Phnom Penh (FN), June 23– According to a statement made available to Fresh News earlier on June 22, 2016, the Cambodian People’s Party firmly endorses the position stated clearly by Prime Minister Hun Sen on June 20, 2016 in regard of the South China issues.

The five-point statement of the CPP reads as follows:

1) Cambodia is an independent, sovereign, and neutral country pertaining to justice;

2) As a member state of ASEAN, Cambodia abides by the principle of non-interference, community spirit (the consensus principle), economic integration, development, inter-connection and utilization of ASEAN as a diplomatic gateway for regional and global cooperation;

3) Cambodia will not join the endorsement of a verdict by an arbitration court on South China Sea disputes;

4) The Cambodian People’s Party refute unfair accusation that Cambodia has spoiled an ASEAN joint statement on South China Sea issues both at the most recent meeting in Kun Ming, China, and in Cambodian in 2012. On the other hand, Cambodia has played a good coordination role in ASEAN-China relationship. Moreover, South China issues are not the issues between ASEAN and China;

5) The Cambodian People’s Party would like to strongly urge that parties involved in the disputes exercise utmost patience, refrain from use of force or threat of force in resolving the South China Sea disputes, thus giving the opportunities to parties directly engaged in the disputes to work out among themselves based on the Declaration on the Conduct of the Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) and to ASEAN and China to jointly strive for adoption of a code of conduct in the South China Sea (COC).

=FRESH NEWS