After several schedule changes, Funcinpec President Prince Norodom Ranariddh will return to Cambodia from France on Friday, royalist spokesman Kassie Neou said Monday.
Prince Ranariddh is also mulling over whether to visit King Norodom Sihanouk in Beijing, Kassie Neou said. But, he said,
a trip to China was “just tentative.”
Prince Ranariddh has been out of the country since early November, leaving Funcinpec Secretary-General Prince Norodom Sirivudh as his representative in talks with the CPP and the Sam Rainsy Party on forming a new government and National Assembly.
His departure was part of the party’s strategy to avoid forming a two-party coalition government between Funcinpec and the CPP, royalist officials said.
Alliance of Democrats officials initially said Prince Ranariddh would return Jan 10 or Jan 11, and later announced he would arrive in Phnom Penh Jan 18.
Prince Ranariddh delayed his return, awaiting concrete results in the tripartite talks, officials said last week. Until now, officials said, no breakthroughs have been made.
Prince Ranariddh’s absence in recent months has prompted his father, King Sihanouk, to call him “the Invisible Man.”
Kassie Neou said Monday he had no further information on Prince Ranariddh’s return and did not know whether a potential meeting with the King would include leaders of the CPP and the Sam Rainsy Party.
CPP spokesman Khieu Kanharith on Monday stayed tight-lipped on whether Prime Minister Hun Sen was planning to meet with the King.
“I can’t comment on that. I don’t want to deny or confirm,” he said.
Earlier this month, Khieu Kanharith said Hun Sen would visit China to discuss building economic ties between the two countries, but the premier had not announced a departure
date.
Meanwhile, Sam Rainsy
Party spokesman Ung Bun-Ang said he was not aware of any
plans for opposition leader Sam Rainsy to go to Beijing.
