Defiant Hun Sen challenges US to cut all aid to Cambodia as Washington moves to penalise PM for opposition crackdown
In April, the embassy announced US$1.8 million to assist local and general elections, but that was pulled after Supreme Court ruled the Cambodia National Rescue Party be totally disbanded
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen challenged the United States on Sunday to cut all aid after it announced it was ending funding for a general election next year in response to the dissolution of the main opposition party, media reported.
Hun Sen, the strongman who has ruled Cambodia for more than three decades, has taken a strident anti-American line in an increasingly tense run-up to a 2018 election that has included a crackdown on critics, rights groups and independent media.
The United States announced on Friday it was ending funding for the election, and promised more “concrete steps”, after the Supreme Court dissolved the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) at the request of the government, on the grounds it was plotting to seize power.
The party denied the accusation.
