BILATERAL COOPERATION PRAISED IN DEFENSE DAS RAY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PHNOM PENH 000090 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL MARR MOPS CB SUBJECT: BILATERAL COOPERATION PRAISED IN DEFENSE DAS RAY VISIT TO CAMBODIA ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Reviewing excellent bilateral cooperation in POW/MIAaffairs and taking stock of the current US-Cambodia relationship were the focus of Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for POW/MIA Affairs Charles Ray's visit SIPDIS to Cambodia January 15-18. DASD Ray, who served as US Ambassador to Cambodia from 2002 to 2005, met with PM Hun Sen, King Sihamoni, a range of individuals active in defense and POW/MIA issues, as well as former colleagues from government, the business community, and diplomatic missions. End Summary. Cambodia: A Model of Cooperation -------------- ¶2. (U) During his January 17 meeting with Prime Minister Hun Sen, DASD Ray praised Cambodia's assistance in POW/MIA recovery efforts, noting that he often touts Cambodia's "first-rate" cooperation as a model for other countries. The Joint POW/MIA Accounting Committee (JPAC) has been able to access and investigate all suspected POW/MIA sites. The Cambodians have shared important information on sites in what were in Cambodia-controlled areas during the war. Some other areas were under effective Vietnamese control, and the Vietnamese have not been equally forthcoming. JPAC expects to finish its work on suspected sites by 2008; after that, further work would only occur if additional information about new sites surfaces. The PM responded that he was proud of Cambodia's 20-year history of cooperation on POW/MIA affairs and switched to English to emphasize that Cambodia's cooperation would continue to be "everything, every time, and everywhere." He described his efforts to encourage his counterparts from Laos and Vietnam to be more forthcoming in their POW/MIA cooperation, and promised to raise the issue again with the Vietnamese PM during his visit to Cambodia in late February. Hun Sen also noted wryly that while some countries expect to be paid back for their cooperation with the US (e.g. in US support for Vietnam's WTO membership), Cambodia works with the US on recovery efforts regardless of what it gets in return. Hun Sen also offered to use television and radio broadcasts to air USG-written announcements seeking information about missing servicemembers, and DASD Ray committed that his staff and the embassy would cooperate on this effort. ¶3. (SBU) Counterterrorism, HIV/AIDS, and Protect Act cases also showcase excellent US-Cambodian cooperation, DASD Ray and PM Hun Sen agreed. Describing US-Cambodian relations as moving forward, the PM noted that counterterrorism cooperation was particularly important and that Cambodia would welcome more training and other assistance to help thwart terrorism both inside and outside Cambodia. Noting recent explosions in Thailand and the Philippines, he opined that the region as a whole, and Cambodia specifically, was in need of upgraded efforts to fight terrorist violence. Cambodia would not hesitate, as this was a common security issue. ¶4. (SBU) The Ambassador offered his thanks that the PM's wife, Bun Rany, had been able to attend a December 1, 2006 reception for children living with or affected by HIV/AIDS. The PM noted important U.S. assistance on HIV/AIDS, said former President Clinton's visit (and his work on HIV/AIDS) gave Cambodia a great boost, but expressed concern that Cambodia would have many more AIDS orphans in the future unless further efforts are made to battle the disease. ¶5. (U) DASD Ray noted that he and the PM had initiated collaboration on Protect Act cases involving American pedophiles in Cambodia in June 2003, and asked for the PM's assistance in expelling from Cambodia an Amcit currently in jail so that he would stand trial in the US for sexual crimes committed in Cambodia. The PM promised to provide written instructions to the Ministries of Justice and Interior to follow the same procedures as when previous American pedophiles were expelled. ¶6. (U) DASD Ray expressed his regret that the planned pull-aside between Hun Sen and President Bush in the margins of the APEC meeting in Hanoi had not transpired. Hun Sen noted that Vietnam had faced difficulties with regard to the U.S. reluctance to meet in an ASEAN format including Burma, and he said he "had not wanted to give the Vietnamese more of a job". The PM said he regretted not having an opportunity to meet the President and that he hoped to continue to move the U.S.-Cambodian relationship in a good way. Other Meetings -------------- ¶7. (U) During his visit to Cambodia, DASD Ray also met with PHNOM PENH 00000090 002 OF 002 the Minister of Defense and separately with the POW/MIA Committee, visited a JPAC site, and spoke to journalists and journalism students about the evolving U.S./Cambodian relationship. He met with King Sihamoni who talked about the improving economic situation as well as challenges, particularly strengthening the law of the land and fighting corruption. Echoing DASD Ray's remarks to Radio Free Asia, the King agreed that more freedom of the press and freedom of expression was needed in Cambodia. He asked that his profound gratitude for USG assistance in education and fighting TIP, AIDS, and bird flu be conveyed to President Bush. Ray noted that he saw a more determined intent from the RGC to respond to Cambodia's deep problems and said that he saw a new sense of trust among the Cambodian people. The King expressed his government's desire to cooperate with the USG in fighting terrorism and thanked the US for helping to preserve Cambodian culture and to bring democracy to Cambodia. ¶8. (U) The former Ambassador also was guest of honor at an Embassy reception marking the first anniversary of the opening of the NEC. Both Ambassador Mussomeli and former Ambassador Ray focused their reception remarks on the improvement in--and challenges to--U.S.-Cambodian relations in the year since Hun Sen released jailed human rights activists just in time for them to participate, along with A/S Chris Hill, in the NEC opening. MUSSOMELI