Hun Sen pushes Cambodia's case for ASEAN entry
Hun Sen pushes Cambodia's case for ASEAN entry
PHNOM PENH (AP): Prime Minister Hun Sen pushed Cambodia's case on Tuesday for entry this month into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, saying the country had met all the conditions.
"I strongly hope there won't be any reasons to leave Cambodia out of the regional framework, because we have fulfilled everything we and our friends have required," Hun Sen said at a ceremony introducing his trusted adviser, Hor Nam Hong, as the new foreign minister.
But Hun Sen spoke as Singapore's Foreign Minister S. Jayakumar, currently the chairman of ASEAN's standing committee, effectively ruled out Cambodia's chances of being admitted before a Dec. 15-Dec. 16 summit in Hanoi.
Jayakumar said he had no plans to convene an urgent meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers and said the Hanoi meeting would focus on the economic slowdown affecting the region, not Cambodia.
Parliament endorsed Hun Sen's new government on Monday, taking Cambodia a long way toward regaining international legitimacy lost when Hun Sen ousted his co-premier, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, in a coup last year.
Cambodia's seat in the United Nations has since been vacant and its entry - just weeks away at the time of the coup - into ASEAN suspended.
ASEAN comprises Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
ASEAN was deeply involved in efforts to return a semblance of democracy to Cambodia and helped engineer the return of Ranariddh from abroad to lead his royalist party in new elections in July. Hun Sen's party narrowly won.
The opposition alleged fraud and violence and held up formation of a new government until Ranariddh, citing international pressure, agreed to a compromise earlier this month that made Hun Sen sole prime minister and the prince president of the National Assembly.
In a policy speech to parliament on Monday, Hun Sen promised the new government would carry out much-needed reforms that have been identified by foreign aid providers as crucial to Cambodia's development.
The prime minister reinforced his stance on Tuesday, saying that Cambodia's reentry into the international arena was the first step in putting the struggling country back on track.
"Getting the ASEAN and UN seats, along with normalization of relations with international monetary institutions, like the IMF, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, are the most urgent tasks," Hun Sen said.
Several foreign governments are already hinting that Cambodia will see a return of aid that was sharply curtailed after Ranariddh's ouster.
Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, in a letter to King Norodom Sihanouk released Tuesday, said that "Japan will not spare any effort to ... support Cambodia's national reconstruction."
Japan, Cambodia's single largest donor, was a key player in bringing Ranariddh back for the election.