Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07PHNOMPENH90
2007-01-19 01:08:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Phnom Penh
Cable title:  

BILATERAL COOPERATION PRAISED IN DEFENSE DAS RAY

Tags:  PREL MARR MOPS CB 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO2169
PP RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHPF #0090/01 0190108
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 190108Z JAN 07
FM AMEMBASSY PHNOM PENH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7861
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
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

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