Cambodia
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Conflicts - Tensions
PRC funding in doubt for Cambodian canal, other promised projects
FORUM Staff Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chanthol said in May 2024 that a People’s Republic of China (PRC)-owned company would “totally” fund the Funan Techo canal. Phnom Penh touted the project linking the Mekong River to the Gulf of Thailand as an economic game changer. By August, Cambodian leader Hun Manet said at the project’s groundbreaking that the PRC…
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Free and Open Indo-Pacific/FOIP
U.S. Navy’s port call in Cambodia highlights nations’ deepening engagement
FORUM Staff Cambodian defense officials welcomed a United States Navy littoral combat ship to the Southeast Asian nation’s main deep seaport in mid-December 2024, saying the port call would “strengthen and expand the bonds of friendship.” The Independence-variant USS Savannah docked just days before Adm. Samuel Paparo, Commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, arrived in Cambodia for talks on promoting…
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Partnerships
Indo-Pacific Endeavour links Australia with Allies and Partners for military exercises, training
FORUM Staff Legal workshops on security issues hosted in Sri Lanka recently kicked off Indo-Pacific Endeavour 24 (IPE), Australia’s five-month engagement involving 14 countries across Southeast Asia and the northeast Indian Ocean. Australian ships, aircraft and personnel deployed to individual countries for military exercises, training, workshops, and cultural and athletic activities. IPE, which runs from August to December 2024, covers…
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Conflicts - Tensions
Japan, Cambodia to train Ukraine on removing land mines
The Associated Press Cambodia and Japan will share knowledge and technology on land mine removal with Ukraine and other countries. Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa made the announcement during a July 2024 visit to the Cambodian Mine Action Center, which was formed in the 1990s at the end of the nation’s decades of civil war. It seeks to deal with…
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Illicit Activity
Vietnam improves in human trafficking fight
Radio Free Asia For the second year in a row, Vietnam’s ranking improved in the United States’ annual Trafficking in Persons report, and the country is no longer considered among Asia’s worst for human trafficking, a list that includes the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Cambodia, Myanmar and North Korea. The June 2024 report from the U.S. State Department focuses…
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Conflicts - Tensions
Proposed Chinese-funded canal in Cambodia raises regional concerns
FORUM Staff A proposed Chinese-financed, 180-kilometer canal connecting Phnom Penh with the Gulf of Thailand poses economic, environmental and humanitarian concerns, and has led to speculation that the $1.7 billion Funan Techo Canal could give Chinese military vessels access to interior Cambodia and the Cambodia-Vietnam border. Cambodians facing potential displacement wonder about compensation. Vietnamese ponder the economic effect of a…
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Climate
Scientists Identify 380 More Species in Mekong Region
Radio Free Asia An aggressive color-changing lizard, a venomous snake named after a goddess in Chinese mythology and a camouflaging green frog found only in the forested limestone mountains of northeastern Vietnam were among the hundreds of plant and animal species discovered in the Mekong River region in the past two years, researchers announced in May 2023. Hundreds of scientists…
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Global Commons
Australia cultivating food security projects across Indo-Pacific
Tom Abke Australia is tackling hunger and food insecurity from Cambodia to Papua New Guinea with pioneering agricultural projects and innovative fisheries management. At the heart of Canberra’s efforts is the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), a government agency established in 1982 that has partnered with more than 200 domestic and foreign institutions to support projects in East…
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Climate
PRC’s hydroelectric dams threaten Mekong River
FORUM Staff The Mekong River stretches nearly 5,000 kilometers from the Tibetan plateau, winding through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and, ultimately, Vietnam’s Mekong Delta. The river, the longest in Southeast Asia, carries nutrient-rich sediment essential to the livelihoods of those who rely on the waterway for agriculture and fisheries. But the river is drying up. In recent years, its water…
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Free and Open Indo-Pacific/FOIP
ASEAN schedules first multilateral maritime exercise for September
Gusty Da Costa The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) seeks to build peaceful cooperation and solidarity and to strengthen interoperability among armed forces of its member states during a multilateral maritime exercise, its first such drill, planned for September 18-25, 2023. Initiated by Indonesia, the exercise promotes the Indo-Pacific as a region of peace and cooperation rather than one…
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