PHNOM PENH (AFP) – Cambodia has withdrawn from a decades-old regional economic development deal with Vietnam and Laos, Prime Minister Hun Manet said, in a surprise concession to critics concerned about the kingdom losing territory to its neighbours.
The 25-year-old Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle Area (CLV-DTA) agreement has been the focus of online criticism and overseas protests in recent months.
In a statement posted to his Facebook page late Friday night, Hun Manet said Cambodia had decided to pull out of the deal, and that both Vietnam and Laos had been notified of the decision.
He accused “extremists” of using the deal as “a political weapon” to attack his administration by alleging it had ceded parts of four northeastern provinces to foreign countries.
“Taking into account people’s concerns about territory… we have decided that Cambodia ends the participation in the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle Area (CLV-DTA) from September 20, 2024 onwards,” Hun Manet said.
The deal inked in 1999 was aimed at boosting economic development and trade between Cambodia’s northeastern provinces and neighbouring ones in Laos and Vietnam.
Some opposition activists and Cambodian people living overseas had recently expressed concerns that the deal could unfairly benefit foreign interests.
Last month, Cambodians in countries including South Korea, Japan, France, Canada, Australia and the United States held protests against the deal and demanded the government withdraw.
Since July, Cambodian authorities have arrested nearly 100 people – including several children – who tried to join planned protests against the agreement in Phnom Penh, according to rights groups.
Earlier this month, Hun Manet described them as trying to topple his government.
Nine of those arrested face prosecution, while the others have been released.
Opposition activists have long accused former leader Hun Sen – Hun Manet’s father – of ceding territory to Vietnam in particular. Fears of Vietnamese encroachment have long been a political lightning rod in Cambodia, fuelled by strong anti-Vietnamese sentiment.
In a Facebook post late Friday night, Hun Sen said the decision to withdraw from the deal was “to put out the fire completely”.
