Cambodia protests kill regional development agreement with Laos, Vietnam

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said he was pulling his country out of a development agreement with neighbouring Vietnam and Laos following protests that it was benefiting foreign interests.

Critics on social media have focused on land concessions in border areas particularly with Vietnam, a highly sensitive issue because of Cambodia’s historical antagonism toward its larger eastern neighbour.

Authorities had arrested at least 66 people ahead of a planned August rally to condemn the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle Area – or CLV-DTA. Most were later released but leaders are facing charges.

The agreement, formalised in 2004, intended to facilitate cooperation on trade and migration in four northeastern provinces of Cambodia and border areas in Laos and Vietnam.

Hun Manet called groups that opposed the agreement extremists and said they were using the issue to slander and attack the government and confuse the public.