Since becoming a member of Asean in 1999, Cambodia has chaired two previous Asean summits – in 2002 and in 2012. The Kingdom is currently hosting its third summit from November 10-13.Independent political observers The Post spoke with said they believe that Cambodia has played an excellent role in mediating regional and global political crises as chair of Asean.
Although Cambodia is a small country, it has been able to negotiate with more powerful nations over contentious issues related to the South China Sea, Korean Peninsula, Myanmar crisis and Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Despite some turbulence this past year, Cambodia has used the Asean forum to realise economic gains for the region by moving free trade deals forward such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (Rcep).Puy Kea, a correspondent for the Kyodo News Agency, said Cambodia’s role as Asean chair raised the Kingdom’s profile on the international stage as it is acting as a representative for the entire Aseanregion through other forums.
He said Cambodia has played an important role as a mediator in the internal conflicts of member states, such as the crisis in Myanmar, and now has the opportunity to take its seat next to the US as the co-chair of the Asean-US summit. Even US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, he said, has praised Cambodia and commended it on its leadership of Asean this year.
Kea added that through its chairmanship of Asean, Cambodia was invited to chair the Asean emergency foreign ministers’ meeting on the Myanmar crisis in the Indonesian capital Jakarta at the end of October. Cambodia has also been invited to attend the upcoming G-20 Plenary Meeting in Bali, Indonesia, where it will be able to make its own statements.
“Cambodia as the chair of Asean for the first time in 2002 was successful, but the problem in 2012 was that two countries insisted on using confrontational language about China in the joint statement that Cambodia objected to, which affected the Kingdom’s reputation and caused issues with certain countries, but aside from that it went well,” he said.Kea said the South China Sea dispute seems to have diminished somewhat this year, but the Korean Peninsula remains a contentious issue as North Korea continues to test missiles and make belligerent statements.
However, as Kea sees it, Cambodia and the world are facing three major problems: The Myanmar crisis, the potential China-Taiwan conflict and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
At the press conference on the outcomes of the 55th Asean Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and related meetings that Cambodia hosted earlier this year, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Prak Sokhonn acknowledged that the three-day meeting from August 3-5 could not immediately resolve major regional and global issues as some may have desired.Source:The Nations
