Cambodian minister says Biden should ‘treat Asean leaders with respect’ to improve ties
- Kao Kim Hourn comments came ahead of next week’s US-Asean summit where hot-button issues including the South China Sea are on the agenda
- He also urged Biden to give more face time to the delegation, adding the bloc works with both the US and China under its principle of ‘inclusiveness’
Kao Kim Hourn said Asean leaders “should be treated with respect and equality” and given the chance to spend “useful time” with Biden.
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“As a big country, a host country, the United States should be more generous to the guests, the leaders who are travelling to Washington, particularly as [Biden] is going to be talking about elevating the strategic partnership to a comprehensive strategic partnership,” he said, referring a proposed step in the level of engagement between Washington and Asean.
Kao Kim Hourn said he believed it was normal practice for the Asean chair to meet with the leader of the host country, “whether formally or informally, to have some sort of dialogue.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Kao Him Hourn’s remarks, but press secretary Jen Pskai told reporters Biden would host a White House dinner for Asean leaders on Thursday and participate in a summit with them at the State Department on Friday.
She said the summit would “recognise Asean’s central role in delivering sustainable solutions to the region’s most pressing challenges and commemorate 45 years of US-Asean relations.”
It will be the first Asean leaders summit hosted in Washington, and a first White House visit for Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia since 1985 and has faced frequent American criticism for suppressing dissent and jailing opponents.
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Kao Kim Hourn said Cambodia, which has close economic ties to China, would not “choose sides” between Washington and Beijing, and that US investment in his country was growing.
Likewise, Asean works with both the US and China under its principle of “inclusiveness,” he said.
Analysts and diplomats say Asean countries are keen to boost ties with the US, but have been frustrated by its failure to detail plans for economic engagement after former president Donald Trump quit a regional trade pact.
“There’s a lot in the details that we don’t know yet,” he said of IPEF. “We understand that there’s so many competing priorities on the global agenda for the United States.”
Biden is likely to press Asean to do more to support his efforts to diplomatically and economically isolate Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.
Kao Kim Hourn said individual Asean members had different positions on the conflict, and any collective Asean position would have to be “consensus based.”