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![handle is hein.crs/goveprs0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service
Informing the legislative debate since 1914
Updated May 14, 2024
Cambodia
Overvew: U.S.Camboda Relatons
U.S.-Cambodia relations have become strained during the
past decade, after former Prime Minister Hun Sen banned
the main opposition party in 2017 and as Cambodia's
relationship with the People's Republic of China (PRC) has
grown closer. The U.S. government has sought to remain
engaged with Cambodia while calling on the Cambodian
government to restore democratic rights and resist PRC
influence. In 2017, the Cambodian government suspended
the annual U.S.-Cambodia military exercise Angkor
Sentinel, first held in 2010. In 2018, the U.S. government
suspended military assistance to Cambodia in response to
its government's suppression of the political opposition.
Poitics and Human R ghts
Hun Sen led Cambodia for 38 years (1985-2023), including
as premier of the Vietnam-backed Republic of Kampuchea
(1985-1993). He had been president of the ruling
Cambodian People's Party (CPP) since 1993. In 2023, Hun
Sen relinquished his position as prime minister while
retaining his leadership of the CPP. In a widely expected
move, Hun Sen transferred power to his eldest son, Hun
Manet, who was elected to the National Assembly for the
first time and endorsed by the body as the new prime
minister. In February 2024, the CPP won 55 out of 58 seats
in Cambodian Senate elections, which are chosen by local
commune council members. The Senate unanimously
elected Senator Hun Sen as its president, a largely
ceremonial position. The King of Cambodia, Norodom
Sihamoni, is head of state and a largely symbolic figure.
Some observers do not expect Hun Manet, a graduate of
West Point and New York University, to usher in major
policy changes in the near term. Others speculate that the
new prime minister, as well as a new generation of cabinet
appointees, may reset Cambodia's relations with the United
States and the West and usher in greater engagement.
Between 1993, when the United Nations administered
Cambodia's first national election following the 1991 Paris
Agreements that ended the country's civil war, and 2017,
democratic institutions and practices had gradually evolved
to allow widespread civic and political participation. The
opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP)
made significant gains in the 2013 parliamentary election
and 2017 local elections. Meanwhile, Hun Sen employed a
variety of means to stay in power, including through
electoral victories, legal and extralegal political maneuvers,
influence over the judiciary, broadcast media, and labor
unions, and through patronage, cronyism, violence, and
intimidation.
In November 2017, the Supreme Court of Cambodia issued
a ruling that dissolved the CNRP for conspiring with the
United States to overthrow the government, which the
CNRP and U.S. government denied. In the 2018 and 2023
National Assembly elections, the CPP won 125 seats and
120 seats (out of 125 total seats), respectively. The State
Department released a statement declaring, The United
States is troubled that the [2023] Cambodian national
elections were neither free nor fair and announced that
steps had been taken to impose visa restrictions on
individuals who were deemed to have undermined
Cambodia's democracy.
Figure I. Cambodia at a Glance
Sources: CRS (map) and Central Intelligence Agency, The World
Factbook, 2024.
In what many observers view as politically motivated
actions, Cambodian courts have convicted opposition leader
and former CNRP President Sam Rainsy, who lives in self-
imposed exile in France, of numerous crimes. In October
2022, Sam Rainsy was convicted in absentia to life in
prison, on top of previous sentences. In April 2023, former
CNRP Vice President Kem Sokha was convicted of treason
and sentenced to 27 years of house arrest. In 2021 and
2022, Cambodian courts tried over 115 former members of
the CNRP and other political activists, convicting 67 of
them and sentencing them to prison terms of five to 18
years. Many former CNRP members had fled abroad and
were tried in absentia. Cambodian-American lawyer and
democratic activist Theary Seng is serving a six-year
sentence on the charge of treason.
The Cambodian government limits civil society, press
freedom, and freedom of expression, including through a
restrictive 2017 law on nongovernmental organizations and
through defamation lawsuits, disapproval of permits and
licenses, and harassment of journalists.
Economy
The Cambodian economy-which was largely destroyed
during the leadership of the Communist Party of
Kampuchea, also known as the Khmer Rouge (1975-1979),
and subsequent conflicts-achieved an average annual
growth rate of 8% between 1998 and 2019. The national
poverty rate dropped from 33.8% in 2009 to 17.8% in 2019,
according to the World Bank, due in part to growth in the
manufacturing and services sectors. Following a downturn](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.crs/goveprs0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)