Cambodia Sends Muslim Asylum-Seekers Back to China

The Hun Sen government should take a deep consideration before sending asylum seeker Uighurs back to China. The twenty members Chinese Uighur are not a threat to the National Security of Cambodia. The Hun Sen government should take a quick action sending million Yuon immigrants to their country. They are the threat to Cambodia National Security.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — A group of Muslims who fled China after deadly ethnic rioting and sought asylum in Cambodia were sent back home Saturday, even though rights groups fear they face persecution and possibly execution there.

Interior Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Khieu Sopheak said the 20 members of the Uighur minority had been put on a special plane sent from China that left Phnom Penh International Airport Saturday night.

"They are going back to China," he said.

Cambodia has been under intense pressure from China to deport the Uighurs, whom Beijing has called criminals after they fled the country with the help of a secret network of missionaries. The expulsion came a day before Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping visits Cambodia as part of a four-country tour.

The United States, the United Nations and human rights groups had urged Cambodia to stop the deportation. A spokeswoman for the U.N. refugee agency said it had not finished evaluating the Uighurs, including two children, for refugee status. She said the agency had stationed people at the airport in an effort to physically prevent the deportation. The plane, however, left from the airport's military area.

"Even if I say something, can we change anything?" Ilshat Hassan, a U.S.-based director of the World Uyghur Congress, said after the deportation. "The UNHCR, the international world, the U.S., everybody who said something that could give us hope. They all failed."

The Uighurs were being deported because it was determined they entered the country illegally, Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said earlier. He said two other Uighurs who had been with the group are missing.

Some countries have refused to send Uighurs — such as those released from U.S. detention at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba — back to China over concerns about retribution and abuse. In a letter to the Cambodian government about the Uighurs, rights group Amnesty International noted that Shaheer Ali, a U.N.-recognized refugee, was executed after being forced to return to China from Nepal in 2002.

"It is hugely concerning that Cambodian authorities are not giving this group an opportunity to seek asylum, or for authorities to assess their asylum case," Brittis Edman, a Cambodia researcher with Amnesty International, said late Saturday before the group left. "This group will be particularly vulnerable to torture."

A woman answering the phone at China's Foreign Ministry on Saturday night said they had no immediate comment on the Uighurs' deportation.

Uighurs say Beijing has long restricted their rights, particularly clamping down on their practice of Islam.

Tensions between majority Han Chinese and the Turkic Uighurs in their traditional homeland in far western China exploded into rioting in July, the country's worst communal violence in decades. The Chinese government says nearly 200 people, mostly majority Han Chinese, died.

Exile groups say Uighurs have been rounded up in mass detentions since the rioting. China has handed down at least 17 death sentences — mostly to Uighurs — over the violence.

The Uighurs arrived in Cambodia in recent weeks and had initially been in joint custody of the U.N. refugee agency and Cambodian authorities. Khieu Sopheak said they had been shifted to the "sole protection" of the Cambodian government.

"I think we went to extraordinary lengths to prevent deportation. But it comes down to, it's up to states to provide protection," said Kitty McKinsey, spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Bangkok. "We had people prepared to try to physically prevent the deportation if it had taken place at the civilian side of the airport."

McKinsey said the refugee agency is preparing a protest to the Cambodian government.

The United States also urged Cambodia not to send the Uighurs back to China.

"We are deeply disturbed by the reports that the Cambodian government might forcibly return this group of Uighurs without the benefit of a credible refugee status determination process," U.S. Embassy spokesman John Johnson in Phnom Penh said earlier. There was no immediate U.S. reaction to the actual expulsion.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said last week the Uighurs were "involved in crimes." She did not elaborate.

Wang Lixiong, a China-based writer on Uighur and Tibetan issues, said the deportation reflected China's powerful influence in the region. China says it is the top foreign investor in Cambodia.

"When I learned the Uighurs landed in Cambodia, I was pessimistic because Cambodia is a small country that will not be able to stand against China's pressure," said Wang. Read more!

Thailand preparing military action against Cambodia: Pheu Thai MP

By The Nation


An opposition MP yesterday accused the government of planning military force against Cambodia if Prime Minister Hun Sen and Thaksin Shinawatra took any action deemed to violate Thai sovereignty.

This would include establishment of a government in exile for Thaksin on Cambodian soil.

Pheu Thai MP Jatuporn Prompan said the military option was suggested in a confidential paper Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya sent to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on November 16 as a guideline for handling the conflict with Cambodia in a worstcase scenario.

"Preparation of a military option is equivalent to preparing for war against Cambodia," Jatuporn said.

"The end game is the normalisation of relations rather than regime change," Jatuporn quoted Kasit as saying in the leaked paper.

The paper called Thaksin "a major threat to the government". The fugitive expremier is using a twopronged strategy to topple the government: cooperation with Hun Sen and activity by the Democratic Alliance against Dictatorship.

Thailand has already employed several diplomatic measures against Cambodia since Hun Sen appointed Thaksin as his and the Cambodian government's economic adviser. The two countries downgraded relations in late October, Thailand scrapped a maritime deal with Cambodia, and Phnom Penh rejected Bt1.4 billion in loans from Thailand.

Cambodia has also rejected Thai demands to remove Thaksin from his position and extradite him to Bangkok.

Jatuporn said the Pheu Thai Party obtained Kasit's confidential paper from a Foreign Ministry official. He distributed it to reporters during a press conference at party headquarters.

The paper suggested the government to get rid of the "major threat" (Thaksin) and bring an end to cooperation between Thaksin and Hun Sen.

It listed three possible scenarios in the diplomatic row between the two countries. Thailand could prevent Thaksin and Hun Sen from worsening the situation simply by refusing to respond to them and trying to find an influential figure or country able to persuade Cambodia to back down.

Second, if the conflict does increase in intensity, the Thai government would step up retaliation while remaining sensitive to its effect on ordinary people and the national interest.

Third, in the worst case, such as a violation of Thai sovereignty or anything resembling the establishment of a government in exile for Thaksin, Thailand would cut diplomatic relations and resort to using military force.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry yesterday would not deny the existence of the document and its content but said it would set up a committee to find whoever leaked the document to the opposition party.

The ministry will consult the Office of the AttorneyGeneral about taking legal action against Jatuporn under the Information Act of 1997, said ministry deputy spokesman Thani Thongpakdee.

Read more!

Cambodia to send 20 Uighurs back to China

WASHINGTON : Cambodia is sending 20 Chinese Muslims who fled there after July unrest in Xinjiang back to China where they face possible persecution, a US-based Uighur rights organization said Friday.

The group has been taken to the Phnom Penh airport and is about to be put on a plane to Shanghai, said Henryk Szadziewski of the Uighur Human Rights Project in Washington.

"There is a plane ready to take them away," he said, adding that his organization had received the information from local sources in Cambodia. No officials could be immediately contacted for comment.

The group arrived at the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office after fleeing deadly unrest in northwest China's Xinjiang region and their presence in Phnom Penh was first made public two weeks ago.

The clashes between Xinjiang's Muslim Uighur community and China's majority Han ethnic group left 197 people dead and more than 1,600 injured, according to an official toll.

Amnesty International urged Cambodia earlier this week not to deport the group, earlier said to total 22 Uighurs, which is seeking UN refugee status in Cambodia, saying they risked torture at home in China.

The right group's appeal came after China warned Tuesday that UN refugee programmes "should not be a haven for criminals" and said the 22 Uighurs, including three children, were involved in criminal activity.

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Cambodia in tight spot over Uighurs

Twenty-two minority Chinese Uighurs who fled to Cambodia after deadly ethnic rioting this year pose a diplomatic challenge for Cambodia, testing its ability to stand up to China, its biggest investor.

The Uighurs, a Turkic Muslim ethnic group involved in rioting in western China that killed nearly 200 people in July, have put Cambodia’s leaders in an awkward position ahead of a visit by Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping, who arrives on Sunday.

Cambodia is one of two Southeast Asian countries that signed a 1951 convention on refugees pledging not to send asylum seekers back to a country where they will face persecution, which would almost certainly be the case for the Uighurs, according to rights groups.

They were smuggled out of China into Cambodia in recent weeks and applied for asylum at the UN refugee agency office in Phnom Penh.

China has not said publicly it is seeking their repatriation, but Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters this week they were criminal suspects who were being investigated.

The timing is tricky for Cambodia, expected to sign 14 agreements with China during Xi’s visit related to infrastructure construction, grants and loans. Cambodia has already received more than $1bn in foreign direct investment from China, which in October agreed to provide $853mn in loans to the impoverished country for dams, infrastructure and irrigation projects. Reuters Read more!

Thai-Cambodian military relationship still good: Thai defense minister

BANGKOK, Though the diplomat tension between Thailand and Cambodia have continued, the military relationship between the two countries is still good, Thai Defense Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan said Friday.

The militaries are responsible for the Thai-Cambodian matters, while the government and foreign ministry are in charge of the political affairs, Thai News Agency quoted General Prawit as saying.

The Thai and Cambodian defense ministers met on Nov. 27 in Thailand during a meeting of the Thai-Cambodian General Border Committee (GBC).

During the GBC meeting, the two sides have agreed that they will not use force to deal with the border matter.

The diplomatic problem has occurred after Cambodia has appointed ousted former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra as an economic advisor to Cambodia's government and Prime Minister Hun Sen from Nov. 4.

A day after the appointment, the Cambodian government announced the recall of its ambassador to Thailand in a move to respond to the Thai government's recall of its ambassador to Cambodia.
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Tribunal charges 3rd ex-Khmer Rouge with genocide

The Associated Press


PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- A tribunal charged the Khmer Rouge's 78-year-old former head of state with genocide Friday, adding new momentum to long-delayed trials against the brutal regime that ruled Cambodia 30 years ago.

Khieu Samphan was brought before investigating judges of the U.N.-assisted tribunal, who issued the charges, making him the third former Khmer Rouge leader this week to be charged with genocide, tribunal spokesman Lars Olsen said.

On Wednesday, the tribunal charged two other defendants with genocide for the first time: the group's top ideologist, Nuon Chea, and the former foreign minister, Ieng Sary.

All three faced charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, as well as homicide and torture. They are being held in the tribunal's jail with two other defendants and are expected to be tried next year.

The tribunal is seeking justice for an estimated 1.7 million people who died from execution, overwork, disease and malnutrition as a result of the communist group's policies during its 1975-79 rule.

Olsen said they were charged with involvement in the deaths of members of the country's ethnic Cham and Vietnamese communities.

Some Chams, who are mostly Muslims, were among the few Cambodians to actively resist Khmer Rouge rule. The Khmer Rouge brutally suppressed the rebellions in several villages.

The tribunal tried its first defendant, prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, this year on charges of crimes against humanity, war crimes, murder and torture. A verdict is expected early next year.

Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, commanded S-21 prison in Phnom Penh, where up to 16,000 people were tortured and taken away to be killed. A verdict is expected next year, and he faces a maximum penalty of life imprisonment if found guilty. Cambodia has no death penalty.
Olsen said it would be determined later whether one of the other Khmer Rouge leaders in custody - former Social Affairs Minister Ieng Thirith, the wife of Ieng Sary - would also be charged with genocide. Read more!

Cambodia's road deaths rise to 5 per day in 2009

PHNOM PENH, (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Despite a sharp increase in safety helmet use among motorbike drivers this year and a decrease in traffic accidents overall, road deaths in Cambodia now stand at five per day and rising, local media reported on Friday.

Meas Chandy, Road Safety Coordinator for Handicap Intentional Belgium, was quoted by the Cambodia Daily as saying that the number of recorded traffic deaths had risen to five deaths per day during the first eight months of this year, up from 4.5 traffic deaths per day in 2008.

Chandy said that he did not know the reasons behind the increase in traffic deaths, but added, "the majority of accidents are caused by human errors including speeding, drunk driving, overtaking without due care and not respecting the right of way."

Chandy said the recorded increase in traffic deaths, which is among the highest in the region, and findings that helmet use dropped at night indicate "we need more enforcement." Read more!

Vietnam Communist Party General Secretary visits Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Vietnamese General Secretary of the Communisty Party Nong Duc Manh arrived here on Thursday with a delegation to pay a three-day state visit at the invitation of Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni.

Nong and his delegation were received at the Phnom Penh International Airport by Kong Som Ol, deputy prime minister and minister of the Royal Palace and other government senior ministers.

During his visit, Nong Duc Manh will be received in Royal Audience by Cambodian King at the Royal Palace, said the press release of the Foreign Ministry.

Nong Duc Manh will meet with Cambodian Senate President Chea Sim, the National Assembly President Heng Samrin and Prime Minister Hun Sen. He will also visit and pay respect to His Holiness Samdech Tep Vong, Supreme Patriarch of the Mahanikaya Order and His Holiness Samdech Bour Kry, Supreme Patriarch of the Dhammayuttikaya Order of the Kingdom of Cambodia.

At the end of his visit, there will be a joint statement between Cambodia and Vietnam on Dec. 19.

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Cambodia: Cut off by Khmer Rouge, film scene revives at refugees return

Guests attend ‘Golden Reawakening,’ an exhibition about the golden era of Cambodian filmmaking in the 1960s and ’70s. James Grant

In Cambodia, filmmakers are slowly returning after decades as refugees who fled the Khmer Rouge.

Just before the communist Khmer Rouge marched into the capital in 1975, Tea Lim Koun, the director of the classic Cambodian film “The Snake Man” (1972), escaped bloodshed by fleeing to Canada. Over the next four years, the genocidal regime executed most of Phnom Penh’s remaining directors and actors, wiping out Cambodia’s vibrant filmmaking scene.

Traumatized, Mr. Koun vowed never to make a film again. But he was overwhelmed when he learned that Davy Chou, the French Cambodian grandson of a famous director who disappeared in late 1969, had returned to Cambodia last summer to start an annual film festival. “The younger filmmakers will give hope to Cambodian society again,” Koun says.

He sent his daughter to represent him and his films at the exhibition called “Golden Reawakening.”

As the post-Khmer Rouge generation of Cambodians grows up, they’re producing a flurry of films that mimic the vintage style of the 1960s – widely considered the country’s golden era. Much of the revival is owed to educated filmmaker refugees who are repatriating to Cambodia from France and the United States and opening the country’s first film institutes at local universities.

Mr. Chou, the grandson of Van Chann and a film professor at the Royal University of Phnom Penh, is at the forefront of the movement with his new film, “Twin Diamonds,” released in October. “People thought this would never happen, that Cambodians wouldn’t be able to come together and revive the arts,” he says. “Young people here are doing amazing things.”

“Twin Diamonds” was screened at the festival among scores of Cambodian films, most of which explored themes of family dynamics and infidelity.

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ADB approves another 42 mln USD to rehabilitate Cambodia railway

The Asian Development Bank (ADB)on Wednesday approved another 42 million U.S. dollars investment in the rehabilitation of Cambodia's dilapidated railway, a move that will position the country at the center of a growing trade network in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS).

The financing will bring ADB's total investment to 84 million U.S. dollars approximately 60 percent of the 141 million U.S. dollars rail project, according to ADB news release.

With this additional financing, freight trains will begin operating between Kampot, near the border with Vietnam, and the capital Phnom Penh in 2011. The entire railway system will be operational in 2013.

Cambodia's rail network is in tatters following decades of neglect, with the last 48 kilometers of track extending from the Thai border destroyed during wartime.

In addition to rehabilitating and reconstructing 600 kilometers of rail network, including rebuilding the destroyed link to Thailand that will reestablish railway traffic between the two countries, the infusion of new funding will enable the development of a modern freight and rolling stock maintenance facility on the outskirts of Phnom Penh.

"This upgraded rail network will position Cambodia as a true sub-regional transport hub, creating new jobs and business opportunities in the manufacturing and logistic services sectors," said Peter Broch, Senior Transport Economist in ADB's Southeast Asia Department.

The new railway will directly connect to Cambodia's national highway network, and to a major river port in Phnom Penh, using the rail network with road and inland water transport systems connecting Northeast Cambodia and Vietnam's Mekong Delta.

"Cambodia's modern railway will be the backbone of a regional transport system interlinking Cambodia with major industrial and logistics centers in Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City," said Mr. Broch.

In addition to creating new jobs and spurring economic growth, the revitalized railway will also enhance international trade, reduce the costs of imports, ease road traffic and diminish road hazards.

Source: Xinhua Read more!

Thai FM never directed official to collect intelligence in Cambodia: Minister

The Thai Foreign Ministry has never directed its Thai diplomat to collect intelligence information from Siwarak Chutipong in Cambodia, hence he is not required to explain about the matter, Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said Wednesday, Thai News Agency reported.

Siwarak, 31 years old, who worked as an engineer at Cambodia Air Traffic Services Co Ltd, had been arrested in Cambodia from Nov. 11, according to an arrest warrant of prosecutor of Phnom Penh Municipality Court.

Cambodia's court had charged Siwarak of having had the confidential information affecting Cambodia's national security.

Siwarak was sentenced to seven years in jail last week, but he was granted a royal pardon from Cambodia's King on Dec. 11, and he was set free on Dec. 14.

As Kasit said he is glad Siwarak has been freed and arrived safely in Thailand, the Thai foreign minister has also insisted the ministry has never directed such the order to the Thai diplomat, Kamrob Palawatwichai as charged.

Kamrob, who was a former first secretary of Thailand's Embassy in Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh, was allegedly ordered to collect the intelligence information from Siwarak.

Kasit also said the Thai ministry had fully attempted to help Siwarak, while he was fighting in Cambodia's court for freedom.

Source: Xinhua. Read more!

Vietnam, Cambodia bilateral trade posts over $1 bln in first 10 months

Bilateral trade between Vietnam and Cambodia stood at 1.05 billion U.S. dollars in the first ten months of this year, down 28 percent year-on-year, according to the information center of Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade on Wednesday.

Of the total, Vietnam raked in 907 million U.S. dollars from exports to the Cambodian market while spending 142 million U.S. dollars on imports from Cambodia, said the center.

For the whole year, Vietnam is expected to earn 1.2 billion U.S. dollars from sales to Cambodia and spend 170 million U.S. dollars on purchases from this market, local newspaper Vietnam Investment Review cited the estimates from the Ministry of Industry and Trade on Wednesday.
In 2010, Vietnam targets to increase bilateral trade with Cambodia to 2 billion U.S. dollars.

To reach the target, the ministry put forward a number of measures including boosting trade promotion activities and improving quality of Vietnamese products.

Last year, two-way trade between Vietnam and Cambodia reached 1.64 billion U.S. dollars, up from 1.19 billion U.S. dollars in 2007,according to the center.

Source: Xinhua Read more!

Two Khmer Rouge leaders charged in Cambodia

Noun Chea, left, a former Khmer Rouge leader and right hand man to Pol Pot, sits during a hearing Monday, Feb. 4, 2008, at the UN-back genocide tribunal in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith, POOL)

The Associated Press


PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — The UN-assisted tribunal trying former leaders of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge has charged two defendants with genocide for the first time.

Tribunal spokesman Lars Olsen said Wednesday the co-investigating judges issued the charges this week against the group's top ideologist, Nuon Chea, and former foreign minister, Ieng Sary.

The tribunal is seeking justice for an estimated 1.7 million people who died from execution, overwork, disease and malnutrition as a result of the ultra-communist group's policies during its 1975-79 rule.

Nuon Chea and Ieng Sary have already been charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity, as well as homicide and torture. They are being held in the tribunal's jail and are expected to be tried next year.

Olsen said they were charged with involvement in the deaths of members of the country's ethnic Cham and Vietnamese communities.

Some Chams, who are mostly Muslims, were among the few Cambodians to actively resist Khmer Rouge rule. The Khmer Rouge brutally suppressed the rebellions, which occurred in several villages.

Prejudice against Vietnamese runs high among many Cambodians, who see their eastern neighbour as predatory. The Khmer Rouge shared the communist ideology with Vietnam but had very strained relations with it, and mistrusted even veteran members of their own group with ties to Hanoi. They launched bloody attacks against Vietnamese border villages, which in late 1978 resulted in an invasion by Vietnam that ousted them from power.

The tribunal tried its first defendant, prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, this year on charges of crimes against humanity, war crimes, murder and torture.

Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, commanded S-21 prison in Phnom Penh, where up to 16,000 people were tortured and taken away to be killed. A verdict is expected next year, and he faces a maximum penalty of life imprisonment if found guilty. Cambodia has no death penalty.
Olsen said it would be determined later whether the two other Khmer Rouge leaders in custody -- former head of state Khieu Samphan, and former Social Affairs Minister Ieng Thirith, the wife of Ieng Sary -- would also be charged with genocide.

Read more!

Cambodia: UN report voices some concern over rights of garment workers

16 December 2009 – Although working conditions in Cambodian garment factories continue to improve, some concern remains over restrictions imposed on workers’ rights and lingering discrimination, according to a new report from the United Nations International Labour Organization (ILO) released today.

ILO’s Synthesis Report on Working Conditions in Cambodia’s Garment Sector, which assesses compliance with Cambodian labour law and international labour standards, noted generally high levels of conformity despite increased pressure on the clothing industry from the current economic crisis which is responsible for the closure of 70 factories and the shedding of 70,000 jobs in the country.

The report raises some unease over the drop in the proportion of factories whose workers belong to a trade union. The figure is down by eight per cent from the previous report, to about 76 per cent of factories monitored.

In addition, the percentage of factories that discriminated against workers, usually based on gender, is slightly down but still remains at 10 per cent of the 172 businesses monitored, with 1 per cent of factories engaging in anti-union discrimination and 3 per cent interfering with workers’ rights to freedom of association.

The report noted that there is now full compliance with minimum wage requirements for regular workers – up from 99 per cent – but no change for casual workers, with 11 per cent of factories employing such staff failing to meet minimum pay standards.

ILO said that now more than ever, the industry needs to focus on increasing productivity and maintaining “industrial peace” to ensure continued success in the garment sector.

In partnership with the UN Development Programme (UNDP), ILO’s Better Factories Cambodia division is overseeing a study examining the social and economic effects of the recession on a group of 2,000 garment workers, both employed and unemployed.

The study’s initial results show that even among workers who are employed, nearly half have experienced a reduction in their income compared to last year, providing an argument for developing social safety nets as most workers have very few savings to help them ride out the crisis and a single income usually supports several family members. Read more!

Relations with Thai govt cannot be normal, says Cambodian PM

PHNOM PENH : Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Wednesday that foundering relations with Thailand would not be normalised until Bangkok's current government was voted out of office.

Relations between the countries, which have fought a string of deadly gunbattles on their border since last year, plunged last month when fugitive former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra became an economic adviser to Cambodia.

Both recalled their ambassadors in November, and diplomatic tensions were further raised when Phnom Penh refused to extradite Thaksin during his first visit as economic adviser.

"I tell you (Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva) I'm waiting for the Thai next government to come to power and for them send back the ambassador," said Hun Sen in a speech at Phnom Penh ceremony.

"You raise the issue of Thaksin, but you forget the issue of Preah Vihear," he said, in reference to the 11th century Khmer temple at the centre of the deadly border dispute between the two countries.

"I want to say that relations cannot be normalised as long as you are still invading me," Hun Sen added.

Thaksin, who arrived back in Cambodia Sunday, stepped up his economic advisory role Wednesday as he addressed senior government officials on how to boost investment and tourism.

The telecoms mogul, ousted in a 2006 coup, was credited this week by the Cambodian government for the release of a Thai air traffic control employee jailed for seven years for spying on Thaksin's previous visit.

After the man's arrest last month, Cambodia expelled the first secretary to the Thai embassy and Thailand retaliated in kind.

Angered by Thaksin's presence in Cambodia, Thailand last month also put all talks and cooperation with the neighbouring country on hold and has torn up an oil and gas exploration deal signed during Thaksin's tenure as prime minister.

Twice-elected Thaksin is living abroad, mostly in Dubai, to avoid a two-year jail term for corruption handed down by a Thai court in September 2008.

But he remains an influential political figure in Thailand, stirring up mass protests by his "Red Shirt" supporters against the current government.

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China calls Uighurs seeking asylum 'criminals'

BEIJING (AP) — China alleged Tuesday that 22 Muslim Uighurs who fled to Cambodia after deadly ethnic rioting this summer are criminals and said they should not be granted asylum.

The Uighurs were smuggled out of China with the help of a secret network of missionaries and Chinese Christians, according to missionaries who helped them. They arrived in Cambodia in recent weeks and have applied for asylum at the U.N. refugee agency office in Phnom Penh.

"These people are involved in crimes," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a press conference, without giving any evidence.

The U.N. refugee program "should not be a haven for criminals," Jiang said.

The ethnic rioting in July between Uighurs and the majority Han Chinese was China's worst communal violence in decades. The Chinese government says the violence left nearly 200 people, mostly Han, dead.

Overseas Uighur groups say Uighurs have been rounded up in mass detentions since the violence. China has handed down at least 17 death sentences over the rioting.

Ilshat Hassan, the U.S.-based director of interior affairs for the World Uyghur Congress, has said the 22 Uighurs are the first large group to leave China after the riots, and they fear they will be returned by Cambodia, which has close ties with China.

Cambodian Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said the Chinese Embassy sent the ministry a note about the Uighurs last week, but he said he didn't know what was in it. The Cambodian government and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees will conduct a new round of interviews to see if the Uighurs qualify for refugee status, he said.

Earlier this month, Cambodian government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said the country has the right to deny a deportation request if the people involved are political asylum seekers, but "if they are purely criminal people and there is a request, we may deport them."

Kitty McKinsey, a UNHCR spokeswoman at the agency's regional office in Bangkok, said Tuesday that it does not discuss individual cases. She described its mission as "to protect any people in the world who cannot receive protection from their own government."

"Sometimes the UNHCR and the government have a dispute over the kind of people in need of protection," she said.
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Sivarak: My phone talks were recorded

By THE NATION


Pardoned Thai "spy" Sivarak Chutipong has revealed that the Cambodian authorities recorded his phone conversations with a senior Thai diplomat, leading to his arrest and conviction in Phnom Penh.

Sivarak told Thai Rath online he knew his conversations with first secretary Kamrob Palawatwichai had been recorded. This account was likely to rekindle speculation that Phnom Penh had been tapping the communications of Thai citizens and diplomats.

The Cambodians apparently built their spy charges against Sivarak around Kamrob's alleged request for Thaksin Shinawatra's flight plan when he visited Phnom Penh last month, and Sivarak's action afterwards.

"I knew our conversations had been recorded," he told Thai Rath. He had said that he thought those phone conversations were normal.

Sivarak told Thai Rath he held no grudges against Kamrob, who he said had not contacted him since his return to Thailand on Monday.

Sivarak was last week sentenced to seven years in jail but later promptly pardoned by the Cambodian king. He returned to Thailand on Monday but the Thai government was very cautious about any sign of improvement in soured bilateral ties.

The improvement of Thai-Cambodian ties will hinge on three conditions - respect for the Thai judiciary, non-interference in internal affairs and a Cambodian review of the appointment of fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra as adviser - the deputy secretary-general to the prime minister said yesterday.

"The return of the Thai engineer [Sivarak Chutipong] is a good sign - but bilateral ties will depend on how Cambodia meets the three conditions," Panitan Wattanayagorn said.

Thailand will neither set a timetable for the next move by Cambodia nor make any demands for diplomatic normalisation, he said, reaffirming to uphold good neighbourly relations while Phnom Penh ponders its decision.

He said Cambodia's decision to back a Thai fugitive like Thaksin had made it impossible for Thailand to maintain bilateral ties under normal circumstances.

In regard to the involvement of Thai diplomat Kamrob Palawatwichai in the Sivarak legal wrangling, he said the Foreign Ministry would clarify pertinent issues in due time, as Sivarak had already returned to his homeland.

"Pending the green light from his ministry, Kamrob is expected to release a written statement to explain his role," he said, ruling out a call for Kamrob to give an interview in person.

Panitan hinted, however, that there would be no objection if Kamrob were also to seek a personal meeting with Sivarak to present his side of the story.

He said the Sivarak case, which prompted Thaksin's second trip to Cambodia, was a ploy designed to discredit the government and the Thai justice system.

Thai citizens should not fall prey to such ploys since political stability is the key to economic recovery, he said.

He added that Thaksin might also have a second motive: boosting the morale of the red shirts, currently seen as in disarray.

"Since negotiations aimed at eluding his judicial conviction cannot materialise, Thaksin is doing everything to sway the masses in order to pressure for a general election that he hopes would pave the way to get out of his legal trouble," Panitan said.

Thaksin yesterday accused the Foreign Ministry of ordering Kamrob to spy on his flight information when he landed in Phnom Penh last month.

Kamrob received a call from Bangkok and later called Sivarak, who worked for Cambodia Air Traffic Services, to ask for the flight schedule, Thaksin said in his Internet radio show.

When Kamrob got the information from Sivarak, he rushed to inform Bangkok, Thaksin said, without specifying what he meant by "Bangkok".

The Foreign Ministry, of which he was once a minister, had mobilised all resources to hurt him and caused much trouble for the Thai national and relations with a neighbouring country, the ex-PM added.

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Thaksin pledges to help Cambodia in agriculture+

During a nearly four-hour lecture to 30 Cambodian officials in Phnom Penh, Thaksin pledged to fund two small-scale model farms so as to show Cambodian farmers how to adapt to profitable farming, according to a statement released by the Economy and Finance Ministry.

Thaksin did not disclose how much funding he will provide, but suggested he wants to discuss the matter more precisely next month.

Cambodia considers agriculture one of the priority sectors to secure sustainable growth and creation of employment, and to increase income to help reduce poverty in the country.

Some 80 percent of Cambodia's 14 million people are farmers.

Thaksin arrived in Cambodia on Sunday for the second time since being appointed a personal adviser to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and to the government of Cambodia on economic affairs on Oct. 27.

Thaksin is planning to give two more lectures to Cambodian officials on Wednesday on tourism and investment before leaving the country.

Thaksin, ousted from power in 2006 in a bloodless military coup while he was out of the country, was later convicted of corruption.

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Cambodia seeks strategies to combat economic crisis

PHNOM PENH, Representatives from trade unions, employers, government and civil society have gathered in Phnom Penh to share real-life experiences and discuss strategies to cope with challenges in Cambodia's industrial relations community during and beyond the global economic crisis.

In a statement released Tuesday, the Arbitration Council Foundation which organized the one-day forum said collective strategies discussed by conference participants included stronger workplace cooperation and improved systems for regular social dialogue, early crisis warning systems, and common procedures agreed by the employers and unions to resolve existing or potential workplace grievances.

"As the key actors in industrial relations, we need to work together in order to ensure that enterprises continue to survive, to minimize any further losses of profits and jobs while finding opportunities to prepare for and to produce new opportunities for our businesses and people,"said Sok Lor, executive director of the Arbitration Council Foundation "Achieving this common goal will require joint action, especially among the employers, unions, and Government,"he said.

Joint action and the need for improved social dialogue among the industrial relations community was echoed by many at the Conference.

Oum Mean, secretary of state of the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training said it is now a difficult stage for both the world and Cambodia's economy, yet (the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training) finds it an opportunity for Cambodia to strengthen cooperation between the government, employers and employees to join hand to combat the crisis, support the economy of Cambodia and create harmonization in industrial relations for improved productivity, sustainability in production and reduced job losses.

Echoing at the conference, Qimao Fan, World Bank Country Manager, stressed the importance of workers and employers engaging in dialogue and finding cooperative strategies during the period of the economic crisis. "Improved industrial relation is important today and probably the most important [time] in Cambodia's history," he said at the conference.

A one-day forum titled "Global Economic Crisis and Cambodian Industrial Relations: Challenges and Way Forward"– is designed for key employment and labour stakeholders to engage in social dialogue for improved industrial relations in Cambodia and thereby contribute to broader economic growth and social development.

The Arbitration Council Foundation is a registered local not- for-profit foundation established in 2004 to support and facilitate the labour dispute resolution work of the Arbitration Council. (PNA/Xinhua)

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U.S. to help boost Cambodia's seaport security for avoiding nuclear smuggling

PHNOM PENH, The United States on Monday inked an agreement with Cambodia to help the latter to strengthen the seaport security to avoid the nuclear smuggling and other radioactive material in the country.

Carol A. Rodley, U.S. ambassador to Cambodia, and Cambodian Senior Minister Om Yen Tieng signed the agreement on behalf of their respective governments at the Secretariat of the National Counter terrorism Committee (SNCTC) in Phnom Penh, a press release from the U.S. Embassy said. The agreement launched a cooperative effort to help deter, detect, and interdict illicit smuggling of nuclear and other radioactive material.

"The agreement, known as the Megaports Initiative, paves the way for the Kingdom of Cambodia to install radiation detection equipment at the Autonomous Port of Sihanoukville," it said.

According to the agreement, in addition to providing equipment and related infrastructure, the United States will also train Cambodian officials on the use and maintenance of the equipment.

"The installation of radiation detection equipment at the port will improve Cambodia's ability to monitor cargo at this critical location and underscores the importance of the country's seaports in regional maritime security," it added.

It said that the Megaports Initiative is now operational at 28 ports around the world. Work is underway at additional ports in Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
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