Cambodia

Some 150 delegates from Asian countries and around the world met in Cambodia’s capital for the Eighth Buddhist-Christian Colloquium organised by the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue. Maha Ghosananda, a venerable Theravada master close to the victims of the Cambodian genocide, was remembered. Through the “active presence of love, justice, and enduring human solidarity”, a world can be built “where peace is more than the absence of conflict.”

Thailand has downplayed the incident, while Cambodia has not yet issued a statement. No one was killed or wounded during the 10-minute exchange. Quick action by the military of the two countries avoided escalation. The incident stems from unresolved border disputes, which also concern Laos.

Fifty years after the fall of Phnom Penh to Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, the book "Beyond the Horizon" is published in Italian. In it a French woman describes the genocide with the eyes of someone who had come to Cambodia for love. The book is her diary of hell, misery, lies and death experienced with her daughters. The story is extremely interesting and credible for a country where a UN tribunal failed to render justice and uncover the truth.

The leader of the Nation Power Party was one of the few critical voices still free, opposed to the Hun clan, which has ruled Cambodia of 40 years. The court found him guilty of "incitement". His "crime" was that of defending peasants from land grabs and of criticising government policies.

The strategic infrastructure in the south-west had a makeover thanks to Chinese support. For Prime Minister Hun Manet, the country will not allow foreign military bases on its territory, but is open to Chinese aid. Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to visit the country to promote China as the only reliable partner for the region, taking advantage of US disengagement and Trump's tariffs.

The highest US tariff announced last night is 49 per cent, which will affect imports from Cambodia. The Southeast Asian country fears serious consequences for growth and jobs. According to several observers, the real goal of the Trump administration is to indirectly hit China, which outsourced production, especially in textiles, to Southeast Asia, but with a probable boomerang effect.

Arrested in the province of Tra Vinh on charges of ‘abusing democratic freedoms’. Almost 1.3 million Khmer Krom live in a part of Vietnam that was once south-eastern Cambodia. Activists tell Radio Free Asia: ‘The Vietnamese government wants to prevent the expression of our cultural identity’.

To reach an upper-medium level of development this decade, greater investments in energy are needed. For supporters, nuclear plants would guarantee stable and "clean" energy, and improve the environment at a critical juncture for traditional renewables. Moscow and Beijing would partner in infrastructure development.

The National Assembly approved a bill that provides for up to five years in prison for anyone who questions the atrocities of the Pol Pot regime. The measure comes a few months before the 50th anniversary of the Khmer Rouge seizure of power. For observers, the law could also be used to repress political dissent.

The charity, which has had a long and close connection with the Cambodian government, has received millions of dollars from entrepreneurs linked to online scam centres in Southeast Asia, some of whom sanctioned by Western governments. In the meantime, Myanmar and Thailand continue operations against online scams and human trafficking under pressure from China.

Southeast Asia expert Bridget Welsh analyses Kuala Lumpur's first steps at the helm of the bloc: the leadership will be successful if it puts ‘the interests of those who live in the region above those of its leaders’. ‘Calling for “inclusive elections” in Myanmar contradicts the real situation on the ground’.

A member of the Missions Étrangères de Paris, the clergyman died in France at the age of 85. In 1975, he was among the last foreigners to leave the country whose ideological shift he later recounted in "Cambodia: Year Zero", a book that became a point of reference for Pol Pot's regime. Back in Cambodia in 1993, he accompanied the rebirth of the Cambodian Church, also thanks to his translations of the Bible and catechisms in the local language.