King Norodom Sihanouk refused Wednesday to put to rest rumors that he is considering abdication.
Asked if the abdication rumors were true, the King said, “There is no problem, no problem, no problem. I have returned to serve the nation with you, all my beloved children.”
Looking refreshed as he spoke to reporters at Pochentong Airport after arriving from Beijing, the King chuckled and said, “I have not decided anything. It is not a matter of passion. We have the National Assembly, the Senate, the government, all my children both military and civilian, me and my beloved people—it is not a matter of passion.”
King Sihanouk insisted he was not being coy. “If there is something [going to happen], I will tell [you],” he said. “I am not hiding anything. I always tell—but there’s nothing to tell at this time.”
The King and Queen Norodom Monineath left Phnom Penh for Beijing in late July for routine medical treatment. King Sihanouk, who is nearly 80, often spends months at a time seeing specialist doctors in the Chinese capital, where he keeps a residence.
Asked about his health on Wednesday, the King said, “It’s much better now. Compared to the time before [I left], it is much better. But, as our Khmer proverb says, following Buddhist concepts, illness comes with old age, so there are feelings of illness. But the doctors have helped to treat me quite a lot.”
The monarch met Tuesday with Chinese premier Zhu Rongji, who said China would continue pushing good relations with Cambodia, according to Xinhua, the state-run Chinese news service.
King Sihanouk, who has presided over more than six decades of turbulent Cambodian history, had reportedly drawn up a letter of abdication in recent weeks, allegedly because he was dissatisfied with the state of the nation.
No such letter was ever made public, but the King has threatened to abdicate several times since he was restored to the throne in 1993. For example, when the main political parties were deadlocked—and violent demonstrations raged—after the 1998 national elections, King Sihanouk pleaded for negotiations and hinted he might abdicate.
The abdication rumors followed an Aug 11 royal message in which King Sihanouk said that in the years 1990 to 2000, Cambodia had become a “beggar nation,” dependent on foreign aid. While government spokesman Khieu Kanharith called the missive’s claims “unfair,” the King insisted his comments were not criticizing the government.
Another letter from the King in Beijing, dated Sept 14, disassociated the monarch from Funcinpec, which is headed by the King’s son, Prince Norodom Ranariddh.
King Sihanouk noted in the statement, which came on the eve of a Funcinpec conference, that although he originally created Funcinpec, his current position as a King who “reigns but does not rule” puts him “above political parties.”
