,” Tai said,
explaining that the CPP’s top priority is ensuring it wins the upcoming
elections, then worrying about repairing its relationship with the
West.
Sebastian Strangio, author of Hun Sen’s Cambodia, also said
Cambodia was pre-empting “inevitable” criticisms of the upcoming
elections, but pointed to Hun Sen’s own emotional state as an
explanation of the lengths he’s gone to antagonise America.
“Resentment towards the United States and US foreign policy has been a
trend in Hun Sen’s political career since before 1979,” Strangio said
on Monday.
Strangio theorised that Hun Sen felt personally offended by America’s
perceived meddling in Cambodia, had no tolerance for US lectures on
human rights and felt like he finally had the freedom to go on the
attack now that he’s allied with China.
Strangio pointed to the cancelling of the military exercises as
particularly surprising, noting that America had always enjoyed a closer
relationship to Cambodia in that regard than China. He also questioned
the effectiveness of winning votes by bashing America, claiming that the
younger generation doesn’t feel the same resentment that Hun Sen and
his peers do.
“I’m reminded of something that Sam Rainsy once said,” Strangio said
referring to Hun Sen’s now-exiled long-time political enemy. “[Hun Sen
is] like a ship’s captain so busy trying to avoid the rocks that he
doesn’t know what direction he’s going.”
Ear Sophal, a policy analyst and associate professor at Occidental
College, said cycles of anti-Americanism come and go in Cambodia, but
never to this extent.
“It’s as if there’s blood in the water and Cambodia is circling. But
Cambodia as shark? Who are they kidding? What’s strange though is the
short-sightedness of all this.
America may be down, but she’s not out for the count. And China may
be Cambodia’s patron, but one day it might not be,” Sophal said.
If I see Ah Phay Siphan anywhere inside and outside the country of Cambodia, I will punch his nose and face to give him a lesson and tell him to get a job somewhere else beside Yuon/Vietnamese CPP regime led by Vietnamese puppet Hun Sen. He is a real trouble maker of all time. Need to get a job dose not make him talk shitty like he has been currently doing for CPP for nothing.
ReplyDeleteUS Ambassador William Heidt is a very good guy for Cambodia, no question about it.
ReplyDeleteThis crazy dog and beggar Hun Sen will side with anyone who gives him the most money. If America gives him a billion dollars today, he will kick China out tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't agree more 3:52 AM!
Delete