Cambodia's Hun Sen considers compensating firms for losses
Cambodia's Hun Sen considers compensating firms for losses
PHNOM PENH (Reuter): Cambodian strongman Hun Sen told ambassadors from Southeast Asian countries yesterday that his government was considering paying compensation to firms that suffered losses during widespread looting on Monday, his spokesman said.
Hun Sen told the ambassadors that he regretted the looting which followed his forces' victory over those loyal to his former co-premier Prince Norodom Ranariddh after two days of fighting in Phnom Penh at the weekend, the spokesman said.
"The government expressed regret over the loss of assets of investors from ASEAN countries due to the looting," Secretary of State for Information Khieu Kanharith told reporters.
"Now the royal government is considering paying compensation to those companies," he said. The Association of South East Asian Nations groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Soldiers went on a rampage of looting on Monday after forcing troops loyal to the ousted Ranariddh from the capital on the weekend.
Warehouses, factories, car showrooms, shops and petrol stations were stripped and gutted. The newly-renovated international airport terminal was also devastated in the violence by marauding soldiers.
Suspend
Meanwhile, a leading Taiwanese construction group yesterday slammed the brakes on its hundreds of millions U.S. dollars investment projects in Cambodia as the Taipei government poised to evacuate hundreds of citizens from the country.
"We've decided to postpone the projects of building an export processing zone in Cambodia in the wake of the unexpected in- fighting there," Joe Lin, manager of the Hong Chung Group, told AFP by telephone.
He put the combined cost for the entire projects at an estimated 15 billion Taiwan dollars (US$539.56 million).
But he would not elaborate on the mammoth investment projects, saying little more than the paper work has been completed.
The foreign ministry meanwhile said it had organized a contingency plans to help some 500 Taiwan expatriates, including 100 tourists, stranded in Cambodia.
"If needed, they would most likely to be evacuated by air," Taiwanese foreign ministry spokesman Roy Wu said, adding civilian airlines might be contracted for pullouts.
The nationalist government has no diplomatic links with Cambodia, but has set up a liaison office in Phnom Penh.
Alarmed by the investment risks in countries that have not maintained diplomatic ties with Taiwan, Economics Minister Wang Chih-kang pledged to seek investment guarantee agreements with other countries.