German president aims to boost ties with Cambodia despite concerns
- ‘We don’t always have to agree on everything, but we can expand our appreciative and sincere dialogue’, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said
- Under Prime Minister Hun Sen in Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s freedom of opinion, assembly and association are restricted, and corruption is a major problem
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier stressed Berlin’s willingness to expand ties with Cambodia, even if the governments sometimes held opposing political views.
“We don’t always have to agree on everything, but we can expand our appreciative and sincere dialogue among partners,” he said in his dinner speech with Prime Minister Hun Sen in Phnom Penh on Wednesday.
Hun Sen, whose Cambodian People’s Party has ruled the southeast Asian country for decades, has been in office since 1985. Freedom of opinion, assembly and association is restricted and the opposition unable to freely operate. Corruption is a major problem.
Steinmeier, the first German president to visit Cambodia, also intends to meet opposition leader Kem Sokha, who is awaiting judgement on a charge of high treason.
A meeting with Voice of Democracy officials was also planned. Hun Sen revoked the license of the media outlet, one of the last still operating in Cambodia, right before Steinmeier’s arrival.
Cambodia’s Hun Sen orders shutdown of independent media outlet
In his dinner speech, Steinmeier praised Cambodia’s firm stance at the United Nations against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: “You have positioned your country on the side of international law and international cooperation.”
Steinmeier was greeted with military honours on Wednesday morning by Say Chhum, the acting head of state and president of the Senate. It is the first-ever official visit to Cambodia by a German president.
At the start of his trip, Steinmeier noted that Cambodia was interested in closer economic ties with Germany and better relations with the European Union. “There are preconditions for that,” he said.
“We will talk about these preconditions here openly and confidentially.”
