In a dimly lit ballroom at a Tokyo luxury hotel, Sok Chenda Sophea, the secretary-general of the Council for the Development of Cambodia and the minister attached to Prime Minister Hun Sen, persistently asked about 200 Japanese businesspeople to invest in Cambodia.
¡°Cambodia is not mini-China, come [visit],¡± Sophea said at the Cambodian Investment Forum on March 5. Sophea¡¯s 30-minute speech mentioned everything from special economic zones to Japanese Official Development Assistance (ODA).
But Cambodia¡¯s major crackdown on dissent and its ban on the main opposition party before last year¡¯s election were not on his agenda. When questioned by Human Rights Watch about whether the Cambodian government has concrete strategies to ensure rights protections for the Cambodian people amid a growing number of foreign investments and development projects, Sophea dodged the question.
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