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A foreign woman has fallen to her death in Sihanoukville after she was deliberately thrown off a building by her boyfriend- – after he had also stabbed her twice. The woman – named as Ran Weixia, a 30 years old Chinese nightclub worker – died instantly after the fall from the Blue Bay Hotel in the coastal city of Sihanoukville on the 13th of June. Police have named Chinese national Hao Mou, 24 years old, unemployed, as the perpetrator Local police revealed that the victim was stabbed twice by the suspect with a knife, stabbing the left chest and neck respectively, resulting in serious injuries. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501094185/foreign-woman-dies-after-being-thrown-from-building-by-boyfriend/

The APSARA National Authority is planning to launch two new visiting circuits: Chau Say Tevoda Temple and Thommanon Temple to raise the value of the ancient temples that tourists can visit from all angles of the temples’ main points. You Chantha, Officer of the Department of Cultural Development, Museums, Heritage Norms, in charge of the working team organising the visiting circuits said that these circuits will be prepared in two phases. First, he pointed out, it is arranged at Chau Say Tevoda Temple to show the direction to the tourists to visit the entrance from the east, because, in the past, tourists who visit this temple often walk through the north entrance, so they do not visit all corners of the main points in this temple. As for the second phase which is a long circuit, he continued, when the project to prepare the Angkor Thom’s Victory Gate area to the Eastern baray dam is completed, the visiting circuit will be launched. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501093713/new-visiting-circuits-at-chau-say-tevoda-and-thommanon-temples-to-be-launched/

Prum Chantha, wife of convicted CNRP activist Kak Komphear, is dragged to the ground after protesting outside the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on June 14, 2022. (Hean Rangsey/VOD) Thirty-one opposition activists have been sentenced to six to eight years in jail for plotting and incitement, while another 20 had their sentences suspended, as the Phnom Penh Municipal Court issued CNRP mass-trial verdicts on Tuesday morning. Scuffles earlier broke out on the road outside a CNRP mass-trial verdict hearing at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court as officers dragged away Seng Chan Theary, a Cambodian-American opposition activist. Chan Theary, a trained lawyer, has been regularly protesting the case, in which she is one of 60 defendants in an incitement and plotting case all linked to the outlawed opposition CNRP. Around 10 a.m., in the presence of around 50 officers, Chan Theary was taken into custody. Other protesters scuffled with officers over protest banners, getting dragged into the street. (Kuoy Langdy/VOD) In court, 12 were sentenced to eight years in jail, 19 others — including Chan Theary — to six years, and 20 had five-year sentences suspended. The situation was unclear for nine others originally part of the case. Around 15 arrest warrants, mostly for CNRP leaders overseas including Sam Rainsy and Mu Sochua, were also issued. After the verdict was announced, defendants Heng Chan Sothy, Kam Komphear and Tum Bunthorn raised their arms in court and shouted “Bravo, Candlelight Party!” They then criticized the court for being remote-controlled and for “following orders.” Chan Sothy, Komphear and Bunthorn, alongside one other defendant, Yok Neang, were already in jail for other cases. Prum Chantha, wife of convicted opposition activist Komphear, was dragged to the ground by authorities after joining a protest outside the courthouse. “It’s an injustice — six years, in its entirety.” “I’m crying, but it doesn’t mean I feel shocked or sorry. I’m crying from feeling hurt, because I’m wondering why Cambodians are mistreating our own people like this,” Chantha said. Prum Chantha, wife of convicted CNRP activist Kak Komphear, falls to the ground after protesting outside the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on June 14, 2022. (Hean Rangsey/VOD) Seng Chan Theary dressed as Lady Liberty earlier this morning. (Hean Rangsey/VOD) The case dates back to the exiled Sam Rainsy’s unsuccessful attempt to return to the country in 2019, with the defendants charged with aiding in his return and plotting to gather people for the occasion. The current trial is the product of two case files merged early on to facilitate the hearings. The trial has been ongoing since 2020, with the prosecution repeatedly playing videos of Rainsy in the U.S. announcing his return to Cambodia. Testimony produced during the trial had an anti-terrorism police officer say that supporting Rainsy’s return was incitement and a prosecutor argue that gathering people on a holiday — Rainsy planned to return on Independence Day — was ill-intended. Two other cases have already reached verdicts. Senior CNRP leaders, including Sam Rainsy, Eng Chhai Eang and Mu Sochua, were convicted of attack against the state and sentenced to at least 20 years in prison. Twenty-one CNRP members and others were convicted in March of incitement, plotting and incitement of the military to disobey orders for supporting the formation of the Cambodia National Rescue Movement. Defendant Sentence (Years) Defendant Sentence (Years) Sam Rainsy 8 Hang Sophary 5 (suspended) Eng Chhai Eang 8 Nov Vichet 5 (suspended) Mu Sochua 8 Ou Kimhort 5 (suspended) Tok Vanchan 8 Hieng Tak 5 (suspended) Ho Vann 8 Srey Chandara 5 (suspended) Ou Chanrith 8 Chea Yamorn 5 (suspended) Long Ry 8 Kong Saphea 8 Men Sothavarin 8 Long Botta 6 Um Sam An 8 Van Narith 5 (suspended) Ly Ratanakraksmey 5 (suspended) Heng Daro 6 Mornh Sarath 8 In Khom 5 (suspended) Isa Usman 8 Leng Senghong 5 (suspended) Yok Neang 6 Chhat Vichea 5 (suspended) Kak Komphear 6 Chham Chhaya 6 Tim Vanna Tor Nimol 6 Sot Vandy 5 (suspended) Heng Layhour 6 Ros Sophal Khin Chamroeun 6 Khim Sinan Neang Sokhun 6 Prum Rath 5 (suspended) Hy Sokchea 5 (suspended) Phoung Tha 5 (suspended) Ney Leak 5 (suspended) Chhun Bun Hea Suon Chamroeun 6 Sok Ratha Sao Ousaphea 5 (suspended) Yong Sineth Rin Rath 6 Prum Sokha Seng Bunrong 6 Eak Chesda 5 (suspended) Chheng Sorphorn 6 Thong Huoch Khean Vises 5 (suspended) Oun Pov 6 Meas Vises Niv Chamroeun 6 Heng Chan Sothy 6 Seng Chan Theary 6 Tum Bunthorn 6 Chea Chiv 6 Yu Chantheany 5 (suspended) https://vodenglish.news/mass-trial-verdict-cambodian-american-activist-taken-into-custody/

The Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam) last week continued its mission of reminding people about the brutal Khmer Rouge regime by organising a Genocide Education Forum in two provinces. On June 7, DC-Cam was invited to hold a workshop for over 50 people during the annual meeting of the Kep Gardens Association, a non-profit NGO committed to the vocational training and education of young people in Kep province’s Kampong Tralach village. Most of the participants were born after 1979, and were given an insight into the horrors experienced by their parents and grandparents during the Pol Pot regime’s rule. Association president Janine Judd said that the reason for the invitation was because there was generally a lack of knowledge about the Khmer Rouge among the villagers. “I invited a speaker from the Documentation Center of Cambodia to talk about the history of the Khmer Rouge because I found out while talking with the people that they did not believe that the human remains which were placed in a public shrine about two yards away were those of Khmer Rouge victims,” she said. https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501093559/dc-cam-continues-work-to-keep-memories-of-kr-horrors-alive/

Two young female teenagers were killed in a boating incident, due to their boat sinking. The incident happened at Ponlei Reservoir in Ponley Village, Ponley Commune, Phnom Srok District, Banteay Meanchey. on June 11. Police identified the teenagers as: Chuob Socheata, female, 13 years old, and Mean Lalin, female, 14 years old. Both girls are from Srah Chik Village, Srah Chik Commune, Phnom Srok District. The two girls travelled to the location with five other people and they were planning to boat at the reservoir. They all boarded the boat and took off into deeper waters, when the boat overturned. The other five people knew how to swim and were able to swim to safety, but the two teenagers drowned. https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501093332/two-youths-killed-in-boat-sinking-incident/

A representative from the Apsara National Authority (ANA), the Cambodian management authority responsible for maintaining the Angkor Archaeological Park, announced the authority’s ban on the use of tripods in the park except if photographers apply for permission through ANA, a move that has irritated many professional photographers. The explanation was offered after many photographers took to social media and complained that they have not been allowed to use tripods in the park. Long Kosal, ANA spokesman, said yesterday that officials will stop photographers from taking pictures in the archaeological park because these photographers will use the images for commercial purposes. The authority wants photographers to ask for permission, which means they have to pay a fee to the government,” he said. “It is also for the public’s benefit as people who go on tours with guides have paid the fee in the tour price, and are allowed to photograph.” read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501092898/ana-restricts-use-of-photographic-tripods-in-angkor-wat-area/

Cambodia will receive more than 5 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine doses from the United States in September. United State Embassy to Cambodia Spokeswoman Stephanie Arzate said that Cambodia is scheduled to receive another 5.5 million doses of Pfizer vaccine through the COVAX Global Vaccine Facility by the end of September. “In May 2022, the United States provided a bilateral donation to Cambodia of 2 million Pfizer vaccine doses through COVAX. This came on top of a donation of 1.1 million Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses in July 2021,” she said According to Prime Minister Hun Sen, Cambodia has approximately 11 million Covid-19 vaccine doses in stock, while more than 20 million doses are heading to Cambodia. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501093280/cambodia-to-receive-over-5-million-doses-of-c-19-vaccine-from-the-us-in-september/

Phnom Penh residents spent two days pelted by record heavy rainfall, which caused flooding along major boulevards, forcing vehicles to stop and stall, and in some cases drivers couldn’t restart their cars, with strong winds blowing down trees and billboards, and damaging property. On Friday, strong winds and heavy rainfall also knocked down billboards on Street 2004, injuring a Tuk Tuk driver, while trees blown over by the weather damaged houses, but no other injuries were reported. National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM) spokesman Soth Kimkolmony said yesterday that for two consecutive days from June 10-11, heavy rain dumped enough water on some areas in the capital to register record water levels of 111 millmetres for the two days. Some places were impassable to all traffic. Kimkolmony added that the storms and water over the past two days hadn’t damaged people’s homes, but had damaged many retail outlets. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501092853/record-rainfall-floods-capital-causes-chaos/

King Norodom Sihamoni has endorsed the Food Safety Law and its edicts are now in effect. Deputy director of General Department of Consumer Protection, Competition and Fraud Repression of the Ministry of Commerce Dim Theng said yesterday that the law set standards for food products to be safe and of quality. “The standards will protect the life and health of the people and benefits will include reducing the costs by people seeking treatment for ailments due to unsafe food,” he said “We will create awareness and work with food factories to ensure safe food is made. We will also make known the penalties for offences,” he said. “All food vendors who sell fish, vegetables or any kind of fresh foods will also be made aware of the consequences for selling food from unknown sources.” read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501092851/king-signs-food-safety-law-into-force/

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday sent a former vice-governor of Battambang province and a former business tycoon to seven years in prison each over corruption and land grabbing of nearly 5,000 hectares of state land in Battambang Province’s Kors Kralor district. “The Phnom Penh Municipal Court has sentenced accused Sou Arafat and Sorng Thorn to seven years in prison each. The court orders both of them to pay $25,000 as a fine,” read the court verdict. The municipal court also seized the nearly 5,000 hectares that they both owned in Kors Kralor district and attached it as the state property. Presiding Judge Pich Vicheathor stated that the two accused were identified as Sou Arafat, 47, the former vice-governor living in Battambang city; and Sorng Thorn, 60, the former real estate businessman living in Kors Kralor district of Battambang province. Judge Vicheathor said that Arafat was charged under Articles 605 and 608 of the Criminal Code, while Thorn was charged under Articles 605, 608 and 630 of the Criminal Code. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501092856/battambang-ex-governor-tycoon-jailed-for-7-years-each-fined-25k/

Authorities last night cracked down on the Wat Phnom area of Phnom Penh – a notorious haunt of prostitutes and their clients. On direct orders from Mr. Sok Penh, Governor of Khan Dun Penh Governor Committee, on Friday night at 11:00pm, Mr. Kem Heng, Vice President of Khan Defense, led a military force to clear women who do sex business around Wat Phnom area and some other parks in the local Khan, which causes a loss of public order and leads to theft-robbery and other fraudulent activities. As a result, a total of 12 prostitutes – 9 women, 2 men, and 1 transgender – were brought to Khan Dun Penh school to prepare documents to be sent to the Department of Social Affairs, Veterans Affairs and Youth Affairs, Phnom Penh read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501092684/wat-phnom-prostitutes-cleared-from-streets-in-crackdown/

Questions remain on where smaller Southeast Asian nations feature in the U.S. grand strategy. When Cambodia’s Minister of National Defense General Tea Banh was seen taking a leisurely dip in the Gulf of Thailand with Chinese Ambassador Wang Wentian after a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a Cambodian naval base being built with China's help earlier this month, no one in the region batted an eyelid. As U.S.-China friction is getting more intense, Phnom Penh seems to have tilted towards its big neighbour, which has been offering cash and assistance to not only Cambodia but other nations in Southeast Asia. “Cambodia and China aren't good at hiding their relationship,” said Virak Ou, President of Future Forum, a Cambodian think tank. “It's obvious that we are choosing sides,” he said. Yet most countries in the region so far remain reluctant to pick sides, and analysts say it is crucial that Washington realize the need to engage Southeast Asian nations in its Indo-Pacific strategy, or risk losing out to Beijing. Cambodian Minister of Defense Tea Banh and Chinese Ambassador Wang Wentian are seen swimming following Ream Base groundbreaking ceremony in Sihanoukville. Credit: Tea Banh’s Facebook page. Right to decide own destiny At the Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in Singapore, Tea Banh lashed out at what he called “baseless and problematic accusations” against the Cambodian government in relation to a naval base that Phnom Penh is developing in Ream, Sihanouk Province, with help from Beijing. The Ream Naval Base provoked much controversy after the U.S. media reported that Hun Sen’s government was prepared to give China exclusive use of part of the base. It would be China’s first naval facility in mainland Southeast Asia and would allow the Chinese military to expand patrols across the region. “Unfortunately, Cambodia is constantly accused of giving an exclusive right to a foreign country to use the base,” the minister said, adding that this is “a complete insult” to his country. Cambodia, he said, is a state that is “independent, sovereign, and has the full right to decide its destiny.” As usual, the Cambodian defense chief refrained from naming countries involved but it is clear that both the U.S. and China are vying for influence over the ten-nation Southeast Asian grouping. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in his remarks at the Shangri-La forum stated that “the Indo-Pacific is our center of strategic gravity” and “our priority theater of operations.” But questions remain on where smaller Southeast Asian nations feature in that grand strategy of the United States. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin (L) stands with Vietnam's Defense Minister Phan Van Giang during a bilateral meeting ahead of the Shangri-La Dialogue summit in Singapore, June 10, 2022. Credit: AFP Lopsided cooperation The region, noted Indonesia’s Minister of Defense Prabowo Subianto, “has been for many centuries the crossroad of imperialism, big power domination and exploitation.” “We understand the rivalry between the established world power and the rising world power,” he said, implying the United States and China. Prabowo, who joined the military in the thick of the Vietnam War and retired at the rank of Lieutenant General, told the audience at the Shangri-La Dialogue that Southeast Asian countries are “the most affected by big powers’ competition.” Despite divisions and differences between member countries, “we’ve come to our own ASEAN way of resolving challenges,” he said. It may seem that “we’re sitting on the fence," Prabowo said, but this seeming inaction reflects an effort of preserving neutrality by ASEAN countries. “Indonesia opted to be not engaged in any military alliance,” the minister said. The same stance has been adopted by another ASEAN player – Vietnam– whose White Paper on defense policy stated “three nos” including no military alliances, no basing of foreign troops in the country and no explicit alliances with one country against another. Yet it’s unlikely that Hanoi, often seen as anti-China as Vietnam has experienced Chinese aggression at many occasions in history, will embrace the U.S. to counter Beijing. “It’s better to nurture a relationship with a close neighbor rather than relying on a distant sibling,” Vietnamese Defense Minister Phan Van Giang explained, quoting a Vietnamese proverb. Two of ten ASEAN nations - the Philippines and Thailand - are U.S. treaty allies. But even in Manila and Bangkok, there have been signs of expanded cooperation with China. “Southeast Asia and China are neighbors thanks to the geography, and their cooperation is natural,” said Collin Koh, Research Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. Koh suggested that in order to maintain the foothold in the region, “the U.S. need to embrace and appreciate local cultures and not try to force regime changes.” “The cooperation between the U.S. and the region has been too one-dimensional and lopsided, too security focused, and needs to expand,” he said. China's Defence Minister Wei Fenghe attends the opening reception at the Shangri-La Dialogue summit in Singapore, June 10, 2022. Credit: AFP Limited leverage “Southeast Asia is a difficult region for the U.S. to grasp,” said Blake Herzinger, a Singapore-based defense policy specialist. “The region needs to foster ties with China and Washington needs to accept and work with that,” Herzinger said, adding that it’s time to recognize that “U.S. leverage is limited in a competitive region where the opposite number is China.” According to Southeast Asia analyst Koh, “it’s not too late for the U.S. to adjust its policy towards Southeast Asia.” “There are still demands for an American presence here and a reservoir of goodwill that the U.S. has built over the past,” Koh said, but warned that “this may risk running dry if Washington doesn’t truly recognize the importance of engagement in the region.” The U.S. and allies should also bear in mind regional geopolitical calculations, he said. “Southeast Asian countries don’t want to pick sides but they find themselves being sucked into the super power competition and being pragmatic as they are, some of them are making efforts to try to benefit from it,” Koh said. “I think the Biden administration has done a good job in relation to Southeast Asia in the last six months. Before, not so good because they had a lot on their plate,” said Bonnie Glaser, director of the Asia program at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. In her opinion, “to try benefitting from U.S.-China competition is short-sighted.” “Countries in the region should consider a long-term strategy to hold up a rules-based world order where smaller countries also have rights to speak as they don’t want China to dictate to them what to do,” Glaser said. On the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met with Southeast Asia defense ministers on June 10 to discuss ways to deepen cooperation, especially in maritime security. In May, President Joe Biden hosted the first U.S.-ASEAN Special Summit and the U.S. has just announced a new initiative to permanently deploy a Coast Guard cutter in the region. This is a “good sign that they’re listening and trying to adjust,” said China expert Glaser. https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/asean-usa-06122022074314.html

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, the current ASEAN chair, has asked Myanmar’s junta to reconsider the death sentences imposed on individuals opposed to them, according to his letter of June 10th, addressed to Senior Gen Min Aung Hlaing. The two-page letter, seen by Thai PBS World, reads that Cambodia believes that the planned executions, if carried out, will trigger a very strong and widespread negative reaction from the international community. “This will also have a devastating effect on ASEAN and Cambodia’s efforts to support Myanmar in a return to normality and to find a peaceful solution to the current crisis,” the letter continued. The junta announced last week that it will execute four activists, despite appeals from around the world urging them stay the sentences. If the executions are carried out, they would be the first since 1990. Hun Sen, who has met the junta’s chief on several occasions, warned that the Southeast Asian bloc is currently at the heart of major powers’ geo-strategies, while competition and rivalries among them escalate. “In the light of this development, a lot of attention is now focused on developments in ASEAN and its credibility and effectiveness as a people-centred regional family. read more https://www.thaipbsworld.com/hun-sen-appeals-to-myanmar-to-reconsider-death-sentences/?utm_source=thaip.bs&utm_medium=urlshortener&utm_campaign&utm_term&utm_content

Though it did not win a majority, Sam Rainsy said the Candlelight Party laid a foundation for the future. Though fraud and irregularities tainted the June 5 Cambodian local commune council elections, the opposition Candlelight Party showed that it can challenge Hun Sen’s ruling party in future elections, Candlelight’s exiled founder told RFA in an interview. A statement issued by the National Election Committee (NEC) on Monday said the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) received 5.3 million popular votes to win 9,338 out of the 11,622 commune council seats that were contested, while the Candlelight Party (CLP) came away with 1.6 million votes and 2,180 seats. “I don’t like the results, but I like political change in Cambodia,” exiled opposition leader and CLP founder Sam Rainsy told RFA’s Khmer Service. “It’s a drastic change now, compared with before. Before we were only a one party state, from the central government to the grassroots. The one party state has been ended.” The NEC, an agency that supervises elections in Cambodia, said the election process went smoothly and the results could be trusted, but Candlelight Party candidates and election observers said they were victims of harassment and intimidation before and during the voting and the NEC did nothing to stop it. In some cases, local authorities and CPP observer organizations were alone given access to the ballot counting, the CLP said, accusing the ruling party of vote-rigging. Despite what he sees as questionable results, Sam Rainsy said that the CPP will face real competition in next year’s general election, when voters will choose members of the National Assembly. “In the 2023 election, there will have to be a negotiation, because there are [essentially] only two political parties. They can’t just dissolve CLP. The CPP can’t have free ride. The forces of democracy have progressed,” Sam Rainsy said. Should the Candlelight Party survive to contest next year’s election it would be a stark contrast to the main opposition party five years ago, the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP). After the CNRP won 43% of the vote in the last commune council elections in 2017, the party’s leader Kem Sokha was arrested for treason and the Supreme Court dissolved the CNRP, paving the way for the CPP to win all 125 parliamentary seats in 2018’s general election. This began a five-year crackdown by Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia since 1985, on civil liberties and other freedoms that stripped CNRP members of their political rights and forced many of them to join Sam Rainsy in exile or risk imprisonment. Sam Rainsy has been in France since 2015 Though the CNRP’s dissolution was a major setback for the country’s opposition, the Candlelight Party’s performance on Sunday gives Sam Rainsy hope that a stronger opposition party can emerge in Cambodia and restore the democratic balance, he said. “We took votes away from the CPP. We must now focus on free and fair elections in 2023. The political situation is now better than it was before this election,” he said. “Only the CLP is capable of competing with the CPP. … There is only one [viable] opposition party and that is the CLP. [The CPP] can’t avoid the CLP,” he said, adding that in preparation for next year’s election, the CLP intends to challenge the government to reform the NEC so that it can operate more in line with its stated purpose. “We must change the NEC members, because it is being controlled by the ruling party,” he said. Sam Rainsy, however, lamented that his equally popular political ally Kem Sokha, with whom he cofounded the CNRP, did not support the CLP. Kem Sokha has said that Candlelight should not participate in what many believe is a compromised electio “It seems he regarded the CPP and CLP as the same party. I am sad. He will realize this is wrong,” he said. The journey toward Candlelight becoming Cambodia’s largest opposition party began when Sam Rainsy, on the heels of his expulsion from the National Assembly, founded it in 1995 as the Khmer Nation Party. It later came to be known as the Sam Rainsy Party. In 2012, most of its members merged with Kem Sokha’s Human Rights Party to form the CNRP, effectively mothballing the two parent parties. Because of new laws that forbade political parties from making reference to anyone convicted on political charges, the Sam Rainsy Party changed its name to Candlelight in 2017, avoiding the ban of the CNRP. However, once it was clear that the party was gaining steam before the communal elections, authorities began harassing the party, Candlelight Party sources have told RFA. Several CLP activists have been jailed on allegations of submitting false documents to run in the communal elections, and many others were bullied or harassed by CPP supporters. But Sam Rainsy said he was proud that the party was able to rise from the ashes of the CNRP on short notice. Most of Candlelight’s growth happened in the past few months in preparation for the commune elections. “I must express appreciation to the wonderful voters. We must continue our struggle. The CLP is a base. We have time to prepare for 2023. We have a strong foundation and it will get stronger,” Sam Rainsy said. “We will restructure the NEC and restore democracy to the country.” Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Eugene Whong. https://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/sam-rainsy-06092022200238.html Copyright © 1998-2020, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036.

In yet another case of foreigners being lured to work in Cambodia, only to end up in in captivity, authorities in Svay Rieng province recently rescued 22 Indonesian migrant workers who had been held against their will by two companies. Worse still, some of the 22 were sold by one syndicate to another with no humanity as the workers claimed to have been detained and forced to undertake online scam activities targeting other foreign nationals. The workers’ travel documents were also confiscated by their respective employers while some of them reported they had been sold from their previous companies to their Bavet city-based ones. However, their plight came to an end, thanks to the intervention of the Republic of Indonesia Embassy in Phnom Penh, which worked in tandem with Svay Rieng provincial administration and provincial police and managed to safely secure the release of all 22 from their captors on June 3. These workers were sent to Phnom Penh to receive further assistance from the Indonesian Embassy, such as consular services for those with missing passports. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501091325/captive-labour-22-indonesian-slave-workers-rescued-in-svay-rieng/

Some 42, 897 people, mostly frontliners were the first to receive the fifth dose of the COVID-29 vaccine yesterday. Thursday, June 9th marked the first day for the start of the 5th dose administration campaign for front line staff and others in the designated priority groups, including leaders of the government, the senate and the parliament, health workers, government officials, civil servants, armed forces, the elderly, staff of embassies, national and international organizations, journalists, and celebrities. According to Dr. Or Vandine, Secretary of State, Ministry of Health, “Vaccine is the most powerful tool to protect your lives from the COVID-19.” “Booster doses are essential to strengthen your immunity against COVID-19, so please come for your booster shots when your turns come,” she added. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501091539/first-day-of-covid-19-5th-dose-campaign-in-cambodia-sees-more-than-42000-getting-vaccinated/

After the opening of the International Gate in Poipet, it has seen increased activity with both international and national tourists travelling through the border crossing. Brigadier General E Chamroeun, Chief of Immigration Police at the Poipet International Gate, said that for the entire period of May 2022, more than 80,000 national and international tourists passed through the Poipet International Gate, and the number is increasing daily. According to the figures, the number of national and international visitors entering the international gate in May was 81,471, of which 39,872 were female. There were tourists from more than 59 countries accessing Thailand and Cambodia through the border crossing. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501091905/poipet-international-gate-sees-increased-activity/

A Frenchman has been jailed for five years for having sex with five underage girls between 2019 and 2021. Dauo Fredric Freicios, 56, was also ordered by Phnom Penh Municipal Court Judge Yinh Chheanavy yesterday to pay about $3,000 in damages to each of the girls. He was charged with “sexual intercourse with a minor under fifteen years and purchase of child prostitution” under Articles 34 and 42 of the Cambodian Law on Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation. Freicios was arrested by Phnom Penh’s municipal anti-human trafficking and juvenile protection unit police on May 25 last year. Judge Chheanavy said Freicios was arrested after the mothers of the girls reported that Freicios had sex with their daughters for money. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501091470/frenchman-jailed-5-years-over-sex-with-minors/

SINGAPORE, June 9 (Reuters) - A decision by Cambodia to expand its biggest naval base and allow the Chinese military exclusive use of a portion of it shows an extraordinary lack of transparency, a senior U.S. defense official said on Thursday. A Chinese official said on Wednesday an "iron-clad partnership" with Cambodia was bolstered by military cooperation, as work began on a China-funded upgrade of Cambodia's Ream naval base. Cambodian Minister of Defense Tea Banh has dismissed fears that it would let China build a military base on its soil, saying any country could use the facilities at the Ream naval base, while Cambodia was open to accepting military assistance from anyone. The United States believes that the expansion plans for the base included exclusive use of the northern portion of the base for China's military and neither country had shared full details about the extent of Beijing's plans to have a unilateral military base there. read more https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/us-says-there-is-extraordinary-lack-transparency-over-chinese-activity-cambodia-2022-06-09/

Beijing’s first naval facility in mainland Southeast Asia could allow it to expand patrols in the South China Sea. Latest developments at the Ream Naval Base in Cambodia, where China is building a facility that its military can use, have raised quiet concerns in neighboring Vietnam, where military strategists have been closely following events across the border. Diplomatic sources say the base and China’s involvement in strategic projects in Cambodia are likely to be on the agenda of U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman’s meetings when she visits Vietnam at the weekend. Sherman is scheduled to visit Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi from June 10-13 and meet with Vietnamese officials including Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh, Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son and Vice Foreign Minister Ha Kim Ngoc. The U.S. deputy secretary is not meeting Vietnamese defense officials because of conflicting schedules but on a similar trip in 2014 Sherman met with then Lt. General Nguyen Chi Vinh, Vice-Minister of National Defense and Vietnam’s chief strategist on Cambodia. She was Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs at that time. Cambodian Navy personnel are seen walking along a jetty during a government-organized media tour to the Ream naval base in Preah Sihanouk province, July 26, 2019. Credit: AFP Historical ties Vietnam is not only a neighbor but also Cambodia’s historical “brother from Indochina” and traditional ally. The current government in Phnom Penh was installed in power by Hanoi after Vietnamese troops defeated the Khmer Rouge in 1979. Prime Minister Hun Sen, a fluent Vietnamese speaker, used to be called by critics a “Vietnam’s puppet” at the beginning of his political career. The news about the Chinese-assisted development project, under which China will help Cambodia to renovate and upgrade naval facilities at Ream, reveals how much leverage Vietnam has lost in Cambodia in recent years. “Vietnam is of course worried because Ream is extremely close to Vietnam’s own naval base in Phu Quoc island,” said a Vietnamese analyst who doesn’t want to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue. The Ream Naval Base is situated in Preah Sihanouk province in southwest Cambodia on the Gulf of Thailand, less than 30 km (18 miles) from Phu Quoc, known as Koh Tral in Khmer. It was the Vietnamese Navy who in January 1979 seized the base from Pol Pot troops and transferred it from the Khmer Rouge regime to the new Cambodian government. But the Vietnamese Navy was invited to visit the Ream Naval Base only a couple times and recently the “Joint Vietnamese Friendship” building, a facility built by the Vietnamese, was relocated from the base, reportedly to avoid conflicts with Chinese personnel. “There is also a sense of great disappointment,” said the Vietnamese analyst. “However I don’t think the Chinese involvement here is targeting Vietnam but more for the Cambodian government to give a message of defiance and a warning signal to the U.S.,” he added. In July 1982, Hanoi and Phnom Penh signed an agreement on “historical waters” between the two countries to define the sea border and the legal sovereignty of the islands in the Gulf of Thailand, in order to minimize misunderstanding and prevent potential conflicts. Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen (C) cuts a ceremonial ribbon as Chinese ambassador to Cambodia Wang Wentian (3rd R) looks on during the opening ceremony of the Morodok Techo National Stadium, funded by China's grant aid under its Belt and Road Initiative, in Phnom Penh, Dec. 18, 2021. Credit: AFP Security dilemma Beijing’s involvement in Ream has nevertheless sparked controversy in the West as the U.S. sees the danger of China gaining its first naval staging facility in mainland Southeast Asia that could allow it to significantly expand patrols across the South China Sea. Concerns about Ream go back as far as 2019, when the Wall Street Journal reported a secret deal allowing China to post army personnel, store weapons and dock warships there. Cambodia and China have repeatedly denied the information, saying “the renovation of the base serves solely to strengthen the Cambodian naval capacities to protect its maritime integrity and combat maritime crimes.” Washington has complained “about the lack of transparency on the intent, the nature, the scope of this project, as well as the role that the PRC military is playing in its construction and in its post-construction use of the facility.” “The latest news report about the Ream Naval Base is a further indication that the U.S. has not accepted the fact that Cambodia and China have already been close partners in Southeast Asia,” said Sovinda Po, a research fellow at the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace. “The main reason behind the U.S.'s constant accusations is to warn the Cambodian government against aligning so closely with China,” Po said. "Vietnam is also not happy to see China moving closer towards its own territory as it and China have ongoing sovereignty disputes in the South China Sea and the overall trust between the two countries is low,” the Cambodian analyst said. The naval base and its development therefore have become a major security dilemma for Cambodia, Vietnam, the U.S. and China, according to Sovinda Po. Cambodian Minister of Defense Tea Banh and Chinese Ambassador Wang Wentian are seen swimming following Ream Base groundbreaking ceremony in Sihanoukville. Credit: Tea Banh’s Facebook page. ‘The new normal’ China already has the biggest maritime force in the world, with 355 ships and is projected to have 460 by 2030, according to the latest U.S. Defense Department report on Chinese military. The U.S. has 297 battle-force ships but operates more than 800 military bases overseas. “This is our normal now, China will seek overseas bases, just like we do,” said Blake Herzinger, a Singapore-based defense policy specialist and U.S. Navy Reserve officer. “If we think freezing out countries that do elect to cooperate with the Chinese does anything other than make us look like them, we are sorely mistaken,” Herzinger wrote on Twitter. U.S.-Cambodia relations have been strained over recent years due to many factors including differences in geopolitical and strategic interests, human rights, democracy and China’s role in the region. In contrast, during the last decade under the so-called Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China has been pumping investment into important infrastructure projects in Cambodia including the Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone, Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville Expressway, the new Siem Reap International Airport, roads, bridges and hydropower plants. "If I don't rely on China, who will I rely on? If I don't ask China, who am I to ask?" Hun Sen famously said at a regional forum in 2021. “It’s time to recognize that U.S. leverage is extremely limited in a competitive region where the opposite number is the People’s Republic of China (PRC),” said Herzinger, suggesting that “public bullying isn’t going to win Cambodia over. Copyright © 1998-2020, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. https://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/china-base-06082022100523.html

Ancient Angkorian statues were uncovered by an archeological team at Angkor Thom’s Takav Gate, or West gate, an ANA spokesman confirmed yesterday, adding that the statues were from the Naga balustrade that stretched across the bridge in front of the gate. The statues are still stuck at the bottom of Angkor Thom’s moat, but technicians are in the process of extracting them, ANA spokesman Long Kosal said. “The ANA team was excavating the bottom of the dry moat when they found almost whole statues and stone fragments of other statues, but we can’t remove them until the statues are free of the surrounding dirt,” he told Khmer Times yesterday. The three nearly whole statues were part of the gate’s balustrade, while the fragments were from the balustrade and other statues. Chea Socheat, ANA archeology officer, explained that the statues date back to the reign of Jayavarman VII, who was the Angkorian King from the 12th century to the beginning of the 13th century. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501090716/ancient-statues-discovered-at-angkor-thoms-takav-gate/

A Cambodian cookbook and culinary guide, originally published in 1960 by Princess Norodom Rasmi Sobbhana, has won a prestigious ‘Special Award of the Jury’ in the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2022 held in Euma, Sweden. The book, titled ‘The Culinary Art of Cambodia,’ was funded and republished in May last year in an augmented edition by Siem Reap’s Templation Angkor Resort as part of its corporate social responsibility programme. On hand to receive the award in Sweden was Templation’s general manager, Somonea Cheng. Bernard Cohen, founder of Angkor Database, which spearheaded the book project and provided historical research and background, says all involved in the book are “proud and honoured” for the recognition from the Gourmand Awards which were launched in 1995 by Edouard Cointreau, an ancestor of the famous French writer Rabelais, and an heir of the Cointreau family. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501090784/princess-cook-book-wins-swede-award/

2 would-be young terrorists have been arrested by police after constructing home-made bombs and attacking their rivals with them. Siem Reap Deputy Commissioner of Police, General Trey Ou Chamroeun told reporters this morning that the two suspects were arrested by the police on June 6th. He named the 2 young louts as Seng Sokorn, 13 years old and Ron Darong, aka Hing, 20 years old, both of Salak Kamrek village, Sala Kamrek district, Siem Reap city, Siem Reak province. According to police, on June 3rd, 2020 at 12:30, the police force received a report that there was a bomb explosion on the concrete road east of the PPP office, Puc Chea Sangkat Svay Dangkom, about 15 meters away in Svay Dongkom Village, Svay Dongkum Sangkat, Siem Reap City, Siem Reap Province. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501091190/siem-reap-bombers-busted/

Cambodia has become a state of COVID-zero after the last patient recovered, according to a health ministry’s statement on Tuesday. The country reported no new cases of COVID-19 for 31 days straight, the statement said, adding that since the pandemic began in January 2020, the southeast Asian nation has logged a total of 136,262 confirmed cases with 133,206 recoveries and 3,056 deaths. Health ministry’s secretary of state and spokeswoman Or Vandine attributed the country’s success in controlling the pandemic to the government’s right leadership and the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines. “Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has made the right and timely decision to provide free COVID-19 vaccines to all eligible Cambodians and foreigners living in the country,” she told reporters via a telegram group. “Vaccines are the most powerful tool to protect lives against COVID-19, reducing infections and deaths,” Vandine said. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501090172/cambodia-covid-free-at-last/

While there have been few reported cases of acid attacks this year, victims of the crime are crying out for justice. The physical and mental scars of the attacks present extreme challenges for survivors, and the victims also have deep concerns about what perpetrators will do after being released from prison. A victim of a acid attack from Kampong Cham province Ly Rany, 49, has five daughters, and works in a garment factory in Phnom Penh. Her husband threw concentrated acid over her after she returned home from work in 2020. Rany’s room is littered with many types of scrap because her daughter is a scrap scavenger. She is impoverished and lives in a small rented room in Phnom Penh. There is nobody to assist her in providing daily necessities. She sits on a chair with a sad look on face and a broken heart because her beauty has been taken from her. “I am so sad when I look at my face in the mirror. I feel so awful about that, and sometimes I have to turn away. Before the attack, I never thought I would feel this way about my life, and the attack has changed me forever. However, I must get on with my life,” said Rany. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501089987/victims-of-acid-attacks-demand-justice-fearful-of-revenge/