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(File) President Rodrigo Duterte and Cambodian
Prime Minister Hun Sen shakes hands during their meeting at the Peace
Palace in Cambodia on December 14, 2016. Source: Wikicommons
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CIA, US intel agencies list Duterte, Hun Sen as ‘regional threats’
Asian Correspondent | 22 February 2018
A COLLECTIVE of US intelligence agencies
including the CIA has listed Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte and
Cambodian leader Hun Sen as both ‘regional threats’ in Southeast Asia.
The Worldwide Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community
released on Feb 13 said Duterte’s suggestion to declare a
‘revolutionary government’ and impose nationwide martial law as a threat
to democracy in the region.
“In the Philippines, President Duterte will continue to wage his
signature campaign against drugs, corruption, and crime,” the assessment
said.
“Duterte has suggested he could suspend the Constitution, declare a
‘revolutionary government,’ and impose nationwide martial law. His
declaration of martial law in Mindanao, responding to the ISIS-inspired
siege of Marawi City, has been extended through the end of 2018.”
(File)
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, wearing a military uniform,
gestures as he delivers a speech during the 67th founding anniversary of
the First Scout Ranger regiment in San Miguel town, Bulacan province,
north of Manila, Philippines Nov 24, 2017. Source: Reuters/Romeo Ranoco
The intelligence agencies said democracy and human rights in many
Southeast Asian nations would remain fragile in 2018 because of
autocratic tendencies, rampant corruption and cronyism.
On Hun Sen the report released by Daniel Coats, US director of
national intelligence, said the Cambodian leader “will repress
democratic institutions and civil society, manipulate government and
judicial institutions, and use patronage and political violence to
guarantee his rule beyond the 2018 national election”.
Cambodia’s
Prime Minister Hun Sen arrives to attend the Cambodian People’s Party
(CPP) congress in Phnom Penh, Cambodia January 19, 2018. Source:
Reuters/Samrang Pring
“Having alienated Western partners, Hun Sen will rely on Beijing’s
political and financial support, drawing Cambodia closer to China as a
result.”
Apart from the two leaders, the intelligence community said the
Rohingya crisis in Burma would threaten its “fledgeling democracy,
increase the risk of violent extremism, and provide openings for Beijing
to expand its influence.”
Over in Thailand, the community highlighted Junta’s presence in the
administration despite promises of an election later this year, while
the new Constitution “will institutionalize the military’s influence.”
Earlier, Duterte has said the CIA wants him “out of government”,
while Hun Sen has accused the western country of trying to destabilise
his country through protests and opposition proxies.
In Oct 2017, the US Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim denied
that the CIA was plotting against Duterte’s government, according to Rappler.
Coats said the assessment covers “threats to US national security.”
Their output, he said, is needed “to protect American lives and
America’s interests anywhere in the world.”
The US Intelligence community comprises 17 agencies, including the
CIA which conducts intelligence activities to help US foreign policy and
ensure national security.
In response, the Philippines
presidential palace issued a statement denying that Duterte is an
autocrat and is taking seriously the report by the US intelligence
community.
“We view this declaration from no less than the intelligence
department of the United States with some concern,” presidential
spokesman Harry Roque told DZMM radio.
The spokesman refuted that assessment.
“For one, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte is no autocrat or
has autocratic tendencies. He adheres to the rule of law and remains
loyal to the constitution,” Roque said in a statement, as quoted by Reuters.
He added the so-called revolutionary government or nationwide martial law that Duterte might impose did not exist.
Despite the denial, Duterte has publicly made such threats
on several occasions. In December, Philippine lawmakers approved a
year-long extension of martial rule Mindanao, in the country’s southern
region which has been plagued by armed months-long conflict with
Islamic-state inspired militants.
Naked
members of the Alpha Phi Omega (APO) fraternity wearing masks attend a
protest against extrajudicial killings and the lifting of martial law in
the southern island of Mindanao, at the University of the Philippines
in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines December 1, 2017. Source:
Reuters/Dondi Tawatao
Since running for the presidential seat in 2015 and taking office the
year after, Duterte and the US have had an uneasy relationship.
During President
Barack Obama’s administration, Duterte had on numerous occasions been
about drug-war killings in the Philippines.
However, the friction between Duterte and the US cooled when
Donald Trump took the help, applauding his Filipino counterpart on
“unbelievable job on the drug problem.”
Thousands have been
slain in Duterte’s war on drugs with human rights organisations accusing
the Philippine National Police of carrying out extrajudicial killings.
At least 4,000 people have been killed in the drug war, according to
official statistics but rights groups and advocates believe the number
is much higher.
Earlier this month, the prosecutors from the International Criminal
Court opened an investigation into Duterte’s anti-drug campaign.
In December, the US announced new visa restrictions upon individuals it said were involved in “undermining democracy” and violating human rights in Cambodia.
The US State Department said it was taking “concrete steps” to
respond to actions taken Hun Sen’s government in Cambodia, which it said
“run counter to the Paris Peace Agreements of 1991 that … afforded the
Cambodian people democratic rights”.
Hun Sen – who has ruled the Kingdom for more than 30 years – is
presiding over what many have claimed is a crackdown against political
opposition ahead of elections in 2018.
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