Hu Jiantao in Cambodia Ahead of Asean Summit
31 March, 2012 |
| Cambodian students gather to welcome Chinese President Hu Jiantao as seen a car is escorted by bodyguards during his arrival at Phnom Penh International Airport, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Friday, March 30, 2012. Hu on Friday arrived Phnom Penh on his four-day state visit to Cambodia. (Photo: AP) |
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| Chinese President Hu Jiantao, center, arrives at Phnom Penh International Airport, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Friday, March 30, 2012. Hu on Friday arrived Phnom Penh on his four-day state visit to Cambodia. (AP) |
Friday, 30 March 2012
Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh
“The Cambodian [Asean] presidency seems under the influence of China. This is a negative point for the whole of Asean.”
Chinese president Hu Jiantao is in Cambodia on an official state
visit, coinciding with a major Asean regional meeting that began Friday
in Phnom Penh.
Hu’s visit, the first from a Chinese head of state in 12 years, comes
as Phnom Penh is hosting five days of meetings with top regional
ministers, with Asean leaders to meet here next week.
Cambodian villagers were prevented from submitting a
petition to the Chinese Embassy on Friday asking Hu’s help in curbing
the tourism development of approximately 30,000 hectares in the coastal
province of Koh Kong by a Chinese company.
The development underscores China’s increased economic involvement in
Cambodia, this year’s head of Asean, at a time when regional partners
are at odds with their northern neighbor over the South China Sea.
China invested some $1.1 billion here in 2011, with Cambodian imports
of Chinese goods reaching $2.3 billion, according to government
figures.
Hu will meet with Prime Minister Hun Sen and other top officials.
China Radio International said that Hu is expected to sign agreements on
technology and the economy, but a Cambodian Foreign Ministry spokesman
declined to elaborate.
The spokesman, Koy Kuong, said Hu’s visit would “deepen and
strengthen the relationship and cooperation between the two countries.”
Critics meanwhile see Cambodia’s strong ties with China, a major
donor country and investor, as an impediment to the goals of other Asean
sates, especially those embroiled in disputes over maritime boundaries
and islands in the South China Sea.
“The Cambodian [Asean] presidency seems under the influence of
China,” said Lao Monghay, an independent political analyst in Phnom
Penh. “This is a negative point for the whole of Asean.”
Opposition lawmaker Yim Sovann, meanwhile, said Hu’s visit was an
occasion to examine development projects like that in Koh Kong to
determine whether they violate people’s rights.
“Any development project should put into consideration environmental
and forest protection, and human as well as animal lives,” he said,
“because some projects are destroying Cambodia’s forest.”
Chan Saveth, chief monitor for the rights group Adhoc, said about 40
villagers who had sought to petition the Chinese for intervention in the
Koh Kong dispute were sent back to their home province by police.
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