John Kerry Stresses Security and Trade During Visit...Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Secretary of State John F. Kerry met Tuesday with Cambodian leaders to express concern over the government’s record on human rights and corruption in a visit that otherwise focused on forging trade and investment ties.

Kerry held talks with Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has been in power for three decades, and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, but he also pointedly met with the acting head of the opposition in Cambodia, Kem Sokha. The opposition has had an acting head ever since November, when the official leader, Sam Rainsy, went into exile after he was ordered arrested for defaming the foreign minister.

In his short, one-day visit to Cambodia, Kerry straddled the legacy wrought by past wars with the promise of the future.

He said respect for human rights and good governance is a critical factor in determining whether relations between Washington and Phnom Penh improve.

“In my discussions today, I emphasized the essential role that a vibrant, democratic system plays in the development of a country and the legitimacy of its political system,” Kerry told reporters before departing for Beijing. “Democratic governments have a responsibility to ensure that all elected representatives are free to perform their responsibilities without fear of attack or arrest.”

Though this was his first trip to Phnom Penh as secretary of state, he recalled that he came to Cambodia several times as a senator on the Foreign Relations Committee and was involved in helping establish an international tribunal to try former Khmer Rouge.

Under Brother Number One, Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, when an estimated 1.7 Cambodians died, either of violence, hunger or other mistreatment. He also came to Cambodia when he co-chaired a Senate committee trying to account for Americans lost during the Vietnam War era, in Cambodia as well as Vietnam and Laos.

“So I am very, very conscious in returning here now in 2016 at the extraordinary distance traveled by Cambodia,” Kerry said.

In his official talks here, as in Laos, Kerry was laying the ground work for a summit President Obama will host next month for the 10-member Association of South East Asia Nations (ASEAN) at the Sunnylands estate in California.

The administration has been trying to “rebalance” its foreign policy to pay more attention to Asia, which is expected to fuel much of the world’s economic growth in the future. Cambodia has one of the fastest growing economies in Asia, and the United States is its largest export market.

“I’d just emphasize that the United States is an Asia-Pacific nation,” Kerry said, adding, “And we are deeply committed to our partnership with Cambodia and with all the members of ASEAN on a regional and global basis.”

US Secretary of State John Kerry, left, speaks with Prime Minister Hun Sen at Mr Hun Sen’s office building in Phnom Penh on Tuesday. (Pring Samrang/Reuters)

In remarks following his talks with Mr. Namhong and again in his address in the afternoon, Mr. Kerry said that bringing Cambodia into the fold in the fight against the Islamic State group was a priority for the U.S.

“Today I also discussed with the Prime Minister the urgent challenge internationally of countering violent extremism. And we agreed that this is absolutely a top priority in the relationship between any country today,” Mr. Kerry said in his afternoon address.

“The prime minister expressed a deep interest in Cambodia working with our counter-Daesh coalition,” Mr. Kerry said, using a term for I.S. derived from its Arabic spelling.

“He expressed an interest in having our teams, our experts, come in order to brief and exchange ideas, and we agreed to that,” he said, adding that the summit in Sunnylands would provide an opportunity for the assembled leaders to have an “in-depth dialogue” on the topic.

Civil society groups sent Mr. Kerry an open letter this week urging him to address a litany of human rights abuses in Cambodia and a recent offensive against the political opposition during his meeting with Mr. Hun Sen.

Mr. Kerry said he had stated his desire to see the Cambodian people benefit from having their country become a “thriving, multiparty democracy.”

“I made it clear also in my meetings today that it is our hope—I think it’s a global hope—that Cambodia will realize the full benefits of a thriving, multiparty democracy,” he said.

“We care deeply about respect for human rights, universal freedoms, and good governance,” he added. “And progress in each of these areas is really critical to being able to fulfill the potential of our bilateral relations but also, importantly, the full potential of the hopes and aspirations of the Cambodian people.”

Cambodian state news agency AKP took a different angle to Mr. Kerry’s talks with the prime minister, heralding the fact that human rights had not been raised, in an article on its website headlined “No Human Rights Issue Mentioned During Talks between Cambodian PM and U.S. Secretary of State.”

“The progress you have made in Cambodia is quite remarkable,” he said. “When I first came here, this was a city of 350,000 people and a very war-torn economy, [and it] is now a city of 2.2 million people with a very modern hospital, skyscrapers, enormous energy and many, many tourists.”

Mr. Kerry said it was “actually quite remarkable” that the U.S. remained Cambodia’s top export market.

“And we will continue to explore ways to deepen our trade and investment relationship including by helping to tackle corruption and exploring ways to strengthen Cambodia’s legal institutions,” he said.

Unlike former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who hosted a public discussion with hundreds of students during her visit to Cambodia in 2010, Mr. Kerry did not avail himself to any public questions, and his meetings were closed to the press.

Mr. Namhong, the foreign minister, also highlighted the importance of cooperation in the fight against I.S. in remarks following his meeting with Mr. Kerry.

“I do not believe that clearing I.S. can be done by one country or one country’s military,” he said. “Because of the cruel action of the [I.S.], it is not a threat for only Iraq and Syria, but it is in Africa and Asia, too.”

And despite the tension between the U.S. and China over claims in the South China Sea, and wider competition between the superpowers for influence in the region, Mr. Namhong said Mr. Kerry did not push Cambodia on issues related to China.

“His Excellency John Kerry also said that he did not ask Cambodia to support America or support China,” he said. “I explained to him that in fact, Cambodia is a small country and it is [a] poor country, but we are independent.”

Cambodia has come under heavy criticism for being perceived as siding with China in its territorial disputes with a number of Asean countries in the South China Sea.

During Mr. Kerry’s discussion with Mr. Hun Sen, the prime minister requested continued U.S. support in the “health sector, education section, mine clearing,” according to his personal assistant, Eang Sophalleth, who briefed reporters after the meeting.

Mr. Hun Sen also expressed his desire for the U.S. to consider “letting Cambodia export goods to the U.S. without quotas or tax, factors that will help to push Cambodia’s development,” Mr. Sophalleth said.