Biography of late Cambodian former King Norodom Sihanouk

English.news.cn   2013-02-04 10:36:42

PHNOM PENH, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's most revered former King Norodom Sihanouk died on October 15, 2012 in China's capital of Beijing at the age of 90 due to natural cause.
His body will be cremated on Monday evening at a custom-built cremation site next to the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh after it has been lying in state for more than 3 months.
Below is his summary biography that is provided to Xinhua News Agency by the Royal Cabinet.
Born on October 31, 1922 in Phnom Penh, Sihanouk learned at the Francois Baudoin Primary School in Phnom Penh and the secondary schooling at the Chasseloup-Laubat High School in Saigon, Vietnam from 1930 to 1940.
In April 1941, he was elected King of Cambodia by the Council of the Crown, and from 1946 and 1948, he continued his higher studies at the School of Application of the Cavalry and Armoured Army in Saumur, France.
He claimed and obtained from France the complete independence of Cambodia in 1953. Cambodian people entitled him "the Great Hero King, the Father of Khmer Independence."
In April 1955, he abdicated in favor of his father, His Majesty Norodom Suramarit, and he found the Sangkum Reastr Niyum, or the People's Socialist Community, and was elected as Prime Minister.
In February 1956, the King Father, then-Prime Minister, made an official visit to the People Republic of China and met with Chinese leaders including President Mao Zedong. Both sides signed a joint declaration on Cambodia-China Friendship.
In 1956, In Brioni, Yugoslavia, he signed with President Josip Broz Tito, and immediately after President Gamal Abdel Nasser of the United Arab Republic, President Soekarno of Indonesia and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of India, the Chart of the Movement of Non-aligned Countries. Thus, he became the 5th co- founder of this Movement.
In 1960, upon the death of King Norodom Suramarit, Sihanouk was elected unanimously by the members of the Khmer Parliament as Head of State of Cambodia.
From May 1961, Sihanouk had struggled in a legal battle with Thailand over Preah Vihear temple at The Hague, the Netherlands, and The Hague awarded the temple to Cambodia on June 15, 1962.
On March 18, 1970, Sihanouk, on an official visit to the Soviet Union, was the victim of a Coup d'Etat in Phnom Penh, a military putsch whose leaders were Lon Nol and Sirik Matak.
The Khmer Republic of Lon Nol was declared in October 1970.
On March 23, 1970, Sihanouk became President of the Cambodian Resistance (FUNC- National United Front of Cambodia), and April 17, 1975, the People's National Liberation Army of FUNC achieved, in Cambodia, a total victory.
The State of "Democratic Kampuchea" was born. Sihanouk became the President, but a year later (April 1976), he voluntarily resigned from his functions of Head of State of Democratic Kampuchea.
He became again President of Democratic Kampuchea in 1982. At the same time, he was the Head of the Cambodian National Resistance (CNR) until 1990.
On June 24, 1991, the King Father obtained from the leaders of the 4 Cambodian factions composing the SNC (Supreme National Council) of Cambodia a solemn declaration and acceptance of an unlimited ceasefire in the whole of Cambodia and the cessation of acceptance of military assistance from foreign countries by the four Cambodian armies.
On July 17, 1991, he quit the Presidency of Democratic Kampuchea and the CNR to place himself above the Cambodian political factions and parties. He was unanimously elected by the other 11 members of the Supreme National Council of Cambodia as the neutral President of this Council which was composed by the Party of Hun Sen of the Government of the State of Cambodia and the Party NGC (National Government of Cambodia/Resistance). The NGC was a tripartite coalition composed of the Khmer People's National Liberation Front (KPNLF) of Son Sann, the Party of Democratic Kampuchea of Khieu Samphan and the Funcinpec of Prince Norodom Ranariddh.
November 14, 1991, the triumphal return of Sihanouk to Phnom Penh.
After his return, the government of the State of Cambodia was led by Prime Minister Hun Sen and the Cambodian People's Party led by Chea Sim; the KPNLF led by Son Sann; Funcinpec headed by Prince Norodom Ranariddh; and the Party of Democratic Kampuchea led by Khieu Samphan respectively declared officially and in writing that Sihanouk had never ceased to be the legal and legitimate Head of State of the whole of Cambodia. Consequently, Sihanouk maintained officially the title of Head of State of Cambodia until the Presidential elections of 1993.
May 22, 1993, Sihanouk, Head of State and President of the Supreme National Council of Cambodia, declared he completely supported the General Elections organized and supervised by UNTAC and which should take place from May 23-28, 1993.
On June 14, 1993, the new Constituent Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution to fully rehabilitate Sihanouk, victim of the anti-Constitutional Putsch of March 18,1970 and granted full powers to Sihanouk in his capacity of Head of State of Cambodia.
Cambodia became an advanced Liberal Democracy and a Constitutional Monarchy whose King reigns but does not rule.
He, with the support of the National Assembly and Government, was unanimously elected, by the Council of the Crown, King and Head of State for life of Cambodia.
He voluntarily abdicated on October 7, 2004 in favor of his son, the current King Norodom Sihamoni.

Huge crowds of mourners shed tears as Cambodia cremates late King Sihanouk

English.news.cn   2013-02-04 21:26:34

Cambodia's Queen Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk (1st L) and King Norodom Sihamoni (2nd L) attend the royal cremation ceremony of the late Cambodian King Father Norodom Sihanouk in Phnom Penh, on Feb. 4, 2013. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei)

by Nguon Sovan
PHNOM PENH, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Huge throngs of Cambodian people shed tears on Monday evening when participating the royal cremation ceremony of the country's late former King Norodom Sihanouk at a city park next to the royal palace.
The cremation was made at the Veal Preah Meru Square next to the Royal Palace in an elaborate Buddhist ceremony, which was live broadcast through all local television channels from the start to the end.
The somber event was attended by Cambodian leaders including President of the Senate Chea Sim, President of the National Assembly Heng Samrin and Prime Minister Hun Sen as well as royal families and other senior officials.
Besides, foreign leaders and dignitaries from 16 countries had participated in the ceremony. Among them are Jia Qinglin, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, Laos Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong, Vice President of the Philippines Jejomar C. Binay, and Japan's Prince Akishino.
After 90 Buddhist monks chanted in a religious language, and all participating foreign leaders and foreign diplomats paid their last respects and laid flowers nearby the golden casket bearing Sihanouk's body, Sihanouk's wife Queen Mother Norodom Monineath and his son King Norodom Sihamoni lit the funeral flame at the newly constructed cremation site at 6:30 p.m.
Meanwhile, the 101-gun artilleries salute and fireworks were fired simultaneously into the sky in order to honor the late monarch, while blue music was played.
Tens of thousands of mourners clad in white shirts and pinning black ribbons clasped hands together in prayers and looked sadly and tearfully while the funeral flame was burning.
"His Majesty the King Father, you left us," tearfully said a Phnom Penh native Kuth Sotheachan, 47, while looking at the cremation ceremony from the distance. "We wish you would be reborn in the heaven in your next life, His Majesty."
A Kampong Speu province resident Phan Roeun, 58, sadly said, " I come here to see him off because this is the last day that the body of His Majesty the King Father is on earth, from tomorrow, we will no longer see his face forever."
"He was a great King in our minds, we will remember him in our hearts forever," he said.
Another mourner Yam Sokly said, "It is a great loss for Cambodia, we now lost an elite hero."
He said the late King Father was the King who devoted himself to national defense and development. "His greatest achievement was the gaining of independence for Cambodia from France in 1953."
At the cremation ceremony, King Norodom Sihamoni also granted a royal pardon to 412 prisoners as a gesture to mark Sihanouk's cremation.
The pardoned prisoners from all prisons throughout the country were taken to release at the cremation side.
"From now on, all of you are freed and can go back to meet your families, relatives and friends," King Norodom Sihamoni spoke to those freed prisoners. "I urge you all to correct yourselves to become good citizens in the society."
Sihanouk died at the age of 90 in China's capital of Beijing on October 15, last year due to natural causes. He suffered from various forms of cancer, diabetes and hypertension and had been treated by Chinese doctors in Beijing for years before his death.
The late monarch reigned over Cambodia from 1941 to 1955 and again from 1993 until his voluntary abdication on October 7, 2004 in favor of his son, the current King Norodom Sihamoni.
He was a presence through decades of political and social turmoil in Cambodia, despite long periods of exile overseas.
Prime Minister Hun Sen said in a recently public speech that Sihanouk's funeral was the largest of all in the country's king funeral history.
"We hold it in order to express our deepest gratitude to the King Father for his royal crusades to gain independence from France in 1953 and led national construction from 1954 to 1970," he said. "The funeral gives us the chance to bid a final farewell to him."
Prince Sisowath Thomico, the spokesman for the Royal Cabinet and former aide to the late King Father Norodom Sihanouk, said that Sihanouk's death was not only the great loss for Cambodia, but also the loss of one of the most important leaders in Southeast Asia.
"His passing-away was the great loss for the people of Cambodia because he was one of the most revered Cambodian leaders since the beginning of the 20th century," he told Xinhua.
He added that the late King Father had greatly developed Cambodia in the 1950s until the 1960s, turning the country as the most advanced country in Southeast Asia at that time.
At regional and international levels, the Prince said that Sihanouk was also a respected leader recognized by some nations in Southeast Asia and in the world.
He recalled that in 1956, Cambodia was a member and a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement, and then-Prime Sihanouk was recognized as a very active leader for the decolonization.
"He helped every country in the world and he supported the independence of every country in the world. There were African countries such as Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, and Senegal." he said.
"He was the first leader in the world to recognize the Republic of Singapore when Singapore became independence," he said. "I think he was one of the most important leaders of Southeast Asia."
Asking about Sihanouk's role in developing Sino-Cambodian ties, the Prince said that the late King Father was the founder of the diplomatic relation between Cambodia and China in 1958.
"Since then, Cambodia and China began to build up relationship based on mutual respect, based on the same vision of the region and the same vision of the world," he said.
In regard to Jia Qinglin's participation in the cremation ceremony, the Prince said Jia's presence was a big honor for Cambodia.
"It is the symbol of the friendship and the fraternity that links Cambodia to China; it is a big honor for Cambodia to have a respected leader of the People Republic of China attending the royal funeral," he said.
"Both countries are linked together. I do not believe that anything could break that relationship, and we will further improve cooperation, friendship relations with the People Republic of China," the Prince added.

Editor: Hou Qiang

Cambodia attracts 9.17 bln USD investment from China in last 18 years

English.news.cn   2013-02-06 13:33:37

PHNOM PENH, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia has attracted 9.17 billion U.S. dollar investment from China in the last 18 years ( 1994-2012), making China become the largest investor in this country, showed a government report on Wednesday.
During the period, South Korea and Malaysia are the second and third largest investors in Cambodia with the cumulative investments of 4.33 billion U.S. dollars and 2.62 billion U.S. dollars respectively, said the report of the Council for the Development of Cambodia.
The United Kingdom ranked at fourth with the promised investment of 2.41 billion U.S. in this impoverished country, while the United States placed at fifth with the capital injection of 1.29 billion U.S. dollars.
The report added that its neighboring countries, Vietnam and Thailand, rated at sixth and eighth respectively. During the period, Vietnam invested 1.28 billion U.S. dollars in Cambodia, whilst Thailand poured 867 million U.S. dollars into their projects here.
According to the report, China's investment in Cambodia focused on the fields of energy, mineral resources, garment industry, banking and finance, real estate, tourism and agriculture.

Editor: Wang Yuanyuan

Japanese investors eye investment opportunities in Cambodia

English.news.cn   2013-02-08 20:37:01

PHNOM PENH, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- Business executives from 60 conglomerates in Japan has visited Cambodia to study the country's potential sectors, investment laws and business environment before making investment in the future.
The group of Japan's top business leaders, led by Hiromasa Yonekura, chairman of the Japan Business Federation, met with Cambodian Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh and Cambodian business people on Friday morning in order to seek business opportunities.
In a presentation to those potential investors, Prasidh said that Cambodia now is full of political stability and its macro- economic situation is stable.
"Laws related to investment are sound, transparent and predictable. Moreover, products manufactured in Cambodia can get access to key world markets through trade preferences or duty-free because Cambodia is one of the least developed countries," he said.
The minister added that the country is strongly encouraging investment activities in agriculture and agro-industry, transport and telecommunication infrastructure, energy and electricity, labor intensive industries and export-oriented processing and manufacturing, tourism-related industries, human resources development, processing industry, oil and gas and mining.
The Japanese business people are mainly engaged in industries of automotive, petroleum, energy, banking and finance, transportation, brewery, food and beverage, steel and airlines, Yasukiyo Horiuchi, senior manager in charge of public relations bureau at the Japan Business Federation, told reporters.
Among them were representatives from Toyota Motor Corporation, Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metal Corporation, Hitachi, Panasonic Corporation, Asahi Group Holding and the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, he said.
The group also met with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen at the capital's Peace Palace later the same day.
In the meeting, Hiromasa Yonekura said that some of the investors have expressed their desires to invest here in the fields of energy, mineral resources, infrastructures and banking, and asked the premier to support and facilitate their projects.
Hun Sen expressed his welcome for any plan to invest in Cambodia, saying that the country treated both local and foreign investors equally and foreign investors can hold up to 100 percent of their investments in the country.
Japanese investors have begun to focus their investment in Cambodia in recent years. According to Japanese Ambassador to Cambodia Masafumi Kuroki, Japanese investors have invested about 300 million U.S. dollars in Cambodia in the last three years.
On the bilateral trade ties, the two-way trade volume were valued at 641 million U.S. dollars last year, up 25 percent year on year, said a report from the Japan External Trade Organization on Thursday.

Editor: Hou Qiang

Cambodia greets 333,900 Chinese tourists in 2012, up 35 pct

English.news.cn   2013-02-12 12:42:31

PHNOM PENH, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia attracted 333,900 Chinese tourists last year, a 35 percent rise compared with 247, 200 Chinese visitors in a year earlier, according to a report of the Ministry of Tourism on Tuesday.
"China is the 3rd largest tourist arrival group to Cambodia last year after Vietnam and South Korea," Kong Sopheareak, chief of the statistics and planning department at the Ministry of Tourism, told Xinhua over telephone. "We see a steady rise of Chinese tourists to Cambodia from year to year, and we foresee that the country will receive up to 1 million Chinese by 2020."
He attributed the increase to more direct flight connection between Cambodia and China and Cambodia's attractive tourism destinations. "Moreover, the very good relationship between the royal government of Cambodia and the government of China has encouraged more Chinese investors and businesspeople to do businesses in Cambodia," he stressed.
Last year, Cambodia attracted a total investment of 263 million U.S. dollars from China, according to a record of the Council for the Development of Cambodia.

Oil prices hit all-time high in Cambodia

English.news.cn   2013-02-15 13:53:42

PHNOM PENH, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices in Cambodia hit the highest of all time on Friday, with a liter of premium gasoline going for 1.45 U.S. dollars at all petrol stations in the capital.
The price is the highest ever if compared with the peak price of 1.41 U.S. dollars a liter in 2008 and once again in last March.
Bin May Mialia, Commercial Manager for Thai-based PTT Oil Company in Phnom Penh, said Friday that the latest spike in oil price on international market resulted from continuing political troubles in the Middle East, economic recession in Europe and U.S. dollar currency depreciation.
"Just within the last two weeks, oil price in Cambodia has increased by 4.5 percent," he said. "Oil price hike in Cambodia is in line with the globally soaring oil prices. We don't have our own produced oil, so we totally import it from foreign countries."
Officials at the Ministry of Finance could not be reached for comments on Friday. But Finance Minister Keat Chhon said last year that the oil price increase affected everyone and businesses in the country and recommended people to tighten the purse strings and make maximum use of oil they purchased.
On Friday, a barrel (159 liters) of crude oil costs above 97 U. S. dollars in the international market, up from 95 U.S. dollars in January.
Cambodia has completely purchased petroleum from Vietnam, Singapore and Thailand. Last year, this Southeast Asian nation spent about 1.62 billion U.S. dollars on some 1.65 million tons of petroleum, according to a report of the Commerce Ministry.
In December last year, Cambodian Petrochemical Company and Sinomach China Perfect Machinery Industry Corp unveiled a 2.3 billion U.S. dollar project to build the first oil refinery in Cambodia and the construction is expected to be completed at the end of 2015.

Editor: Fang Yang

Daughter of Cambodia's late King Sihanouk to lead royalist party

English.news.cn   2013-02-16 11:47:53

PHNOM PENH, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Princess Norodom Arun Rasmey, the youngest daughter of Cambodia's late King Father Norodom Sihanouk, will be elected as the President of the royalist political party Funcinpec to contest in July's general elections, the party's spokesman Tum Sambol said on Saturday.
Princess Norodom Arun Rasmey is currently serving as Cambodian ambassador to Malaysia.
"The princess has already agreed to accept the position at the request of the party's board members and she will be officially elected as the party's president during the party congress on March 21," he told Xinhua over telephone.
He said that the party decided to choose the princess for the position because she came from a political background with an impeccable resume.
"More importantly, Funcinpec is a royalist party, so it is our top priority to choose a royal member to lead the party," he said. "Another reason is that the party wants to promote women into politics."
Funcinpec was first founded by late King Father Norodom Sihanouk in 1981. Sihanouk's son, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, led the party to electoral victory in the 1993 UNTAC-sponsored elections.
At that time, Ranariddh was co-prime minister in a "two-prime ministers" government with Hun Sen for four years until there was a bloody factional fighting in 1997 and Ranariddh was ousted from the position.
Since then, the party's popularity has gradually declined due to internal rifts and it won fewer seats at the National Assembly from term to term.
Currently, Funcinpec is led by Nhik Bun Chhay and Arun Rasmey' s husband, Keo Puth Rasmey.
In the last general elections in July 2008, the Funcinpec Party won only two seats out of the 123 parliamentary seats. At that time, the Cambodian People's Party of Prime Minister Hun Sen won up to 90 seats, followed by the opposition Sam Rainsy Party with 26 seats, the Human Rights Party three seats, the Norodom Ranariddh Party two seats.
Chheang Vannarith, executive director of the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace, said Saturday the princess' presence in the Funcinpec will definitely improve the popularity of this party.
"Princess Arun Rasmey can promote the popularity of the Funcinpec not only because she is a princess, but more importantly, she possesses strong leadership with integrity," said Vannarith, who is also a lecturer of Asia Pacific Studies at the Leeds University in the United Kingdom.

Editor: Wang Yuanyuan