Government
International relations
ASEAN officials discuss way forward for greater connectivity
ASEAN dialogue partners and delegates gathered in Vientiane on October 18 to discuss ways to put the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity 2025 into action. In particular, they considered more effective coordination between sectors, among nations and within the region. Gathering at the 3/2016 ASEAN Connectivity Coordinating Committee ...
China to help modernize military, defense minister says
Chinese aid and expertise—and perhaps some fighter jets—will help modernize Cambodia’s military, Defense Minister Tea Banh said on October 17 as navy vessels from China and the U.S. paid courtesy calls to Cambodia’s ports. Speaking after his return from the 7th Xiangshan Forum, a regional security summit ...
Is the Belt and Road Initiative globalizing China’s national security policy?
Chinese security policy experts use potential threats to BRI projects to highlight the necessity of a globalized security posture. The suicide bomb attack on the Chinese embassy in Kyrgyzstan in August 2016 highlighted China’s rising external vulnerability in a region at the heart of its signature ...
Royalties to include rentals under new Thailand-Singapore double tax rules
The New Double Tax Agreement between Thailand and Singapore becomes effective on January 1, 2017. If a Thai resident company has an outstanding rental payable to a Singaporean resident company, they should consider settling the debt before the end of 2016 in order to utilise ...
Chinese deals help, but Cambodia needs to do more: experts
Despite strengthened economic ties following the signing of 31 agreements on October 13 between Cambodia and China, the Kingdom’s agricultural sector still needs to improve before it can fully benefit from the opportunities offered by the largest economy in the region, experts have said on October ...
China’s Xi Jinping visits King, Hun Sen
Throngs of cheering school children greeted Chinese President Xi Jinping upon his arrival in the capital on October 13, with balaclava-clad soldiers enforcing order and whole sections of the city shut down as he paid visits to the King and the prime minister. On his first ...
Judges and rice: Cambodia's expanding reliance on China
Cambodia is rapidly expanding its diplomatic affair with China. Early last week it appealed to Beijing for help amid plunging rice pricesand then three days later Phnom Penh signed an MoU seeking Chinese assistance in overhauling its much maligned judiciary. The memorandum of understanding allows China ...
PM Lee hails new partnership with old friend Australia in address to parliament
The Comprehensive Strategic Partnership agreement finalised in May this year will take the relationship between Singapore and Australia one step forward and will “cement our partnership for many years to come”, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told the Australian parliament on October 12. Mr Lee ...
China downplays reports of sharing river waters with India
Playing down official media reports mooting a mechanism to share Brahmaputra river waters with India, China on October 10 said Beijing and New Delhi have “effective” cooperation to share data of the river flow and it is willing to continue it. “China and India have appropriate ...
Laos, Cambodia to benefit from new border checkpoint
A new international border checkpoint linking between the Nong Nok Khiene area in Khong district of Champasak province and the Trapeang Kriel area in Cambodia’s Stung Treng province is scheduled to officially open next month. In fact the border checkpoint has been open to the public ...
