Cambodia withdraws from CLV-DTA initiative: ruling party chief

PHNOM PENH, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) — Cambodia has decided to withdraw from the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle Area (CLV-DTA) initiative, Samdech Techo Hun Sen, president of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), said late on Friday.
“I, in my status as the CPP’s president, have discussed with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and other national leaders, and we have decided that Cambodia ends its participation in the CLV-DTA from Sept. 20, 2024 onwards,” Hun Sen said in a statement posted on his official social media.
“The royal government of Cambodia has officially notified this to Vietnam and Laos already,” he added.
Proposed in 1999, the CLV-DTA is an initiative to maintain economic, social and national security, with each country controlling its own territory. The initiative aims to foster growth, development and stability in the border areas of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.
Hun Sen said over the past 25 years, the CLV-DTA has scored many achievements for the kingdom’s four participating provinces, namely Kratie, Stung Treng, Mondulkiri and Ratanakkiri.
However, the extremist opposition group has used this initiative as a political weapon to slander and attack the government, accusing it of ceding the territory of these four northeastern provinces to Vietnam, he said.
Hun Sen added that the withdrawal from this initiative was to prevent the opposition group from using it “as a pretext to cheat people and to incite social chaos.”
Prime Minister Hun Manet said on Sept. 5 that 66 people were arrested for involving in a planned Aug. 18 riot in Phnom Penh against the CLV-DTA, with their hidden plot to overthrow the legitimate government. However, 57 of them were released after being questioned and only nine masterminds were sent to court for prosecution. ■