Phnom Penh (FN), Jan. 21 – As a rotating chair of ASEAN 2022, Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen strongly reacted to the remarks of the Malaysian foreign minister Saifuddin Abdullah who criticized the premier’s visit to Myanmar in an interview with Aljazeera.

During the telephone conversation with Indonesian president Joko Widodo, premier Hun Sen sent a message to the Indonesian foreign minister and requested her to convey the message to her Malaysian counterpart, according to delegate minister Kao Kim Hourn on Friday.

“As a foreign minister and a diplomat, he [Saifuddin Abdullah] should not have used insolent remark undiplomatically at the ASEAN Chair and Head of the Government,” Kao Kim Hourn quoted the premier as saying.

“The visit by Samdech Hun Sen to Myanmar on 7-8 January 2022 was to plant trees, not to cut down trees, and that planting trees will not immediately bear fruit as it would require time. A long-lasting political resolution requires time and comprehensive work,” Kim Hourn continued adding that “premier Hun Sen believes that the Malaysian foreign minister does not possess the arts of diplomacy.”
=FRESH NEWS