The WikiLeaks website has released the first document in its cache of American diplomatic cables relating to Cambodia, in which eminent Singaporean leader Lee Kuan Yew discusses the Kingdom’s close relations with China.
In a diplomatic cable labeled “secret” and sent in May last year by the American embassy in Singapore, Lee comments on China’s increasing global economic and diplomatic reach, briefly mentioning Cambodia.
“Within hours, everything that is discussed in ASEAN meetings is known in Beijing, given China’s close ties with Laos, Cambodia and Burma,” the cable states, quoting Lee.
The cable is only one of more than 250,000 American foreign policy documents WikiLeaks has pledged to release gradually in the coming months. An initial batch of documents was released on Monday and 281 had been released in total as of yesterday evening.US embassy spokesman Mark Wenig declined to address the content of the document.
“As a matter of policy, the Dept of State does not comment on allegedly leaked documents,” he wrote in an email yesterday. “Foreign governments should be assured that the United States Government is committed to ensuring the confidentiality of information and will continue to strengthen the security of our systems.”
Officials at the Singapore embassy did not respond to a request for comment yesterday, nor did Chinese embassy spokesman Qian Hai. Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Koy Kuong said he would “try to check the information”, declining to comment further.
The bulk of the cable released yesterday focuses on Lee’s analysis of North Korean and Chinese politics, with Cambodia mentioned only once. None of the more than 1,000 documents in the WikiLeaks’ archive that US officials classified as Cambodia-related – including 777 cables from the American embassy in Phnom Penh – have yet been made public.
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