The U.S. and its allies should sanction Cambodia’s government for its decision, Thursday, to ban the country’s main opposition party.
While the Cambodian Supreme Court technically made the ban ruling against the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), analysts believe Prime Minister Hun Sen is wholly responsible. The Supreme Court, after all, is loaded with his cronies.
Still, the decision means that the CNRP’s 55 national assembly members have lost their jobs and the party will won’t be allowed to contest national assembly elections scheduled for next July. The timing here is not accidental. The product of a 2012 merger between two political parties, the CNRP scored a strong showing in 2013 parliamentary elections. Facing a new democratic challenge, Prime Minister Hun Sen is determined to retain his power by whatever means necessary.
But while Hun Sen’s penchant for authoritarianism and violence has long been recognized, Thursday’s action takes things to another level. In recent months, the government has convicted opposition figures on trumped-up treason charges but this new action crushes Cambodian democracy.
The U.S. must respond.
First off, it’s important to note that we don’t have much to lose. The Prime Minister has embraced anti-Americanism by falsely accusing the U.S. of seeking to overthrow him and Cambodia already faces certain limited sanctions for failing to repatriate citizens under U.S. deportation orders. This speaks to a broader point: Hun Sen can’t offer realist benefits to America like other authoritarians such as President Duterte of the Philippines.
Second, we have the power to smash Hun Sen’s economic base. While Cambodian exports have more than tripled over the past ten years, according to MIT and the World Bank, Cambodia’s top export destinations are, in order, the U.S., U.K., Germany, Japan, and Canada. Each of those nations are close U.S. allies and might be receptive to a U.S.-led effort to introduce a common ban on Cambodian exports. If that happened, Hun Sen’s regime would have a major problem.
Moreover, subject to our critical national interests, the U.S. has a moral and political responsibility to stand up for the democratic rule of law.
Hun Sen’s government is stealing his population’s freedom. We can act to stop him.
