The U.S. has ordered an arms embargo on Cambodia, citing deepening Chinese military influence, corruption and human rights abuses by the government and armed forces in the Southeast Asian country.
The added restrictions on defense-related goods and services, issued by the State and Commerce departments, are due to be published and take effect Thursday.
A notice in the Federal Register said developments in Cambodia were “contrary to U.S. national security and foreign policy interests.”
The aim of the arms embargo is to ensure that defense-related items are not available to Cambodia’s military and military intelligence services without advance review by the U.S. government, it said.
The latest restrictions follow the Treasury Department’s ordering in November of sanctions against two senior Cambodian military officials for corruption and come amid increasing concern about Beijing’s sway.
At the time, the U.S. government issued an advisory cautioning American businesses about potential exposure to entities Cambodia and its military that “engage in human rights abuses, corruption and other destabilizing conduct.”
Cambodia branded those sanctions as “politically motivated” and said it would not discuss them with Washington.
The U.S. has similar controls on exports of items that might be diverted to “military end-users” in Myanmar, China, Russia and Venezuela.
U.S. exports to Cambodia in 2019 totaled $5.6 billion. The amount of military-related U.S. exports to Cambodia was not immediately available. The U.S. is the largest export market for Cambodia, a major garments manufacturing hub, but three-quarters of Cambodia’s imports are from China and other countries in Asia.
The U.S. halted military assistance to Cambodia following a 1997 coup in which the country’s leader, Hun Sen, grabbed full power after ousting his co-premier, Prince Norodom Ranariddh. Hun Sen remains prime minister. In August 2005, President George W. Bush waived the ban, citing Phnom Penh’s agreement to exempt Americans in Cambodia from prosecution by the Netherlands-based International Criminal Court.
Since direct military ties between the two countries were restored in 2006, the U.S. has pledged millions in military aid to Cambodia, initially to help improve its border security and peacekeeping operations.
