Earlier this week, the U.S. ambassador to Cambodia had a meeting with Cambodia’s minister of defense, not long after Washington imposed sanctions against a Chinese firm developing a $3.8 billion resort complex on the country’s coast.
The meeting between Ambassador W. Patrick Murphy and General Tea Banh came after the U.S. Treasury Department’s announcement of sanctions on the Tianjin-based Union Development Group (UDG). The Chinese firm is constructing the Dara Sakor Resort in Koh Kong province.
In May 2008, UDG was granted a 99-year lease to a massive concession spanning 20 percent of Cambodia’s coastline.
