The recent Washington summit marks a renewed U.S. commitment to ASEAN after four years of neglect under former President Trump. But experts caution that keeping up the momentum — and effectively engaging ASEAN in U.S. efforts to counter China’s regional influence — remains an uphill challenge.
It was a stark shift after an election that many agree may have been the most free and fair in Cambodia’s modern history. Robertson noted there was far less violence and intimidation from the ruling party than usual, an assessment shared by commune chiefs who spoke with VOA Khmer.
The stingray was accidentally caught by fishermen in an 80-meter (260 ft) deep pool in the Mekong in Cambodia's northeastern Stung Treng province and the visiting scientists helped return the animal alive.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, leaders of other Southeast Asian nations to meet this week for US-ASEAN Summit at White House
"Going abroad to seek a medical checkup and visit children, there should be no obstacle," Hun Sen told supporters on the sidelines of a summit in the United States.
While the U.S. continues to regularly criticize Cambodia’s backsliding on human rights and democracy, analysts said it’s China’s influence that is driving U.S. strategy in the region, and causing the Biden administration to take such a frank approach to Phnom Penh.
The meeting is part of an attempt to revive a consensus reached by ASEAN leaders last year on how to help ease the country's violent political crisis that followed an army takeover. Myanmar agreed to the consensus but has made scant effort to implement it.
Issues include inflation, post-pandemic recovery and the plight of the Mekong
Hun Sen, as the current chair of ASEAN, will officially co-chair the summit with Biden. The gathering is part of a wider U.S. effort to counter China’s influence in the Indo-Pacific, a foreign policy priority for the president and congressional lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle.
“I am ‘Lady Justice.’ This autocratic regime is putting justice itself on trial. This autocratic regime uses the court as its weapon,” said Theary Seng, who graduated from University of Michigan Law School in the United States.
Hun Sen, chairman of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), in a video call on Monday told Min Aung Hlaing it was crucial the envoy meets all stakeholders in Myanmar, including Suu Kyi, who in recent months has been convicted of corruption and incitement.
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