Tuesday, 13 November 2012
Phnom Penh Post
By Vong Sokheng
Tanks
and armoured personnel carriers that arrived at Sihanoukville port in
October 2012 will be used for self-defence but will not be deployed
offensively, Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday.
Speaking to
more than 1,000 villagers and several dozen military commanders in Siem
Reap’s Banteay Srey district, Hun Sen stressed the nation had no plan to
invade its neighbours.
“We just bought tanks and artillery to
use for training and strengthening the capacity of military; only for
self-defence, not to create war with any country,” Hun Sen said.
The
prime minister said he would not disclose the origins of the tanks,
which Defence Minister Tea Banh last week said came from Ukraine, as it
was a “confidential” matter.
About 100 tanks and 40 armoured
personnel carriers arrived in Cambodia last month, marking one of the
largest military shipments in recent history. The purchase falls in line
with a military budget that has seen significant ramping up in recent
years. In the most recent budget, expected to be voted into effect
tomorrow, defence spending is set to jump more than 14 per cent to
$400.16 million in 2013.
In September 2010, in the middle of a
border dispute with Thailand, Cambodia purchased 94 tanks from an
Eastern Euro-pean country widely thought to be Ukraine. The same year,
China donated some 250 vehicles to the Cambodian military.
Yim
Sovann, spokesman for the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, said the party
supported the decision to buy tanks or weapons to protect territorial
sovereignty, but said he was concerned over a lack of transparency
regarding military finances. Hun Sen also used his speech to apologise
to the security officials for not calling them once a ceasefire at the
Thai border went into effect in May 2011.
To contact the reporter on this story: Vong Sokheng at sokheng.vong@phnompenhpost.com
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