A Change of Guard

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Thursday 27 May 2010

Two U.S Congressmen opposed debt cancellation for Cambodia


By Khmerization
Source: RFA

TWO American congressmen have submitted a draft bill designed to bar the reduction or cancellation of more than US$339 million in debt owed from the Nol Nol regime in the 1970s as well as the extension of duty-free status to Cambodian garments imported into the country as a punishment for forcibly repatriating 20 Uighurs back to China in December 2009, reports Radio Free Asia.

The bill, dubbed the Cambodian Trade Act of 2010, was introduced before the US house of representatives on Thursday by William Delahunt, a Democrat from Massachusetts, on behalf of himself and Dana Rohrabacher (pictured), a Republican from California.

Cambodian government officials refused to make any comments regarding the matter, only to say that the relationships between the United States and Cambodia are still strong. And Mr. Koy Kuong, spokesman for the Cambodian Foreign Ministry, said the relationships between the two countries have not changed. "Cambodia has no reaction because this is the right of the United States. As for Cambodia, we are an independent nation with full sovereignty and Cambodia has a clear political policy of its own. So, Cambodia has to implement its policy and its own laws. I wish to stress that, up until now, the relationships between the government of the United States and the royal government of Cambodia are still normal", he said.

He added that the 20 Uighurs have come to Cambodia illegally in violation of the Cambodian immigration laws.

Mr. Ou Vira, director of Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, said Cambodia has lost a lot of benefits as a result of its appalling human records. "We lost a lot of benefits in relations to the disrespect of human rights. We really lost a lot of benefits", he said.

In 1998, Mr. Dana Rohrabacher had also introduced another the bill to the U.S Congress to blacklist Mr. Hun Sen as a war criminal after many military officers loyal to Funcinpec Party were tortured and executed after Mr. Hun Sen launched a successful coup d'etat against Prince Ranariddh in July 1997. That bill was passed by the U.S Congress but was voted down in the Senate.

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