Cambodia aims to develop area around Preah Vihear: Democrats

The Nation

Democrat spokesman Chavanond Intarakomalyasut said yesterday that Cambodia is planning to propose that the area around Preah Vihear Temple be developed, at the next meeting of the World Heritage Committee (WHC) in June, and hence the government should launch a clear opposition campaign.

He urged the government to apply the January 13, 2010 resolution of the Abhisit Vejjajiva Cabinet, which objected to Cambodia's move to unilaterally have the temple registered for World Heritage status. The resolution also approved a Bt10-million budget for lobbying to stall Cambodia's listing attempt because this move would create tensions between the countries, he said. Hence, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's government should follow this resolution and express its standpoint at the WHC meeting, he said.

Chavanond explained that allowing Cambodia to develop the area around the temple could affect Thailand's sovereignty and the work of the Thai team at the International Court of Justice would be wasted.

The spokesman also dismissed Foreign Minister Surapong Towichukchaikul's earlier comment that the resolution of the WHC meeting in June would not have any effect on the dispute being handled by the ICJ. He said these two matters could not be separated because if Cambodia was able to manage this area, it would be included in the French-made 1:200,000-scale map, which would not be good for Thailand.

He also urged Yingluck to listen to the opposition's advice and order that the Natural Resource and Environment Ministry, which is handling the WHC issue, object to Cambodia's request that the temple be granted World Heritage status, because this was the root cause of the dispute.

On Tuesday, Surapong presented the map approved by the 1962 Cabinet delineating Preah Vihear's "vicinity" to the current Cabinet for acknowledgement. The Thai legal team will send this map and its coordinates as well as an explanation to the ICJ tomorrow. Cambodia will then send its reaction and the Thai team will send its response to the ICJ on May 3.

Cambodian Activist’s Family Wants Murder Case Reopened

RFA

Chut Wutty’s funeral ceremony in Kandal province, April 28, 2012.

Family members of slain Cambodian environmental activist Chut Wutty on Friday held a Buddhist ceremony to mark the one-year anniversary of his death, calling for the reopening of investigations into his murder and urging authorities to find his “true killer.”

The call came as members of Cambodia’s civil society held a memorial service for the activist in the country’s capital Phnom Penh, appealing to the government to end a “culture of impunity” they say prevented him from receiving justice.

During a ceremony in southern Cambodia's Koh Kong province, Chut Wutty’s brother-in-law, Yong Sokhorn, appealed to authorities to continue the probe into his murder although a private security official was convicted in relation to the case.

“The government must reconsider and reopen the case in order to find the true killer and determine who was behind the killing,” he said, speaking in front of the logging company in Mondul Seima district where Chut Wutty was gunned down last April while investigating illegal logging operations.

Court proceedings on Chut Wutty’s case—the highest-profile death of a Cambodian activist in years—ended in October last year after a court in Koh Kong convicted a logging company’s security chief for the killing of a military officer accused of murdering Chut Wutty.

Timber Green Logging Company security chief Rann Borath was sentenced to two years in prison for the “unintentional murder” of military officer In Rattana, who judges said had fatally shot Chut Wutty.

Chut Wutty’s son, Chhoeuy Odomraksmey, told RFA’s Khmer Service that the convicted security chief is only in prison as a “scapegoat” in the incident.

He said his family wanted “justice” and urged authorities to put “the real killer” behind bars.

“The court must summon all suspects, including military officers and soldiers who were stationed in the area, to be questioned,” said Chhoeuy Odomraksmey, who is now the director of his father's NGO, the Natural Resource Protection Group.

“We can’t allow [an unjust verdict] to stand,” he said.

Chhoeuy Odomraksmey also appealed to the people of Cambodia for assistance in funding his NGOs, saying that after his father’s death, forest crimes had increased.

Rights groups weigh in

Conflicting accounts of the deaths of Chut Wutty and In Rattana sparked accusations of a government cover-up of the murder.

The case was decried as unfair and unjust by rights groups which alleged the authorities had “intentionally” closed off examination into the activist’s death by placing the blame on a dead man.

The Geneva-based World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) on Friday also expressed “deep concern about the lack of significant progress in the investigation into his murder.”

“We strongly condemn the prevailing impunity in Mr. Chut Wutty’s murder, and we urge the Cambodian authorities to finally establish the full truth and bring to justice all those responsible,” said OMCT Secretary General Gerald Staberock.

“The authorities of Cambodia should also ensure in all circumstances that defenders of economic, social and cultural rights are able to work without any fear of reprisals”, added FIDH President Souhayr Belhassen.

Phnom Penh memorial

Also on Friday, a group of nongovernmental organizations held a commemoration ceremony for Chut Wutty in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, calling for the investigation into his death to be reopened.

Cambodian Food and Service Workers' Federation president Sar Mora said the government must “end its culture of impunity” and “provide justice” to Chut Wutty and his family.

“Chut Wutty tried his best to protect the forest, but he was killed for his efforts. This is very unjust,” he said.

“We urge the government to provide Chut Wutty with justice and to encourage people to remember him.”

The government has so far not responded to appeals on the activist’s behalf.

On the day he was found murdered, Chut Wutty had been leading two journalists to see what he believed were illegal logging activities near a Chinese-built dam in Koh Kong.

The activist had also been involved in organizing communities around Cambodia to protect forests from land grabs and illegal logging and had campaigned against the government's granting of land concessions in national parks and wildlife sanctuaries.

Four months after Chut Wutty’s death, Hang Serei Oudom, a journalist who had exposed illegal logging and forest crimes involving local elites in Ratanakiri province, was found dead in the trunk of his car.

Authorities have arrested a military police officer and his wife as suspects in the case.

WHO launches regional programme to tackle drug-resistant malaria

The Hindu

The World Health Organisation on Thursday announced a $ 400 million programme to combat a resistant strain of malaria that has emerged in South-east Asia in recent years.

The programme, which has already received around one-third of the required funding, will seek to prevent the spread of a falciparum parasite that has become resistant to artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT), the global standard treatment for the disease.

Robert Newman, the Director of the WHO’s global malaria programme, said resistance had been found in areas of Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam, which would form the core focus for operations.

Laos and part of southern China are also included as they are perceived to be “at risk.” The programme, known as the Emergency Response to Artemisinin Resistance (ERAR), will scale up some of the work done in recent years during an ongoing and to date successful containment of an earlier outbreak of ACT-resistant malaria on the Thai-Cambodian border.

Hundreds of thousands of insecticide-treated bed nets were handed out, for example, and key people in every village in that part of Cambodia were trained to test for malaria and provide free drugs to treat it. The authorities also cracked down on fake medicines.

Serious global health threat

“The emergency response is built on all of those experiences,” said Mr. Newman. “The plan now is to say that we’ve had these small experiences, but now we need to take them to scale in all the areas that are affected if we want to be successful.” The WHO has warned that the emergence of resistance to artemisinin “poses a serious global health threat” should it escape the region, and said gains made in recent years could be lost.

The Australian Government’s development arm AusAID is one of the donors to ERAR, along with the Global Fund and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Ben David, AusAID’s principal health advisor, said that because artemisinin resistance was a regional issue, solving that problem would require governments to work together, particularly on issues such as reaching migrant communities.

“We need to tackle regional surveillance and strengthen that,” Mr. David said. “And we need to improve drug quality — again that’s a regional issue. So we want to see strong coordination and better coordination.” WHO said malaria killed 660,000 people worldwide last year. Most were children living in Africa, and most died from a strain of malaria that is resistant to chloroquine, which was for decades the standard treatment. The chloroquine-resistant strain emerged in western Cambodia in the 1950s.

Vietnam firms step up foreign investments

22-04-2013
Viet Nam News

Vietnam companies have increased their overseas investments in the agro-forestry and aquaculture sectors, with about 150 ongoing projects valued at nearly US$2.5 billion.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, this figure accounts for more than 20 per cent of the total investment made by Vietnamese companies in foreign countries and territories.

It said that 28 per cent of the total investments are in Laos and 54 per cent in Cambodia, mostly for rubber cultivation and wood-processing plants.

Vietnamese companies are also investing in China, Asean-member countries and Africa, where Mozambique, Tanzania, Sudan, Mali and South Africa are developing the cultivation of seafood.

Companies in the agro-forestry and aquaculture sectors said it was profitable to invest overseas because of lower costs for land, taxes and human resources.

However, because many of the countries remain undeveloped, Vietnamese companies often encounter problems, such as weak legal systems and an insufficient number of skilled workers.

In addition, Vietnam faces competition as many other countries like Thailand and China are exploiting these markets for the same advantages.

Despite these shortcomings, local companies said their investments abroad had brought profits that had allowed them to re-invest domestically.

Sea disputes, NKorea in spotlight at ASEAN summit

By JIM GOMEZ and EILEEN NG Associated Press

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Brunei—Worried that long-seething rifts could escalate over the South China Sea, Southeast Asian leaders are expected this week to press China to agree to start negotiations on a new pact aimed at thwarting a major clash in one of the world's busiest waterways. 


Concern over North Korea's latest threats is also expected to gain attention over economic issues in the annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, being held Wednesday and Thursday in Brunei's capital of Bandar Seri Begawan.

The 10-nation bloc is scrambling to beat a deadline to transform the strikingly diverse region of 600 million people into a European Union-like community by the end of 2015.

About 77 percent of the work to turn the bustling region into a single market and production base, first laid out in a 2007 blueprint, have been done, according to a draft statement to be issued after the summit. The document did not detail what still needed to be done.

The statement, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press on Monday, would reaffirm the ASEAN leaders' commitment to ensure the peaceful resolution of South China Sea conflicts in accordance with international law "without resorting to the threat or use of force."

They would call for "the early adoption of a code of conduct in the South China Sea," referring to a legally binding pact ASEAN would like to forge with China to replace a 2002 nonaggression accord that has failed to stop territorial skirmishes.

China, Taiwan and ASEAN members Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam have overlapping claims across the South China Sea, which Beijing claims in its entirety. The Philippines and Vietnam in particular have been at odds with China over the region in recent years, with diplomatic squabbles erupting over oil and gas exploration and fishing rights.

A tense standoff last year between Chinese and Filipino ships over the fishing-rich Scarborough Shoal is unresolved.

The Philippine vessels withdrew, but China has refused to pull out its three surveillance ships and remove a rope blocking Filipino fishermen from a Scarborough lagoon.

In January, the Philippines challenged China's massive territorial claims before an arbitration tribunal under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in a daring legal step that China has ignored. The tribunal has to appoint three more of five arbiters by Thursday, then start looking into the complaint if it decides it has jurisdiction.

A pre-summit meeting by ASEAN foreign ministers in Brunei two weeks ago was dominated by concerns over the territorial disputes and ended with a call for an early conclusion of a nonaggression pact with China, Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said.

But Chinese officials have not clearly indicated when they would be ready to discuss the proposed accord.
The territorial issue has threatened ASEAN's unity. Cambodia, a China ally, refused to have the issue mentioned in a post-ministerial statement when it hosted the meetings last year. That drew protests from Vietnam and the Philippines, and ASEAN ended up not issuing an after-conference communique for the first time in the bloc's 45-year history.

China has steadfastly refused to bring the disputes to the international arena, preferring to negotiate one on one with each rival claimant. It has also warned Washington not to intervene in the disputes.

ASEAN, founded in 1967 as a bulwark against communism in the Cold War era, has often been caught in the crosscurrents of major conflicts. Currently, the bloc is walking a tightrope between a rising China and an America that is reasserting its status as an Asia-Pacific power.

Both wield tremendous influence on ASEAN, which has become a battleground for political and security clout and export markets.

Defense forces from all of ASEAN, along with eight other countries that include the United States and China, would hold for the first time three-day disaster response drills in Brunei in June to foster confidence among the multinational troops, the draft summit statement said.

Brunei's publicity-shy leader, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, has led the tedious legwork to avoid any major hitch in the ASEAN summits his tiny but oil-rich kingdom hosts this year.

He has separately met with President Barack Obama and Chinese leader Xi Jinping ahead of this week's summit. Last week, Bolkiah flew to Manila, partly to discuss the summit agenda with Philippine President Benigno Aquino III.

When his gleaming Royal Brunei Air plane taxied to a red-carpet welcome at Manila's airport, Philippine officials saw Bolkiah, who also heads his country's defense forces, at the pilot's seat.

Cambodia, Thailand to keep calm over border row regardless of ICJ’s decision

Souce:Xinhua
Publish By Thomas Whittle
Updated 22/04/2013

PHNOM PENH, April 22 — Cambodia and Thailand will continue maintaining peace along the border regardless of the forthcoming decision of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the case concerning the hotly-disputed land of 4.6 square kilometers around Cambodia’s Preah Vihear Temple, a senior Cambodian official said Monday.

“Let the ICJ make a judgment in the case,” deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong told reporters at Phnom Penh International Airport upon his arrival from the Hague, the Netherlands, where Cambodia and Thailand last week delivered oral statements to the ICJ in the case of the disputed land.
“In recent past, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen had talked with Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, and I had talked with Thai foreign minister (Surapong Tovichakchaikul) that whatever the ICJ’s decision on the case would be, we agreed to keep calm and comply with the court’s decision quietly,” he said.

The Hague-based ICJ awarded Cambodia the Preah Vihear Temple, and its vicinity on June 15, 1962, but Thailand, in 2008, claimed the ownership of 4.6 square kilometers of scrub next to the temple.

Sporadic armed clashes between Cambodian and Thai troops had occurred since July 2008 when the UNESCO listed Preah Vihear Temple as a World Heritage Site and deadly clashes burst out in large scales in February and April 2011 during the rule of former Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.
However, military tensions have eased since August 2011 when ex- Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s Pheu Thai Party won a general election and led the current government.

Cambodia asked the ICJ in April 2011 to interpret the judgment of June 15, 1962 in the case concerning the Preah Vihear Temple. In July 2011, the court ordered Cambodia and Thailand to withdraw their military personnel from the court-defined Provisional Demilitarized Zone of 17.3 square kilometers surrounding the temple in order to secure a ceasefire.

Last week, the ICJ began a week of oral hearings in the dispute over ownership of the 4.6 kilometer land adjoining the temple, and the court is expected to issue a decision on who owns the disputed land around the Preah Vihear Temple later this year.

“Let’s wait to hear the interpretation of the 1962 judgment — the exact date is not set by the court yet, but it will be made before the end of this year,” Hor Namhong said.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Hun Sen hailed the Cambodian legal team for “job well done” in the Hague.
Cambodia asked the ICJ to interpret the 1962 verdict, while Thailand insisted the court not to interpret the verdict.

The premier predicted that the ICJ would interpret the 1962 judgment based on two points.

One point is that the ICJ ordered Cambodia and Thailand to withdraw military personnel from the court-defined Provisional Demilitarized Zone in July 2011, so the court cannot keep the demilitarized zone for years, and the other is that a judge at the ICJ asked Cambodia and Thailand to define the vicinity of Preah Vihear temple on maps or graphics of the area and show it to the court.
The court required a reply in written form from both sides by April 26, and the parties would have to submit responses to each other’s definitions by May 3.

“Whatever the court’s decision will be, Cambodia and Thailand will not become enemies to each other because Cambodia and Thailand are like tongue and teeth, it cannot be removed from each other,” he said.
The 11th century Preah Vihear Temple is located on the top of a 525-meter cliff in the Dangrek Mountains. It is situated about 500 km northwest of Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh.

Cambodian Toe-Tapping Going Global

Kong Nay at the Season of Cambodia Festival

By JON PARELES
Published: April 21, 2013

 The troubadour wielding a stringed instrument and singing praises, dance tunes, love songs, histories or wry comments is a nearly universal figure in traditional music, from Appalachian banjo pickers to Moroccan gnawa musicians to West African griots to Japanese minyo singers. Kong Nay, who performed at the Asia Society on Saturday night, is one of them, playing the Cambodian style called chapei: singing in a hearty voice and playing the chapei dang weng, a long-necked, two-stringed lute. 

Chapei is a sparse, open, toe-tapping style. Mr. Kong sang forthright modal melodies, propelled from the downbeat and embellished with quavers and slides. He plucked a steady rhythm, meanwhile, with a repeating note on one string while the other carried a melody line: sharing it with the voice and sometimes answering a vocal line with an instrumental refrain. The modes and inflections were Southeast Asian, but the folky tunes were homey and direct. 

The Asia Society projected some of the lyrics overhead; in various songs Mr. Kong invoked Buddhist deities, praised a mother’s sacrifices, celebrated dancing and hoped to find a “new soul mate” on the dance floor; “My old one should not have jilted me,” he sang in “Rom Vong.” Mr. Kong also improvised some verses that drew laughter from Cambodians in the audience. 

His upbeat music is an ancient tradition — one endangered by the cultural genocide of the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s, who starved and executed an estimated 90 percent of Cambodia’s artists and intellectuals. Mr. Kong, who is in his late 60s and has been blind since childhood, is one of the rare survivors among his generation of master musicians. He appeared as part of the citywide Season of Cambodia series, which is celebrating the preservation and progress of Cambodian culture. 

Mr. Kong played the first part of the concert solo. Then he was joined by a jazz group, the Ben Allison trio, with Mr. Allison on bass, Marc Ribot on guitar and Rudy Royston on drums. Mr. Allison remarked that when he first heard Mr. Kong’s music he thought, “It just feels like the blues to me” — another troubadour tradition. In one song Mr. Kong declaimed, “Though we can’t speak a common language, our music does for us.” 

It was a congenial fusion. The trio added a jovial bustle to the songs while respecting Mr. Kong’s clear beat; at one point Mr. Ribot tried to add some lead-guitar counterpoint to Mr. Kong’s pithy melodies, but wisely backed off. And in “Arapiya” the group heard compatible chords that fit Mr. Kong’s melody and unchanging bass note; the Cambodian tune tilted toward hand-clapping country, hinting at “You Are My Sunshine.” The song was about dancing “to the rocking music” on a Saturday night; it was a neat cross-cultural fit.

More information about the Season of Cambodia festival, which runs through May 26, is at seasonofcambodia.org.

Temple land fight shifts to WHC

 Apr 22, 2013

Bangkok Post

The opposition is urging the government to make clear its objection to Cambodia's Preah Vihear management plan at the next World Heritage Committee (WHC) meeting.

Ambassador Virachai Plasai (left) and Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul led the Thai team home on Sunday from the International Court of Justice presentation. The Thai and foreign team members will get personal congratulations Monday from Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. (Photo by Pattanapong Hirunard)

Cambodia is expected to table the plan for consideration at the 37th WHC meeting, to be held on June 16-27 in Phnom Penh.

Phnom Penh might place the Preah Vihear management plan at the top of the WHC agenda and lobby other parties to endorse the plan, threatening Thai territorial sovereignty, the Democrat Party spokesman Chavanond Intarakomalyasut said Sunday.

The WHC approved Cambodia's proposal to inscribe Preah Vihear as a World Heritage site in July 2008.
The Democrat Party and several academics have expressed concerns the development plan might include the disputed 4.6 sq km area of land surrounding the temple.
Mr Chavanond lauded the Thai legal team's performance at the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) oral hearing last week on Cambodia's request for a reinterpretation of the ICJ's 1962 verdict.

He praised Thai envoy Virachai Plasai and the four foreign lawyers for their strong defence against Cambodia's claims of ownership of the temple's surrounding area.

However, Mr Chavanond warned Thailand was still at risk of losing sovereignty of this area if the Pheu Thai-led government failed to oppose Cambodia's temple management plan.

Mr Chavanond said he believed that seeking the WHC's endorsement of the management plan was Cambodia's "Plan B" in convincing the ICJ that it owns the area surrounding Preah Vihear.

"Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has to make Thailand's position clear that we object to Cambodia's management plan for the vicinity of Preah Vihear," Mr Chavanond said.

The Thai World Heritage Information Centre, chaired by Natural Resources and Environment Ministry permanent-secretary Chote Trachoo, recently vowed to object to Cambodia's management plan at the June meeting.

Mr Chote also threatened to walk out of the meeting if Phnom Penh insists on discussing the plan.
Democrat Bangkok MP Ong-art Klampaiboon Sunday warned the government against any movement that could put Thailand at a disadvantage in the case.

The government must also maintain peace along the border to prevent Cambodia from exploiting any clashes for its own benefit.

"Although Pheu Thai and the Cambodian governments have good relations, Bangkok must be careful because Phnom Penh might use any means in their attempts to win the case," Mr Ong-art said.
A large crowd of supporters welcomed members of the Thai legal team at Suvarnabhumi early Sunday as they returned from the Netherlands, where the ICJ hearing was held.

They presented flowers and displayed banners to thank the team for its devotion in fighting the case.
"I have done my best," Mr Virachai said upon arriving, adding the Thai team's performance went as planned because there had been no leaks of information to the Cambodian side.

Mr Virachai told reporters the team's next task is to prepare a map of Preah Vihear's surrounding area.
An ICJ judge asked Thailand and Cambodia to define the temple's surrounding area and submit it to the court by Friday.

Mr Virachai said Thailand's version would be based on the boundary drawn up by a July 10, 1962, cabinet resolution.

The legal team will meet Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra at Government House today to discuss the case.

Meanwhile, most people have confidence in the Thai legal team, a poll suggests.
Abac Poll surveyed 2,165 Thais aged 18 and over in 17 provinces between April 15 and Saturday.
The poll found 61.3%, of the respondents said they had confidence in the Thai delegation, 33.1% had no idea and 5.6% said they were not confident.

Asked about the degree of their satisfaction with the roles of the diplomatic and political delegates in the Thai team, 65.3% of the respondents said they were satisfied with the diplomats and 42.6% were satisfied with the politicians.

Asked how disappointed they would be if Thailand loses the 4.6 sq km area around Preah Vihear to Cambodia, 80% of the respondents said they would be most disappointed, 13.4% said their disappointment would be moderate, and 6.6% said they would be a little or least disappointed.

Cambodia's Angkor heritage site greets 694,700 foreign visitors in Q1, up 8 pct

(Xinhua) Cambodia's Angkor Wat temples, one of the world heritage sites, received 694,700 foreign tourists in the first quarter of this year, a 8 percent rise from the same period last year, the statistics of Siem Reap provincial tourism department showed Friday.

The top three countries visiting the temples are South Korea, China, and Vietnam. During the January-March period this year, the temples welcomed some 142,040 South Koreans, up 8 percent; 87,104 Chinese, up 77 percent; and 45,760 Vietnamese, down 39 percent.

"China overtook Vietnam to become the second largest tourist source to Angkor Wat temples during the first three months of this year," Chhoeuy Chhorn, administration chief of the Siem Reap provincial tourism department, told Xinhua on Friday.

He attributed the sharp rise of Chinese tourists to Cambodia to the two countries' good relations, broader promotion of the temples to the world, and more direct flight connection between Cambodia and China.

During the first quarter of this year, some 28,300 Thais and 27, 350 Laotians visited the temples, up 28 percent and 1 percent respectively.

The Angkor archeological park is Cambodia's largest cultural tourism destination located about 315 kilometers northwest of Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.

An entrance fee to the temples is 20 US dollars a day for a foreign visitor, 40 US dollars for a three-day visit and 60 US dollars for a week-long visit.

Last year, the temples attracted 2.06 million foreign visitors, up 28 percent year-on-year. Tourism is a main sector supporting the Cambodian economy besides the garment industry, agriculture and the real estate industry.

Bank of China to raise business operations in Cambodia: deputy-governor

PHNOM PENH (Xinhua) -- The Bank of China is going to expand its business operations in Cambodia after it was launched here two years ago and seen rapid business growth, Zhu Shuming, visiting deputy governor of Bank of China, said Friday.

Speaking at a meeting with Chea Chanto, governor of the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC), Zhu thanked the NBC for supporting the presence of Bank of China-Phnom Penh Branch, saying that the bank has seen rapid business growth since it was officially launched here in May 2011 and opened its first sub- branch in December last year.

He said currently, the bank has started to make profits from its business operations and ranked the 7th largest bank in Cambodia.

"The bank's progress shows that Cambodia's banking sector still has much room to grow," he said, adding that the bank planned to increase its investment in Cambodia through opening more sub- branches.

He asked the NBC to support the bank in its business expansion plan.

Chea Chanto pledged support to the bank, saying that the presence of the Bank of China has largely contributed to developing Cambodian economy and strengthening the banking system.

He added that the Bank of China is playing a vital role in promoting trade and investment ties between Cambodia and China.

Earlier in the day, Zhu also met with Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Keat Chhon in order to seek his support for the bank's business expansion plan.

At the meeting, Keat Chhon said Cambodia and China set a target last year to boost the bilateral trade volume to 5 billion U.S. dollars by 2017. In this sense, he asked the bank to lend more to trade sector in order to help the two countries achieve the goal.

He also urged the bank to focus on rice industry in terms of lending in order to help Cambodian government achieve the target of exporting 1 million tons of milled rice by 2015.

Bank of China is a state-owned public listed bank in China and is a leading commercial bank in the world.

Currently, Cambodia has 33 commercial banks, serving about 1.6 million borrowers and 1.9 million depositors, according to the NBC.

Cambodian PM warns of ‘war’ if opposition wins

 AFP

Cambodia’s strongman Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday said the country risks civil war if the opposition wins polls later this year and tries to prosecute ex-Khmer Rouge members in his government.

His comments were issued as a rebuke to opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who has pledged to convict unnamed members of the government over their alleged roles under the murderous Khmer Rouge regime if his party takes July’s election.

“For sure, (civil) war will erupt if they (the opposition party) win the election,” Hun Sen, 62, said in a speech broadcast on national radio. “He (Rainsy) has not won power, yet he announced that the members of the ruling government will be brought to trial. Problems will happen like during Pol Pot’s regime,” he warned, adding that “nobody will be waiting to be arrested”.

Hun Sen, himself a former member of the Khmer Rouge, said those who want peace and development in the kingdom should vote for his ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP).

His main rival Rainsy, heads the the recently-formed Cambodia National Rescue Party, but lives in self-imposed exile in France to avoid prison for a string of convictions that critics contend are politically motivated. According to local press reports the 63-year-old on Wednesday used a video address to vow to convict senior officials accused of atrocities under the Khmer Rouge, alleging they are impeding a much-delayed UN-backed war crimes trial.

“We could (can) not give up on justice,” Rainsy was quoted as saying by the Cambodia Daily on Thursday.
“The ministers and deputy prime ministers who were members of the Khmer Rouge are now working in the current government, and they are hindering the trial,” he said of the tribunal which has two elderly defendants in the dock. In November, the National Election Committee (NEC) said Rainsy could not stand in the polls because of his convictions.

His party has only a slim chance of gaining enough votes to oust Hun Sen, who has ruled the country since 1985 and has vowed to stay in power until he is 90. Rainsy has previously branded Hun Sen a “coward” for barring him from running in the election and accused the incumbent of using the NEC to block his bid for office—something the premier has repeatedly denied.

French-educated Rainsy is one of the most outspoken figures in Cambodian politics but has lived in self-imposed exile since 2009, facing a total of 11 years in prison over several charges if he returns.
He has repeatedly expressed confidence his party could end Hun Sen’s 28-year grip on power.

Led by “Brother Number One” Pol Pot, who died in 1998, the regime wiped out nearly a quarter of Cambodia’s population through starvation, overwork or execution in a bid to create an agrarian utopia during their 1975-79 rule.

Prime Minister Hun Sen has repeatedly voiced his objection to further trials, saying they could plunge the country into civil war.

China Factories Moving In Droves To Cambodia/Vietnam/Myanmar/Malaysia. NOT.

By Dan Harris on April 19th, 2013  
Posted in China Business
 

Ever since the New York Times did an article, Wary of China, Companies Head to Cambodia, on how companies are leaving China for Cambodia, there has been a whole host of media and blog play and real life discussion about how “everyone” is leaving China for places like Cambodia or Myanmar or Vietnam or Indonesia. The article itself was much more balanced.
First, let’s look at the New York Times article, which does have some bon mots that could lead people to believe a massive China exodus is taking place, including the following:

• “Foreign companies are flocking to Cambodia for a simple reason. They want to limit their overwhelming reliance on factories in China.”
• “Every couple days, I’m getting calls from manufacturers who want to move their businesses here from China,” said Bradley Gordon, an American lawyer in Phnom Penh.

But let’s look deeper at this NYT article and at then at the realities on the ground.

The article makes clear that only certain types of companies are leaving China entirely and even most of those are staying:

Only a smattering of companies, mostly in low-tech sectors like garment and shoe manufacturing, are seeking to leave China entirely. Many more companies are building new factories in Southeast Asia to supplement operations in China. China’s fast-growing domestic market, large population and huge industrial base still make it attractive for many companies, while productivity in China is rising almost as fast as wages in many industries.
“People are not looking for exit strategies from China, they’re looking to set up parallel operations to hedge their bets,” said Bretton Sciaroni, another American lawyer here. Among Japanese makers, Sumitomo is making wiring harnesses for cars, Minebea is assembling parts for cellphones and Denso is about to start production of motorcycle ignition components.

The article also makes clear that China is still “killing it” when it comes to foreign direct investment:

Foreign investment in China nonetheless slipped 3.5 percent last year, after rising every year since 1980 except 1999, during the Asian financial crisis, and 2009, during the global financial crisis. Still, at $119.7 billion, foreign investment in China continues to dwarf investment elsewhere.
By comparison, investment in Cambodia rose to $1.5 billion. But last year was the first time since comparable record-keeping began in the 1970s that Cambodia received more foreign investment per person than China.

And though foreign investment is rising in “Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar and the Philippines,” conducting business in those countries is usually not as easy as in China:

Tatiana Olchanetzky, a manufacturing consultant to companies in the handbag and luggage industry, said that she had analyzed the costs in her industry of moving operations from China to the Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam and Indonesia. She found that any savings were very small because China produces most of the fabrics, clasps, wheels and other materials required for the bag trade, and these would have to be shipped to other countries if final assembly moved there.

But some factories have moved anyway, at the request of Western buyers who fear depending exclusively on a single country.
While moving to a new country with an unproved supply chain is a risk, Ms. Olchanetzky said, “They think there’s a risk in staying in China, too.”

 The article actually does an excellent job at setting forth exactly what my law firm is seeing among its clients, which include the following:

• Small clothing and shoe companies that seriously looked at moving operations to Vietnam or Cambodia or but then chose not to do so because it would be “too difficult” to set up a supply chain in those places.  Just as described by Ms. Olchanetzky above.
• Mid-sized and large clothing and shoe companies that have put their toes into Vietnam or Cambodia by doing a bit of outsourcing from those countries or by setting up small factories there.
• Many companies of all kinds sending people to scope out Vietnam or Cambodia and, more recently and to a lesser extent, Myanmar.
• Many companies looking at adding facilities or offices in Thailand or Malaysia or Indonesia, believing that those three countries are going to thrive in the next decade as ASEAN’s economic importance rises.

I actually think that my own law firm’s Asian plans are the norm, at least if our conversations are a good yardstick. Our clients are always asking us about our plans for more offices in Asia and we tell them something along the following lines:

Right now, our Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and Myanmar work is all being done out of our existing offices by our traveling to those countries and working with the people we know there.  Much of our work in those countries involves the basics like helping our clients contract with existing companies there and helping our clients register and protect their intellectual property there.  As more of our clients establish a permanent presence in some of these countries, we will look more seriously at opening a new office to serve that region.

The response to the above is invariably, “that makes complete sense and is pretty much how we are approaching things as well.”

One of the things of which we are convinced is that Singapore will be the financial and legal center of ASEAN (no surprise there, I know) and that Saigon/Hanoi, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, and Manilla will become (already are?) Regional centers.  We think Bangkok (and to a lesser extent KL and Saigon/Hanoi) will become the center for small and mid-sized Western companies that do not need a full-blown center like Singapore and its attendant high costs.  Bangkok is already becoming the center for Myanmar and to a lesser extent for Cambodia and Laos as well, and we see that continuing.

We have recently been engaged in an email conversation with Daniel Feldman of TSS Group, a Japan-based factory automation company.  Dan has been working on a project examining China’s future role as producer, as compared with SE Asia.  He was kind enough to allow us to post his “Five off the cuff predictions,” as per the below:

1. Manufacturers in China will need to diversify and balance production throughout Asia, specifically Southeast Asia, in order to share risk and increase efficiencies. Fortunately China and Southeast Asia are complementary.
2. China will need to upgrade technically with automation to compete on anything other than scale, supply chain depth, and market demand. There will however be insufficient time to do so, as hot money flows from Japan and the US, supercharged by undervalued currencies, will push China’s 198% debt to GDP ratio over the edge, destabilizing the economy.  With depressed exports, dysfunctional private companies, monetary policy weakness, and excessively low interest rates, China will become a large South Korea, where over half the population will lack the ability to afford advanced education and housing.
3. Even if China were to begin reforming its state-directed economic model earnestly by supporting small innovative businesses and reforming monetary policy, it is unfortunately too late, given the assumption that in 5-7 years, FDI flows into Southeast Asia will increase at faster rates than rates into China, assisted by an undervalued Japanese yen and US dollars, and disgust with China. The infrastructure and expertise in ASEAN will improve significantly. Productivity rates in Thailand and Malaysia will continue to outpace China as they adopt mechanization rapidly.
4. In Southeast Asia, competitive electronics companies will establish themselves firmly in Thailand and Malaysia due to their high productivity and growing middle classes. Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan and possibly Indonesia will be secondarily important.
5. As the secondary hub in ASEAN, Bangkok will increasingly challenge Singapore’s supremacy as the marketing and sales hub, aided by it’s geographic centrality, and rapidly growing market and middle class. Singapore will retain its status as the finance hub, but its importance in manufacturing will wane rapidly as it faces natural limitations on land and labor.

I am not nearly so pessimistic as Dan about China, but I am at least as optimistic about Thailand and Malaysia and Vietnam.  I see China manufacturing continuing to upgrade over the next ten years.  We wrote about that just the other day in the context of how those Chinese factories that have developed (or will develop) to suit Western needs will thrive and those that don’t won’t:  The New Role Of Written Contracts For Product Purchases In China. I also see China continuing to develop as a consumer and product market and that alone (Dan implicitly concedes this above) will influence the decision to manufacture in China.  But on the flip side, I am a raging bull when it comes to ASEAN.  I spent considerable time in Thailand and Myanmar this summer and I am convinced that if those two countries can solve their political issues (and I think they will), they will boom together. Here are my notes from that trip:
Bangkok.
The Good:  Bangkok is booming economically and if it can deal with its political problems and its pocket of violent Muslim extremists  in the South, there is little doubt it will continue to thrive.  ASEAN (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam) is going to become one common market by 2015 and many multinationals are already looking to take advantage of this. Singapore will be where the largest and wealthiest of the multinationals set up their ASEAN headquarters, but I see many a smaller company choosing Bangkok because it is so much cheaper, and yet still a fairly easy city for foreigners. I have a friend who lives in a very nice, 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo, right off Wireless Road (one of Bangkok’s nicest areas) and pays only USD$1200 per month. Bangkok even has excellent healthcare. And the food is off the charts incredible, if you (like me) love spicy.
The Bad: Thailand is rightfully proud of its history of withstanding colonization and that means it often does things its own ways.  In practical terms, that means Bangkok’s street system is like just about nowhere else. Get used to hot and humid.
The Random: Seems more flights land late at night in Bangkok than anywhere else. I am told not to complain about this because late night landings are the best way to avoid the traffic. As fewer and fewer people continue believing China’s economic growth-line will perpetually point straight up while its costs remain flat, the concept of a China Plus One strategy is gaining considerable currency. ASEAN is becoming the plus one.
 Yangon.
The Good: The people. The food. The sights. The new. The temples.
The Bad: The business climate.
The Random: A surprisingly decent local wine. The world’s most (only) patient cab drivers. Twice I got stuck in horrible traffic due to accidents/rain and this was after having negotiated ridiculously low flat fees (USD$1.80). If this had happened in Beijing, I probably would have been tossed out of the car in the middle of the freeway in the pouring rain. Instead, the cabbies were polite as could be the whole time. Both times I doubled down on the fares and both times the drivers were just as gracious as could be.  I know it makes me sound like a complete hick to say that the people are nice, but dammit, the people are nice.

Hardly a day goes by without one of our clients expressing an interest to us regarding Myanmar or Vietnam or Cambodia. Perhaps the best “leading” measure of that interest is the trademark registrations we do for Asian countries other than China.  This makes for a great leading indicator because so often companies register their trademarks when they become serious about a country, but before they actually start doing business with it.  For why this is the case, check out WHEN To Register Your China Trademark.  I estimate that in the last year, my law firm has registered at least double the trademarks in Asian countries other than China than it did in the preceding year.  So yes, southeast Asia is hot. But, contrary to Dan, I see spiraling synergies between southeast Asia and ASEAN on the one hand and China on the other, not a zero sum game.

What are you seeing out there?

What do you think?

WHO: New bird flu not spread easily

Apr 19, 2013

Bangkok Post

 

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says there is no evidence that a new strain of bird flu in China is spreading easily among humans, even though a few people who were close to patients with the virus have fallen sick.

Dr Michael O'Leary, head of WHO's office in China, said 15 global and Chinese health experts are on a weeklong mission in Beijing and Shanghai to learn more about the H7N9 bird flu virus has killed 17 people and sickened 70 others.

O'Leary said a major focus of the mission is to learn how the virus infects humans.

The experts will also study a few "clusters" of confirmed and potential infections that have emerged in the past three weeks though he said there has been no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission.

This Monday, April 15, 2013 electron microscope image provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows the H7N9 virus which can take on a variety of shapes. Almost three weeks after China reported finding a new strain of bird flu in humans, experts are still stumped by how people are becoming infected when many appear to have had no recent contact with live fowl and the virus isn't supposed to pass from person to person. Understanding how the H7N9 bird flu virus is spreading is a goal of international and Chinese experts assembled by the World Health Organization as they begin a weeklong investigation Friday, April 18, 2013. (AP Photo/CDC, C.S. Goldsmith, T. Rowe)

ICJ judge asks Thailand, Cambodia to define 'vicinity'

Supalak Ganjanakhundee
The Nation, The Hague April 19, 2013 

 

The question raised by Judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf after the hearing session on the 'vicinity' of the Preah Vihear was of personal interest to the judge but sent no significant signal about the case, Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul said.

The judge asked Thailand and Cambodia to define the vicinity of Preah Vihear on maps or graphics of the area and show it to the court.

The court required a reply in written form from both sides by April 26, and the parties would have to submit responses to each other's definitions by May 3.

Some observers said the judge's question sent a signal that the court was willing to address the issue of the status of the temple's vicinity, and showed an inclination to accept the case for interpretation as requested by Cambodia.

Surapong said he asked Judge Yusuf in person during a reception party after the hearing on Wednesday about the significance and implications of the question.

The question reflected the personal interest of Judge Yusuf, not of the court's panel, but the judge would circulate the replies from both sides to the other 16 members of the court, Surapong said.

Thai envoy Virachai Plasai said it was unusual for a judge to raise a question after a hearing session had ended, and to request answers in written form. Previously, the court or judges would ask questions during the hearing session and demand an immediate answer.

"But we should not panic over the judge's question. It implies nothing for the whole case," Virachai told reporters.

Thailand and Cambodia are in conflict over the interpretation of the 1962 judgement the International Court of Justice (ICJ) which rules the Preah Vihear temple is situated in territory under the sovereignty of Cambodia and orders Thailand to withdraw troops from the temple and its vicinity.

Cambodia asked the court to make clear that the vicinity of the temple should go along with the boundary line appeared in the Annex I map of 1:200,000 scale. hailand argues it left the "vicin¬ity" of the temple 50 years ago as ordered, and that the area whose status Cambodia wants the court to interpret is not same as that referred to in its previous judgement.

PM confident Thai legal team will outgun Cambodia

 Apr 19, 2013

Bangkok Post

Cambodia denied yesterday that it had doctored a map to mislead the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in its request for the court to interpret its 1962 ruling on the Preah Vihear temple.

Taking the floor to defend Cambodia's position at the court hearings on the case at The Hague, the Netherlands, last night, Cambodia's foreign lawyer Rodman Bundy countered that it was Thailand that tried to mislead the court by presenting its version of a map which was not relevant in the 1962 judgement.

``We did not falsify the map as claimed by Thailand. But in fact, Thailand has attempted to limit our vicinity [from the temple] by setting up a fence without our approval,'' he said. He insisted the map, Annex 85D, used by the Thai legal team in its oral presentation on Wednesday to limit the perimeter of the temple, was irrelevant.

Although the court had distributed Annex map 85D along with the 1962 judgement, it had not mentioned what it had been used for. So there was no need for the court to consider the evidence of Annex 85D raised by Thailand on Wednesday, the lawyer said.

Romanian lawyer Alina Miron, who is a member of the Thai legal team, told the court on Wednesday that Annex map 85D was one part of the big map that the court reproduced to illustrate the temple's vicinity and the areas in which Thailand would withdraw its military.

Mr Bundy reaffirmed Cambodia's call for the ICJ to interpret its 1962 judgement because both Thailand and Cambodia were in conflict over interpreting its scope and meaning.

``There is definitely a conflict on the issue about the area around the Preah Vihear temple,'' he said, while explaining why a court interpretation of the ruling was needed.

He said Cambodia has never accepted the Thai cabinet's resolution to unilaterally define the temple boundary as it had been drawn without referring to any watershed line or map.

The late king Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia, who then had the title of prince, had never made any gesture to recognise the Thai-made boundary of the temple. On the contrary, then prince Sihanouk had expressed objections to the boundary on different occasions in 1967, 1968 and 1969, he said.

Franklin Berman, another lawyer for Cambodia, said that Thailand had not withdrawn troops from Cambodian territory as required by the ICJ's 1962 verdict.

``It was funny that the Thai troops had moved out of the temple, but they remained stationed on Cambodian soil. We need the court to clarify so that the Thai soldiers will stay on their own territory,'' he said.

In his closing statement, Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong insisted that the interpretation of the court's 1962 verdict was necessary as there were disagreements between the two countries over it.
These differences had hampered the peaceful relations of the two nations.

He reiterated that Thailand's claim to sovereign rights over the 4.6 sq km disputed area was unfounded.
Hor Namhong said he believed a court verdict would bring Thailand and Cambodia's border row to an end.
Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul said Cambodia worked hard to present to the court that the barbed-wire fence surrounding the temple had been erected by Thailand without the approval of Cambodia and that Cambodia had protested against it.

He said the Thai legal team will today show to the court that the Annex I map did not show the borderline between the two countries as claimed by Cambodia.

Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Pongthep Thepkanchana said that Cambodia has attempted to point out that there is a different point of view on the area of the temple's vicinity.

``Cambodia is trying to say that some part of the map [Annex 85D] is not important in the case. But, in fact, the court used it to illustrate the temple's vicinity. Moreover, the Cambodian lawyer has accepted the 4.6 sq km area has nothing to do with the temple's vicinity,'' he said.

Yesterday was the second and last round of Cambodia's presentation of its statement to the ICJ.

Thailand will have its final turn to counter Cambodia with the presentation of its account to the court today.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra yesterday expressed confidence in the Thai legal team's ability to disprove Cambodia's arguments during the World Court hearings over the Preah Vihear temple.

The prime minister said Thailand's lawyers should be able to rebut all the arguments presented by Cambodia in its next round of presentation at the ICJ.

Ms Yingluck said the legal team's performance had met its target during the first round of the presentation of its statement on the case on Wednesday.

She was confident the ICJ would deliver a verdict which would help keep the peace between Thailand and Cambodia.

Ms Yingluck said the legal battle must be separated from efforts to maintain relations between the two countries.

The two countries have a role to play at the ICJ, although good relations must continue, she said.
Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva also applauded the team of Thai lawyers headed by Thai ambassador to The Hague, Virachai Plasai, for their performance in court.

Opposition Commune Chief Meeting With US Communities Ahead of Polls

VOA

WASHINGTON DC - Opposition commune chief Buth Saruth began a monthlong visit to the US this week, where he will seek more support for the opposition ahead of July’s election and look for ways to improve community organizing.

Buth Saruth told VOA Khmer via Skype that he plans to meet with Cambodian communities in Washington state and California and will especially be looking for ways to emulate local community activism here.

Buth Saruth is one of 18 opposition commune chiefs elected in local polls in 2012.

Kem Sokha, vice president of the Cambodia National Rescue Party, said opposition supporters are being sent to the US, France and Australia to learn better methods of political organization ahead of the July 28 parliamentary elections.

Stronger ties with Cambodia sought ahead of rice-trading zone

Petchanet Pratruangkrai
The Nation April 19, 2013 

 

Thailand will forge closer ties with Cambodia and other neighbouring countries to increase competency in rice trading and boost the bargaining power of Asean countries by setting up a rice-trading zone soon.

Also, Thailand will expand crop cooperation to cassava to raise farm incomes in the region.

Commerce Minister Boonsong Teriyapirom said yesterday that Thailand would strengthen cooperation with Cambodia in the trading of rice and other crops such as cassava to ensure stable cereal prices and promote more trading of Asean crops in the world market.

The proposal will be discussed during the fourth Joint Trade Commission (JTC) meeting in Phnom Penh on Sunday and Monday. Boonsong will lead Thai officials to the meeting with Cambodian Commerce Minister Cham Prasith to discuss closer cooperation in trade, economics and investment, as well as ways to break down trade barriers.

Boonsong will discuss with his counterpart how to ensure sustainability to strengthen cooperation in the rice-farming industry and boost farmer incomes by setting up a free-trade zone for rice. Thailand will help Cambodia develop its rice-polishing capability as this country is more advanced in polishing, milling and exporting the grain.

The cooperation will help prevent the smuggling of cheaper rice from Cambodia to pledge to the Thai government under the price-support scheme. Cambodia enjoys lower costs of production.

Thailand has also asked for closer cooperation with Myanmar on the issue of a rice-trading zone.

Thailand will help Cambodia promote its cassava under the same concept of rice trading. it will help encourage more trading of cereals, such as cassava and maize, by promoting contract farming to ensure stable incomes for farmers.

The JTC will discuss a strategy to promote bilateral trade with an emphasis on cross-border shipments, which account for 65 per cent of two-way trade value.

Cambodia is the eighth-largest trading partner of Thailand in Asean and its No 26 trading partner of the world.

Last year, two-way trade was valued at US$4.03 billion (Bt116 billion), or 0.84 per cent of Thailand's total trade. Exports to Cambodia were worth $3.78 billion against only $249.5 million for imports from that country.

Thailand will seek more trade and investment opportunities with Cambodia, which can supply plentiful labour and natural resources and can act as a bridge to Vietnam, Boonsong said.

Tussle Over Dam Water Adds to Vietnam Drought Woes

A woman paddles a boat on the Thu Bon River in Central Vietnam, May 16, 2012.


RFA
An emergency request to release more dam water to alleviate a severe drought in central Vietnam has not been met due to a tug-of-war between local authorities and the hydropower plant’s operators.

More than a month after Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai issued a directive to the Dak Mi 4 hydropower dam in Quang Nam province near Danang city to release water to address critical shortages in downstream areas, the issue remains unresolved.

More than 1.7 million people living along the Vu Gia River in Danang and neighboring Quang Nam have been reeling from water shortages since the beginning of the year that are threatening 10,000 hectares (25,000 acres) of summer crops.

The authorities have asked the dam operator, Dak Mi 4 Hydropower Joint Stock Co., to release water in line with a directive made three years ago but the company argues that it is not obliged to do so and that it needs the water for generating electricity.

The endless debate has left officials warning that the issue has to be resolved at the next sitting of the national Assembly, the country’s parliament, in May.

The Dak Mi 4 dam issue underscores a larger conflict of balancing water needs between agriculture and electricity generation, said Pham Hong Giang, a senior official in charge of dams and water resources.

“There is a problem with managing water used for electricity generation and water needed for other purposes,” Giang, the president of the Vietnam National Committee on Large Dams and Water Resources Development, told RFA’s Vietnamese Service.

“We have not done well in this respect," he said.

Seeking intervention
Danang and Quang Nam officials plan to seek the intervention of the Ministry of Industry and Trade to pressure the dam operator to discharge water into the Vu Gia to alleviate water shortages that will harm this year’s crops.

The Irrigation Department this month instructed the the Dak Mi 4 and the nearby A Vuong hydropower plant to discharge 39 and 50 cubic meters of water per second, respectively, from May 15 to 30, but it remains unclear whether the volume will be enough to ease the drought.

A senior agriculture official has charged that Dak Mi 4 Hydropower Joint Stock Co. was holding on to water in the reservoir at the expense of local agriculture.

“The water level in Dak Mi 4 reservoir is very high, but they don’t release it,” Deputy Director of Danang’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Huynh Van Thang Thang said at one of several meetings in March aimed at ending the row, state media reported.

“This is to ensure the company’s benefit. But the Dak Mi 4 has to return the water to us,” he said.
“Danang could face the worst drought in 40 years,” Thang warned.

He said the hydropower plant, which began operation last year, had not properly carried out government orders and allowed the dam to redirect too much water from the Vu Gia into another river, the Thu Bon.
If the dam continues to direct water from the Vu Gia to the Thu Bon, water levels fall too low for downstream farm irrigation pumps to operate, he said.

Reservoir level low
The ongoing drought has also impacted water levels at the dam, which had already released some water in response to appeals from local officials, Deputy Director of the Dak Mi 4 Hydropower Joint Stock Co. Dao Minh Tien told the March meeting.

Levels have dropped to just 10 meters (32 feet) above the “dead level” of 250 meters (820 feet) at which it can no longer produce electricity, he said, according to state media.

The dam had released water 14 times in March at the request of Danang and Quang Nam authorities, preventing the 190-megawatt plant from operating at full capacity, he said.

Water research official Vu The Hai, the director of Vietnam's Institute for Water and Environment, said other dams in the region were facing similar problems this month.

"Central Vietnam is facing a severe drought and water going into hydroelectric dam reservoirs is very limited compared to the capacity they were designed for," he told RFA's Vietnamese Service.

Long-running contention
The Dak Mi 4 dam has been a source of contention between local authorities and hydropower officials even before  its construction began in 2008, with Danang officials making numerous requests to the Ministry of Industry and Trade to delay the project.

In 2010, the government ordered investors to add a sluice gate to the dam design so that it could discharge up to 25 cubic meters per second of water to avoid water shortages in downstream areas.

But power plant officials have said the directive only pertains to the design of the dam, and that there is no legal obligation for them to discharge water in the dry season, according to Thanh Nien News.

Hydropower dams are crucial for Vietnam’s energy security, contributing about 30 percent of domestic electricity production, dams and water resources official Giang said.

“However, the rapid development of hydroelectricity power plants in the past decades has revealed some conflicts," he said.

Mortar Shell Explosion Kills 2 Boys in Vietnam

HANOI, Vietnam April 17, 2013 (AP)

 

A mortar shell that exploded as several schoolchildren played with it killed two of the boys and injured six others in central Vietnam.

Village official Nguyen Sy Thong said Wednesday that the boys picked up the shell on their way to school in the central highland province of Dak Nong.

Two 11-year-old boys died in a hospital after the explosion Tuesday and their six male classmates were hospitalized with serious injuries.

Thong said the area was an American base during the Vietnam War and became a military firing range after the war ended in 1975.

Police are investigating whether the shell was left over from the war or by the military when they were using the area to practice shooting.

Thai airports on alert after US bombings

The Nation

Publication Date : 17-04-2013

Security at Thailand's major airports will be stepped up following the Boston Marathon bombings, according to a senior executive of Airports of Thailand (AOT).

Pongsak Semsant, caretaker president of AOT, said yesterday the latest violent incident in the United States prompted heightened security measures at the airports run by the company, including Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi and the Don Mueang, Chiang Mai and Phuket facilities.

He said executives of those airports had been instructed to increase their security measures around the clock.

Transport Minister Chadchart Sittipunt said yesterday he has ordered agencies to step up security at airports, bus terminals and railway stations.

No Thai nationals were affected by the Boston bombings, Foreign Ministry spokesman Manasvi Srisodapol said yesterday.

The Thai Consulate General in New York reported that no Thai nationals were killed or injured in the explosions in Boston, he said. The mission would also check with US authorities and the Thai expatriate community to confirm this, said Manasvi, who is director-general of the ministry's Department of Information.

The spokesman said the ministry offered condolences to those affected and expressed hope that US authorities would be able to arrest those responsible soon.

A Thai graduate student in Boston, Polly Saipinthong, said such a violent attack was rare in Boston, which she described as a "very beautiful city". She said she was among the people who were on hand to offer moral support to their favourite marathon runners, but left shortly after the elite competitors passed the finish line, before the blasts occurred.

In a related development, the Thai stock market was expected to see a decline when it reopens today following the long Songkran holiday. Many regional stock exchanges suffered a decline in prices yesterday following the Boston bombings.

An analyst said the violent incident in the US would be among negative factors driving down the Stock Exchange of Thailand Index. Other factors included China's lower-than-expected economic growth.

Fire safety a priority in Cambodian garment units - ILO

April 13, 2013 (Cambodia)

Urgent attention must be given to fire safety in the Cambodian garment and footwear industry according to a new report released by the International Labour Organization’s Better Factories Cambodia program (BFC).
BFC’s 29th Synthesis Report on Working Conditions in Cambodia’s Garment Sector released, finds a worrying increase in fire safety violations. The number of factories abiding by the legal requirement to keep access paths free of obstructions unprecedentedly decreased by 30% to 57% compliance during the reporting period.

“Our report findings demonstrate that improvements are not being made in many key areas of working conditions and this is likely to be in large part due to the rapid growth of the industry. However, growth should not result in an increase in non-compliance among factories in an area as intrinsic to worker safety as having clear access pathways”: said Jill Tucker, Chief Technical Advisor of ILO-Better Factories Cambodia.
She continued: “Recent garment sector fire tragedies in neighboring countries demonstrate the great need for Cambodia to address this issue in the interest of worker safety.”

The report also finds no significant change in areas known to contribute to fainting incidents. Non-compliance with the legal of limit of no more than two hours of overtime per day remains persistently high at 88%.

78% of factories monitored were found to have unacceptable heat levels representing an increase of 6% in the number of factories out of compliance with this requirement since the last report. In addition, workplace cleanliness has declined by 17% and 55 % of the factories have not provided sanitary means for drinking water.

The 29th Synthesis Report reflects compliance data from monitoring reports completed between May 1, 2012 and October 31, 2012. During this six-month period, Better Factories Cambodia produced monitoring reports for 130 garment factories and six footwear factories.

Thailand Says Prepared To Fight Temple Dispute With Cambodia

ANGKOK, April 13 (Bernama) - Thailand says it is prepared to fight Cambodia on the disputed land near the Preah Vihear temple during final oral statements due to be presented by legal experts of both countries at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) next week, Thai News Agency (TNA) reported.

A team from Thailand had left earlier for the final oral statements to be given at the Court between April 15 to 19, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul told journalists at the Suvarnabhumi International Airport before departing for The Hague, Netherlands on Saturday.

He was accompanied by Defence Minister Air Chief Marshal Sukumpol Suwanatat and several high-ranking officers.

Surapong said ruling on the 4.6-square km scrubland near the ancient Preah Vihear temple is expected to be issued by ICJ in the next six months.

In 1962, the ICJ ruled that the Preah Vihear temple belonged to Cambodia but the surrounding land remains in dispute between both countries today.

Cambodia has requested the ICJ to reinterpret its 1962 decision on the disputed land near the temple to determine if the land belongs to Cambodia or Thailand.

Air chief marshal Sukumpol said no Thai troops are reinforced around the disputed area and believes situation around the temple would "remain normal" when the oral statement procedure takes place at ICJ next week.

-- BERNAMA

Cambodia fest in NYC weaves art over rough history

By CARA ANNA | Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — One day, the world will speak of Cambodia without defining it by the raw, recent history of the "killing fields" and the Khmer Rouge.

Consider that shift under way this month in New York, where dozens of the city's top institutions are hosting an unprecedented festival of arts, new and traditional, from the Southeast Asian nation.

As the bare feet of dancers step delicately across the stage at The Joyce Theater, Season of Cambodia CEO Phloeun Prim sits down in the lobby for a discussion.

"Why would a Cambodian festival resonate any more than any other country?" he asks. "Because we can pose as a model of a post-conflict nation. It's to see, when you invest in a generation, what can happen, what can be created. The hope you can create."

Imagine, he says, what Afghanistan could become in 20 years' time.

It's not an idle comparison. Thousands in Cambodia died during the four years in the 1970s when radical Communists took over the country and proclaimed a "Year Zero," largely smashing the country's art and cultural ties.

The 125 artists from Cambodia in the festival comprise refugees, returnees, death camp survivors and a large number who are so young they knew none of it at all.

This new generation is the ultimate audience for Cambodia Living Arts, the group behind the festival that has been busy collecting the loose threads of the country's heritage. Prim is its executive director.

The group's work began when founder Arn Chorn-Pond, who as a child survived in a death camp by playing music to entertain the Khmer Rouge, returned to the area years later to seek his mentor and found him in the street, an outdoor barber, cutting hair.

The two performed together this week at Lincoln Center.

Half of the country now is under 25 years old, Prim says. These connections to the past are needed.
"Yesterday I was visiting the visual artists and I told them, 'You are the pillars we are putting in the ground,'" he says. "We need to make sure we are putting you in deep enough to understand your culture but also to see the rest of the world."

Part of the festival, then, is a group of Cambodian artists' residencies in New York.

One of those visual artists in residency is Sareth Svay, who spent 13 years in a refugee camp in Thailand. He was born three years before the Khmer Rouge took over and remembers little of the time before his family made their way to the camp — aside from the dead bodies on the road along the way.

When he returned to Cambodia after time in France, he found a way to explore his home and himself. He walked from the city of Siem Reap — tourists know it as the staging point for the temples of Angkor Wat — to Phnom Penh, while pulling an 80-kilogram (176-pound) ball behind him.

It represented his and his country's history, a kind of ball and chain.
It was also a puzzle to villagers along the way.

"Some people said, 'What is this? It's not beautiful. Why isn't it beautiful?'" Svay says from his temporary studio on Governor's Island in New York Harbor. "I said, 'Yeah, sure. Sometimes you see things that aren't beautiful.'"

Inside his temporary studio, he says he feels as though he's at home in Cambodia among his mango trees, but then he looks out the window at the Manhattan skyline and bubbles over.

Sometimes, on the ferry to the island, with the passing boats and the helicopters overhead, he thinks, "Where is the cameraman?" He feels he has stepped into a film. He speaks, several times, of liberty.

"I'm so happy to be here," Svay says. Prim first talked about holding a large arts festival overseas a few years ago, "but I never thought it would be true. My heart is pounding. I've also been in Europe, but it's different. There, it's personal. Here, it's energy, collaboration."

The festival sprawls across the city this month and the next. It features shadow puppets in the atrium of the World Financial Center, and contemporary dance at the Guggenheim. There will be talks and events on memory, genocide, diaspora and living archives.

And behind the scenes are five Cambodians whose task is to soak it all in and take it home. They experience the productions backstage, learning how to fundraise, meet funders, do research.

"For me, this festival is a platform really to serve the long-term capacity in Cambodia," Prim says.
The one person he wishes could be in New York to see it all is the king. King Norodom Sihanouk, who died in October, led the country between independence and the time before the Khmer Rouge took over. An arts lover, he helped craft a capital, Phnom Penh, in such a way that officials from Singapore came to take notes on city planning, Prim says.

The current king's sister is part of the festival, with the Royal Ballet of Cambodia. The king, Norodom Sihamoni, a ballet dancer himself, was invited. But government duties won out.

"I went to see him many times," Prim says of the whirl of preparations. "I think he's really happy and proud."
One festival event is a film whose name could be a fitting theme: "A River Changes Course."
___
Online:
Season of Cambodia: http://seasonofcambodia.org/

North Korean defector reveals escape

Friday April 12, 2013

Defectors fleeing North Korea are routinely sentenced to death as the government attempts to shut its people away from the world. Here one woman tells her story.

The North Korea that the government hides from the outside world is characterised by food shortages, indoctrination, military paranoia and labour camps where thousands toil to stay alive; locked up for showing even the slightest dissent.

Attempting to escape the country is a capital offence. The regime is determined to keep its iron grip on the population.

Defectors send messages home revealing that the outside world is not determined to crush North Korea and that people do not need to live in a twilight of perpetual shortages.

Some do make it, accepting they will never see their families again.

They spend their lives living as anonymously as possible; a picture of them in the south on any type of media would condemn their families at home to instant imprisonment.

In North Korea punishment lasts three generations. A husband and wife, their children and their grandchildren will all be punished, will all be locked up in the camps.

Lee Hyeonseo escaped with her entire family so is happy to speak out.

Speaking in a drop in centre for North Koreans at a Seoul university she said: 'A family would completely be sent to a prison camp if they found out their family are in South Korea; it is a little problem if they are in China but it is a different thing if they are in South Korea.

'People in the north don't know the truth about what is going on as they can't hear or see anything about the wider world.

'They don't know about human rights or the suffering. They live in a virtual prison.'

The journey to South Korea is difficult, long and dangerous. They cross to China. If they are arrested there they are sent back to certain death.

They then make their way through Laos, Cambodia or Vietnam heading for Thailand where they present themselves to a South Korean embassy and apply for asylum.

Miss Lee said: 'It is very hard and long and very difficult.'

She will not give any details of how she bribed her way out, but she did it for herself and her family and she certainly had no money.

The current crisis is about the regime holding on to power according to Miss Lee.

She said: 'He (Kim Jong Un) needs to do something to show the people that he is protecting our country. The people are told it was started by the US or other countries.

'This is good propaganda for him that is why he is doing this it is all absurd.'

ASEAN, China to meet on maritime code of conduct

by Staff Writers Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei (AFP) 
April 11, 2013


Foreign ministers from ASEAN and China will hold a special meeting to hasten progress on a code of conduct in the disputed South China Sea, Indonesia's foreign minister said Thursday.

The meeting was proposed by China and all countries within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have agreed to participate, Marty Natalegawa told reporters at a meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers in Brunei.

The agreement is potentially significant as China has insisted on handling territorial disputes bilaterally with individual countries, while ASEAN wants to speak as a group, a disconnect blamed for hindering progress on a code.

Although no date has been set, Natalegawa said the planned meeting underscored the importance of making "progress on the code of conduct and to maintain a positive atmosphere in the South China Sea".
"About where and when and how, I think that's something that needs to be worked out," he added, of the meeting's details.

Simmering tensions over competing claims to the sea, which is rich in oil and gas deposits, have reached boiling point in the past two years, with the Philippines and Vietnam accusing China of increasingly aggressive actions.

China claims nearly all of the sea, an important waterway for world trade, while Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have claims in the area.

Brunei, the tiny, oil-rich sultanate which chairs the 10-nation ASEAN bloc this year, has said it is keen to conclude a code of conduct under its watch.

China and ASEAN signed a broad declaration in 2002 pledging the parties would handle disputes peacefully and not take actions that threaten peace and stability, but efforts toward a legally binding code of conduct have floundered.

At the foreign ministers' meeting, ASEAN renewed calls for restraint "in the conduct of activities that would complicate or escalate disputes", a statement by Brunei's government said.

But Natalegawa said ASEAN's own self-restraint is tested by "unilateral action to try to change (the) situation" in the body of water, referring to China, and adding, "Enough is enough".

The meeting in Brunei was convened to prepare for an April 24-25 summit of ASEAN countries in which the sea issue is expected to figure prominently.

The sea dispute led to unprecedented infighting at an ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting in Phnom Penh last July, which ended for the first time in the bloc's 45-year history without a joint communique.

As chair at the time, Cambodia -- a close China ally -- was accused of resisting efforts by the Philippines and Vietnam to take a more aggressive position against the Chinese.

Pongthep confident ahead of ICJ

Apr 12, 2013
Bangkok Post

Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Pongthep Thepkanchana is one of three government ministers who will attend the oral statements by Thailand and Cambodia at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over the Preah Vihear temple territorial dispute.

Pongthep: Urging public to follow live broadcast of temple dispute case

The hearings will take place next week from Monday to Friday. Mr Pongthep spoke to LAMPHAI INTATHEP about what the public should expect from the hearings at The Hague.

What is your role during the oral hearings?

We have a legal team headed by the Thai ambassador to The Hague, Virachai Plasai, to present our statement. Three ministers _ Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul, Defence Minister Sukumpol Suwanatat and myself _ will be on standby there to discuss issues that may come up and to provide recommendations to the legal team should they need input from the government before making any decision.
After the first day of the oral hearings on Monday, which is scheduled for Cambodia, we will review our stance one more time.

How did you prepare for the case and what is your main argument?

We are not allowed to disclose our approach and neither is Cambodia.

All 1,300 pages of evidence will be available to the public on the ICJ's website and that of the Foreign Ministry on Monday.

We are ready to provide clarity on what Cambodia presents during the oral hearings and we are also prepared to respond to what we think Cambodia will say.

We will fight back on every possible aspect _ whether Cambodia asks the ICJ to consider an interpretation of the court's 1962 ruling or not, and whether the court is empowered to rule on the question of ownership of the disputed land.

Normally, any demarcation of a land boundary at the temple should be done by the Thailand-Cambodian Joint Boundary Commission.

Do you have any concerns about the hearings?

No. Our delegation has prepared everything well and it comprises of experienced lawyers who are known worldwide.

What is the next step?

I don't think there would be any further steps following the hearings, only to wait for the court's ruling which is expected in October.

Have you prepared for a worst-case scenario in which Thailand loses the case? What message will you send to the public in that event?

Whatever the outcome is, I would like the public to closely watch the oral hearings which will be broadcast live from The Hague via Channel 11 and Radio Thailand. People will be able to understand the whole story and consider the issues by themselves. If the public follows the case they'll know whether our delegation did its best and whether the ruling is reasonable or not.

I would encourage everyone, especially those who live along the Thai-Cambodia border, to respect the law and to avoid creating any situation that may show that Thailand does not respect the legal process. That would reflect poorly on the country.

We should help create an atmosphere that shows Thais respect the law. We have done what is right. We do not trespass on other countries' territory.