Washington, D.C – The Cambodian government has criticized the US for discussing human rights and democracy with military officials, officials have said.
The comments came after US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Joseph Felter urged Cambodia to drop treason charges against the former opposition leader, Kem Sokha, during a meeting with Cambodian military officials last week.
“We cannot accept it that a US military representative came here to talk with the Cambodian military on political issues,” government spokesman Phay Siphan told VOA Khmer. “This is confusion. It reminds Cambodia of its past when a revolution in the 1970s was supported by the US military. We don’t want to fall into a similar situation like that. The Royal Cambodian Armed Forces are not a political institution, but they are under the control of the prime minister.”
In full: https://www.voacambodia.com/a/cambodia-displeased-with-us-military-official-politics/4755486.html
