Cambodian Prime Minister Responds to Vietnamese on Facebook About the East Sea

Prime Minister Hun Sen responded to criticism from a Facebook user in Vietnam about Cambodia's stance on the East Sea issue.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen. Photo: Cambodia Herald

According to the Phnom Penh Post, the Vietnamese commented that Cambodia had lowered ASEAN's position in the East Sea dispute by supporting China's stance.

Yesterday, on his Facebook page, Mr. Hun Sen responded to this criticism, saying that it was not Cambodia's problem.

"If you or your country has a problem with China, please solve it peacefully. Don't blame me and don't drag Cambodia into your country's internal problems," he wrote.

China claims sovereignty over most of the East Sea with its self-drawn "cow tongue line", overlapping the waters of neighboring countries, and always advocates resolving disputes through bilateral negotiations.

In its ruling on July 12, the Arbitral Tribunal in the Netherlands said that China has no legal basis to claim historic rights to resources within the "nine-dash line" claim.

Despite international support, China has refused to recognize the ruling. Cambodia has also agreed with China's position. Prime Minister Hun Sen declared his rejection of the ruling just one day after it was announced.

In July, Cambodia prevented ASEAN from mentioning the ruling on the "nine-dash line" in a joint statement of the association.

Yesterday, the Cambodian parliament also confirmed that it would ask the head of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (AIPA) Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) to remove a reference to the South China Sea dispute from a joint statement that ASEAN is expected to issue at the end of a September meeting in Laos.

Ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) lawmaker Cheam Yeap said he did not know whether the AIPA secretary-general had paid attention to the Cambodian parliament's request, but he reiterated Prime Minister Hun Sen's view that countries involved in the dispute should negotiate directly with China to find a solution.

According to VNE