PHNOM PENH: Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen has taken a defiant stance following a European Union announcement last week that it would ramp up trade pressure on Cambodia over human rights concerns.
The European Union (EU) told Cambodia on Friday it will lose its special access to the world’s largest trading bloc, and said it was considering similar trade sanctions for Myanmar, adding that it was ready to punish human rights abuses in both countries.
The EU warned that it had launched a six-month review of Cambodia’s duty-free access to the EU, meaning garments, sugar and other exports could face tariffs within 12 months.
Speaking to Cambodian students on Sunday as part of a trip to Japan to attend a regional meeting, Hun Sen said Cambodia must defend its sovereignty. Hun Sen has held power for three decades.
“No matter what measures they want to take against Cambodia, in whatever way, Cambodia must be strong in its defense of its sovereignty,” Hun Sen said during a speech to students in Tokyo shared on his Facebook page on Sunday.
“I say it again and again: don’t exchange national sovereignty with aid, don’t exchange the peace of the country with aid,” he said.
He did not specifically comment on how the removal of trade privileges could impact exports.
The EU warned Cambodia in July that it could lose its special trade status after a general election that month returned Prime Minister Hun Sen to power.
Rights groups said the election was not fair because of the lack of a credible opposition, among other reasons.
The main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) was dissolved by the country’s Supreme Court at the government’s request last year and did not take part in the election.
Many CNRP leaders have fled abroad and are in living in self-imposed exile.
Cambodia’s exports to the European Union were worth €5 billion ($5.8 billion) last year, according to EU data, up from negligible levels less than a decade ago.
Cambodia’s textile, garments and footwear industry are vital to its economy. Around 40 percent of its GDP comes from garment exports.
The garments sector employs more than 800,000 workers. The EU and US are the country’s primary markets for exports, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO).
Reuters was unable to reach three workers’ unions for reaction on Monday. A government spokesman, Phay Siphan, was also unavailable to comment.
Cambodia is marking a national holiday from Monday to Wednesday this week with many offices closed.
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Cambodia’s Hun Sen defiant despite EU trade threat
Cambodia’s Hun Sen defiant despite EU trade threat
- The EU had launched a six-month review of Cambodia’s duty-free access to it
- Cambodia’s exports to the European Union were worth €5 billion
French first lady Brigitte Macron visits an old friend in China: A giant panda called Yuan Meng
CHENGDU: French first lady Brigitte Macron caught up with an old friend — a giant panda born in France — at the tail end Friday of a visit to China with President Emmanuel Macron.
At a panda reserve in southwest China that Yuan Meng now calls home, the first lady marveled at how big he has grown. She helped chose his name — which means “accomplishment of a dream” — when he was born in a French zoo in 2017.
“When they’re born, they’re like this,” she said, holding up two fingers a short distance apart. Meanwhile, the chunky male roamed in his enclosure, feasting on bamboo and ignoring bystanders who cried out his name, hoping to elicit a reaction.
“They have a very independent character,” she said. “They do only what they want.”
For decades, China has deployed what’s often called “panda diplomacy” to smooth and promote relations with other countries, gifting the animals to friendly nations and lending pandas to zoos overseas on commercial terms.
Emmanuel Macron’s state visit this week to China, his fourth as president, included meetings with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and other officials, discussing Russia’s war in Ukraine, trade ties and other issues.
The China Wildlife Conservation Association said during the visit that it signed a letter of intent to send two of the animals to the Beauval Zoo south of Paris in 2027 under what would be a new 10-year round of panda cooperation with France.
The French zoo sent two 17-year-old pandas — Huan Huan, a female, and her partner Yuan Zi — back to China last month after 13 years on loan in France.
Yuan Meng was their cub, conceived using artificial insemination.
Despite being made in France, he officially belonged to the Chinese government. Yuan Meng bid ‘’adieu’’ to France in 2023, sent off to a new life in the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in southwest China where Brigitte Macron, considered to be his “godmother,” dropped in to see him.
Huan Huan and Yuan Zi also produced female twins in France in 2021.
Huanlili and Yuandudu are also expected to leave the Beauval Zoo for China in the future. The China Wildlife Conservation Association has previously said that it expects them to remain at the French zoo until January 2027.
At a panda reserve in southwest China that Yuan Meng now calls home, the first lady marveled at how big he has grown. She helped chose his name — which means “accomplishment of a dream” — when he was born in a French zoo in 2017.
“When they’re born, they’re like this,” she said, holding up two fingers a short distance apart. Meanwhile, the chunky male roamed in his enclosure, feasting on bamboo and ignoring bystanders who cried out his name, hoping to elicit a reaction.
“They have a very independent character,” she said. “They do only what they want.”
For decades, China has deployed what’s often called “panda diplomacy” to smooth and promote relations with other countries, gifting the animals to friendly nations and lending pandas to zoos overseas on commercial terms.
Emmanuel Macron’s state visit this week to China, his fourth as president, included meetings with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and other officials, discussing Russia’s war in Ukraine, trade ties and other issues.
The China Wildlife Conservation Association said during the visit that it signed a letter of intent to send two of the animals to the Beauval Zoo south of Paris in 2027 under what would be a new 10-year round of panda cooperation with France.
The French zoo sent two 17-year-old pandas — Huan Huan, a female, and her partner Yuan Zi — back to China last month after 13 years on loan in France.
Yuan Meng was their cub, conceived using artificial insemination.
Despite being made in France, he officially belonged to the Chinese government. Yuan Meng bid ‘’adieu’’ to France in 2023, sent off to a new life in the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in southwest China where Brigitte Macron, considered to be his “godmother,” dropped in to see him.
Huan Huan and Yuan Zi also produced female twins in France in 2021.
Huanlili and Yuandudu are also expected to leave the Beauval Zoo for China in the future. The China Wildlife Conservation Association has previously said that it expects them to remain at the French zoo until January 2027.
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