Cambodia's prime minister, Hun Sen, who has been slowly squeezing the life out of democracy in Cambodia, delivered a fawning tribute to President Donald Trump in remarks last week in Manila at the ASEAN summit. Hun Sen expressed delight at Trump's promise to stay out of the internal affairs of other nations. And no wonder.
On Thursday, the Cambodian Supreme Court, as expected, dissolved the main opposition party, the Cambodian National Rescue Party, at Hun Sen's behest. The party, established in 2012, posed the first real challenge in years to his 32 years in power.
The party's leader, Kem Sokha, cannot flee. On Sept. 3, he was arrested and accused of treason, also based on trumped-up charges that stem from a 2013 video in which he told supporters he received U.S. support and advice in planning political strategy. In effect, democracy is being criminalized in Cambodia.
Hun Sen, an authoritarian who had tolerated some measure of political opposition, is now liquidating competition, the oxygen of democracy.
Trump's declaration in his inaugural address that "we do not seek to impose our way of life on anyone" was an invitation to potentates such as Hun Sen to smother liberty. On Thursday, the White House issued a much-needed rebuke to Hun Sen, warning that he is placing Cambodia's international standing at risk and pledging concrete steps in response to his undemocratic acts. Perhaps the Trump administration is waking up, belatedly, to the reality that the United States can't ignore the internal affairs of other nations when democracy is under siege.
Editorial on 11/21/2017