U.S. Department of State Roundtable on Cambodia March 26, 2025: Identifying the Critical Issues in Cambodia That Urgently Need Attention and Action
Four months ago, the U.S. Department of State asked the Khmer community to provide them with the five issues areas that were most important in Cambodia today. This brief report provides the Khmer community’s responses to that request.
We conducted a survey of the Khmer community to identify their most urgent concerns and issues. We received 620+ responses from individual Khmer community members and groups to that request. 52% of those responses came from inside Cambodia.
The result of that survey provides the five issue areas that the individual members of the Khmer community will be presenting to the U.S. Department of State at this roundtable.
However, we must begin the discussion by recognizing that another major issue has developed in the past two weeks. That is the U.S. government’s closure of Radio Free Asia (RFA) and Voice of America (VOA) has deprived the Khmer community of the eyes, ears and voices that have sustained them for decades. Something must be done to address this action in order to alleviate the problem.
Key issues identified by the Khmer international community:
The increasing erosion and repression of human rights, rule of law, and democracy in Cambodia. As part of the Hun Manet and Hun Sen regimes' goals of eliminating dissent and criticism, controlling the political process and the elections, and ensuring a permanent hereditary autocracy, these abuses have been ongoing and increasing. The elimination of political oppression and the mass criminal trials that accompany it, including the closing of independent media outlets.
The extensive territorial and sovereignty incursions taking place by the governments of China and Vietnam. They include, of course, the building of the massive naval base by China in Ream and Siem Reap. But there are many other similar incursions taking place throughout the country that must be addressed.
The illegal land evictions taking place on a massive scale throughout Cambodia. Amnesty International made a very successful initiative dealing with the land evictions taking place on a massive scale, covering 10,000 families (40,000 people) in the Angkor Wat region in Siem Reap. But the problem with land evictions by the government has been extensive and ongoing, affecting local livelihoods and resulting in significant economic opportunity loss, demanding much more complete attention and response.
The emerging issue of cross-border violations, violence and intimidation. In addition to the three priority areas, the growing issue of cross-border violations, cross-border violence and intimidations that you mentioned in your communication deserves immediate attention and action. This issue, often referred to as "transnational repression," has generated a growing level of interest and concern within the Khmer community, particularly regarding the kidnapping and forced repatriation of refugees and dissidents to Cambodia.
The economic issue. There is an overwhelming sentiment that much more needs to be done on the economic side. Hun Manet, Hun Sen, and their family respond most clearly to the money-related issues. As demonstrated by the “18 brands initiative” and recent effort to link U.S. foreign aid to progress in human rights and the release of political prisoners, strategic economic leverage can produce meaningful and effective progress.
As to your most critical question of what the U.S. government can do to address these priority concerns, the overwhelming view of the Khmer international community is that the U.S. government can and must do considerably more, particularly on the economic side. A successful precedent was established during the U.S. visit to Cambodia on October 23, 2024, helped secure the release of political prisoners by linking positive steps to grants and aid. This demonstrated that strategic use of economic leverage can incentivize meaningful reforms. Similar linkages should be considered for other forms of economic support, such as trade agreements and tariff controls, to push for concrete improvements in human rights, rule of law and democratic governance by the Hun Manet and Hun Sen government.
Strengthening economic leverage is essential to countering China’s growing influence in Cambodia. The survey responses from the Khmer international community unanimously indicated that the U.S. has a direct and strategic interest in pressing the Hun Manet and Hun Sen regime for meaningful and effective changes. Containing the expansionist initiatives by China especially, and by Vietnam is in the direct national interest of the United States. This is especially true of the military installations that China is installing in Ream, Siem Reap and other locations, which are directly linked to the economic control that China has gained and is actively exercising through its ownership of textile factories across Cambodia. Strategic action is needed to address and deal with China’s and Vietnam’s growing influence and to protect Cambodia’s sovereignty.
Using U.S. Economic Leverage as a Pressure Point
The Khmer international community would like to provide the U.S. State Department with some concrete examples of the type of pressure points that can be used to influence the behavior of the Hun Manet and Hun Sen government. These pressure points aim to produce measurable improvements and reforms in human rights, the rule of law, and political freedoms.
The community has identified economic leverage as having the greatest potential for meaningful impact and requiring significant attention from the U.S. government.
Economic leverage has already proven to be a powerful tool in influencing the Cambodian government’s behavior.
One example of a highly effective use of pressure in the past year was the "18 brands initiative," where major companies doing business with Cambodia joined together to push for concrete changes in how the government dealt with labor and human rights issues. That effort was made privately, but the U.S. government is in an even stronger position to apply similar pressure. The US is one of the largest importers of Cambodian textile goods and engages in major trade with the Cambodian government—enormous economic benefits that directly benefits the Hun Manet and Hun Sen family.
Just as President Trump is using tariffs to advance policy objectives, the U.S. State Department can strategically leverage Cambodia’s economic dependence on U.S. trade, particularly in the textile sector, to push for concrete reforms and greater accountability from the Hun Manet and Hun Sen government.
A second example of a strategic opportunity for the U.S. to apply economic pressure is Cambodia’s textile industry, which is heavily influence by the Chinese government and investors. China’s deep involvement in Cambodian textile manufacturing created a key pressure point and opportunity for the U.S. to counter China’s economic and military incursions in Cambodia. By strategically leveraging Cambodia’s reliance on the textile sector for trade and investment, the U.S. can push back against China’s growing control and encourage great accountability from the Cambodian government on both economic and military issues.
We have provided you with examples of the follow-up that need to be done to try to remedy and deal with the problem areas that the Khmer community has identified. We understand that much more needs to be done in this regard. We are not able to provide a comprehensive list at this meeting. But, the Khmer community, over the next several months, would like to work with the U.S. State Department over the next several months to identify more concrete, remedial actions that can be taken.