U.S. Secretary of State Clinton to visit Cambodia in late Oct.+

via CAAI

Oct 14, 2010

PHNOM PENH, Oct. 14 (AP) - (Kyodo)—U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is to visit Cambodia in late October, the first visit in nearly 15 years by a top U.S. official, Cambodian officials told Kyodo News on Thursday.

Several senior officials said Clinton plans a two-day trip from Oct. 30, coming to Phnom Penh after Hanoi where she is to attend the East Asia Summit.

The summit brings together the 10 leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and dialogue partners Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand.

The foreign minister of Russia and the United States will attend as quests of the chair, Vietnam.

During the Cambodia trip, Clinton is to hold talks with her counterpart Hor Namhong, meet Prime Minister Hun Sen and pay a courtesy call on King Norodom Sihamoni.

If the visit materializes, it will be the first by a U.S. secretary of state since Warren Christopher in 1996.

Diplomatic sources said the trip would mark a turning point of President Barak Obama's administration in engaging with Southeast Asia.

"Cambodia is considered a small and less powerful country for the United States, but geopolitically, the U.S. cannot over look this country because it is a fact that Cambodia is being pursued by Asia's superpower China as one of the gateways in dealing with regional issues," one source said.

In April, the United States suspended military aid to Cambodia after Cambodia deported last December 20 Uyghur refugees to China at China's request and in violation of Cambodia's international obligation to protect asylum seekers.

The U.S. suspension covered about 200 vehicles and trailers that had been identified for shipment to Cambodia, but less than two months later China gave Cambodia 257 military trucks and other equipment worth $14 million.