Hun Sen Challenges Critics To Provide Proof of Border Encroachment

Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen gestures as he delivers a speech during his presiding over an inauguration ceremony for the official use of a friendship bridge between Cambodia and China at Takhmau, Kandal provincial town south of Phnom Penh, Cambodia,

Addressing critics of his diplomatic approach to the Vietnam border issue, Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday made a public call for evidence of land encroachment and proposals for its solution.

Hun Sen and the ruling Cambodian People’s Party are under renewed pressure to resolve long-standing disputed border areas with Vietnam, where opposition activists and villagers say encroachment has meant the loss of Cambodian land.

Speaking at the inauguration of a Chinese-funded bridge in Kandal province, Hun Sen called on critics to provide maps and evidence of such encroachment.

The speech comes after a failed bid by members of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party to push Hun Sen to file a complaint with the International Court of Justice, as a means of resolving the border question. It also comes in the wake of a border clash between opposition activists and Vietnamese border security in June.