Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, this afternoon expressed his reaction to the U.S.’ arm embargo on Cambodia.
“In the past few days, the U.S. has decided to restrict the sale of arms and military equipment to Cambodia. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the U.S. for its decision to embargo the sale of arms and military equipment to Cambodia, reflecting my right decision in 1994 not to change the existing Cambodian weapon system to buy the U.S. weapons,” he wrote in a Facebook message.
At the same time, Samdech Techo Hun Sen issued an order to all units of armed forces to immediately review the weapons and military equipment that Cambodia currently has and to collect all U.S. military weapons and equipment, if any, to store or destroy accordingly.
The Cambodian Premier noted that many regimes that had used American weapon system had lost the war, such as the Khmer Republic of Lon Nol, who then used the American weapon system and imported a lot of weapons to Cambodia, making the Kingdom indebted until now; and recently, U.S. weapons users in Afghanistan also lost the war.
“I believe in the courage and fighting spirit of the combatants in defending Cambodia’s territorial integrity, rather than on weapons alone,” he stressed.
“Once again, I’d like to thank the U.S. for proving that my decision not to agree to buy U.S. weapons is right for Cambodia’s defence policy and it is a warning to the Cambodian future leaders not to use the U.S. weapons if they need independence in the field of National Defence,” Samdech Techo Prime Minister added.
U.S. government imposed an arms embargo on Cambodia on Dec. 8, 2021, citing concerns about human rights and corruption as well as China’s growing influence in the country.
The actions taken by the U.S. Department of Commerce will restrict access to dual-use items, as well as certain less-sensitive military items and defence articles and defence services by Cambodian military, military-intelligence services, and related entities and individual, according to a statement.
Source: Agency Kampuchea Press