Obama has ‘tense’ meeting with Cambodian PM

President Obama met Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh on Monday, in what U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes described as a “tense” meeting between the two leaders.

According to pool reports, the president “did not smile” as he greeted the Cambodian prime minister at a photo op ahead of the meeting. The meeting was closed to the press, but Rhodes later told pool reporters on hand that the president spent most of the meeting discussing Cambodia’s record of human rights abuses.

“He said that those types of issues are an impediment to the United States and Cambodia developing a deeper bilateral relationship,” Rhodes said.

Obama was fresh off an historic visit to Burma on Sunday, in which he praised the country’s nascent move toward democracy. In his Monday talks with Hun Sen, Obama held Burma as an example of the benefits of political reform.

“He began by expressing that his trip to Burma demonstrated the positive benefits that flow from countries moving down the path of political reform and increasing respect for human rights,” Rhodes continued.

Burma held legislative elections earlier this year and the Obama administration has since lifted a number of sanctions to further encourage the nation’s military leaders to democratize. 

Later, Obama joined other regional leaders for the U.S.-ASEAN summit in Phnom Penh. In his opening address at the event, Hun Sen congratulated the president on winning another term in office.

---