Biden to attend regional summits in Phnom Penh, Putin yet to confirm
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen pose for a picture during their meeting in Phnom Penh on Aug. 4. (Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry/AFP)
United States President Joe Biden has confirmed he will attend the ASEAN and East Asian summits to be held in Phnom Penh in mid-November, where Prime Minister Hun Sen says he is prepared to mediate talks with Russia over the invasion of Ukraine.
However, Russian President Vladimir Putin has yet to confirm whether he will attend the summits, which will also serve as a prelude to the Group of 20 (G20) meeting in Bali and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Bangkok.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman, Chum Sounry, has said that as chair of ASEAN, Hun Sen will shortly hold phone talks with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after extending an invitation to Putin to attend the upcoming summits.
“As the host country, Cambodia is ready to arrange for a Russia-Ukraine meeting in Phnom Penh if both sides wish to have it,” Chum Sounry told the pro-government Khmer Times. “But so far, there is no request from either side to arrange for their meeting.”
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will also visit Cambodia for the signing of the Instrument of Accession to the Treaty on Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia and Chum Sounry said he would participate in some of the summit events.
Hun Sen has repeatedly opposed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and last month joined 142 other nations in co-sponsoring a new United Nations resolution condemning Moscow’s annexation of four Ukrainian regions.
“Attitudes to the junta are hardening”
The official Agence Kampuchea Presse said in a recent dispatch: “Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation has not yet replied to Cambodia’s invitation to the upcoming summits.”
This will be the penultimate summit in 2022 with Hun Sen at the helm of the Association of South East Asia Nations (ASEAN) — a year that was dominated by issues ranging from the Covid pandemic to climate change and bolstering trade between members and its 11 dialogue partners.
Dialogue partners include the United States, Russia, China, Japan, Australia and India.
However, it was also a frustrating year, marred by an unsuccessful attempt to negotiate with Gen Min Aung Hlaing and his military leadership in Myanmar, which ousted the elected government in February last year.
As a result, attitudes to the junta are hardening as Jakarta prepares to take over the rotating chair.
Indonesia has formed a troika with Malaysia and Brunei and is pressing for a much stronger response, which might include direct negotiations with the opposition National Unity Government and armed resistance groups opposed to military rule.
“We are deeply saddened by the growing casualties, and the immense suffering that ordinary people in Myanmar have endured,” ASEAN said in a statement after an emergency meeting was called last week.
It cited the recent carnage, including the conflict in Karen state and an air strike in Kachin state which reportedly killed at least 50 people, as examples of the increase in violence. Gen Hlaing has not been invited to the upcoming summits.
Cambodia had also hoped to steer Timor-Leste into the group but this was delayed until next year amid concerns over Dili’s readiness to join the existing 10-nations, which also includes Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Singapore and the Philippines.
“Timor-Leste will join ASEAN next year, and they have the support of Indonesia,” said one Southeast Asian academic, who declined to be named. “Cambodia deserves a lot of credit for that.”
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