AUKUS sparking concern for region: Cambodia PM

PHNOM PENH — Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen said on Monday that the tripartite AUKUS alliance is becoming a concern for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Under the AUKUS alliance, which was announced in September 2021, Australia will be able to build nuclear-powered submarines with technology provided by the United States and Britain.

"The small-scale alliance relevant to nuclear-powered submarines among the US, Britain and Australia is becoming a concern for ASEAN and countries in the region because ASEAN is a nuclear-weapon-free zone, and we oppose nuclear weapon proliferation," he said in a speech during a graduation ceremony at the Royal University of Law and Economics.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Hun Sen said this military alliance is the "starting point of a very dangerous arms race" in the region.

"I think if this situation continues, the world will face a bigger danger," he said.

Joseph Matthews, a senior professor at the BELTEI International University in Phnom Penh, said AUKUS is posing a major security threat to ASEAN and the whole Asian region.

"This alliance will trigger a conventional and nuclear arms race in the region, and thus destabilize the peace and security, undermine the economic development and destroy ASEAN's centrality," he told Xinhua News Agency.

Closer to goal

Hun Sen also said Cambodia is projected to graduate from a least developed country status by 2027.

"I'm very confident that Cambodia will graduate from least developed country status by 2027 at the latest and will achieve our goal of becoming an upper-middle income country in 2030," he said.

Hun Sen said the kingdom's economy has recovered well post-COVID-19, with GDP growth being forecast at 5.6 percent this year, up from 5.2 percent last year.

Penn Sovicheat, undersecretary of state and spokesman at the Cambodian Ministry of Commerce, said the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, the Cambodia-China Free Trade Agreement, and the Cambodia-South Korea FTA will help Cambodia graduate from its least developed country status and achieve its goals of becoming an upper-middle income country in 2030 and a high-income nation by 2050.

"The RCEP, along with other bilateral FTAs, has not only given a boost to the kingdom's sustainable trade growth but also become a magnet to attract more foreign direct investments," he told Xinhua.

Xinhua