PHNOM PENH (FN), Feb. 5 — Prime Minister Hun Sen, while criticizing some analysts for saying that he had sent Foreign Minister Hor Namhong to China because he did not want China to get upset as a result of the recent visit of U.S. Secretary of State to Cambodia, said that he had told the U.S. visitor that he was frustrated to hear that Cambodia was taking side with China during the ASEAN summit meeting in 2012.

Addressing the audience of a graduation ceremony of the National University of Management on Feb. 5, the premier said that at the meeting with the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Jan. 26, he told his visitor that he was very much unhappy to hear that because Cambodia was taking side with China that a joint statement on COC could not be produced during the ASEAN summit meeting that Cambodia was hosting.

He also said he had told Kerry that it was time that the U.S. should be fair to Cambodia in regard of the South China Issues. This issue would have to be clarified before he goes to the U.S.-ASEAN summit meeting in California, U.S. scheduled for Feb. 15-16, 2016.
=FRESH NEWS