Obama Visits China-Tilting Cambodia

Obama Visits China-Tilting Cambodia

Authoritarian Hun Sen plays the US off China, but the US takes long-term view

Sebastian Strangio

YaleGlobal, 7 December 2012

Cambodia in the middle: President Barack Obama extends a limp hand to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen (top); happier relations with China’s Premier Wen Jiabao

PHNOM PENH: If body language is any predictor, President Barack Obama did not enjoy his short trip to Cambodia to attend the recent East Asia Summit. The unsmiling president joined routines with other participating heads of governments his visit aimed at winning friends and influencing others against a rising China. Still, long-term US involvement in the country’s economy and security may yet produce results.
Before the summit, Obama met privately with summit host, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, 60, and chided him on human rights issues, including recent land seizures, jailed political dissenters and the need for next year’s national elections to be free and fair. The meeting was described as “tense.” According to an aide who briefed reporters, Obama contrasted Cambodia’s authoritarian creep with Burma’s moves towards reform, warning that human rights abuses could be an impediment to a “deeper relationship with the United States.”
Obama’s visit to Cambodia, the first by a sitting US president, was preceded by calls for him to publicly address human rights. A Human Rights Watch report released before the trip recounted the unsolved killings of around 300 labor leaders, journalists, and opposition leaders during Hun Sen’s 27-year rule. Local activists also highlighted the self-exile of opposition leader Sam Rainsy on what many say are trumped-up charges and a recent crackdown on government critics and residents protesting forced evictions.

Obama seemed to stake out a middle way on human rights, discussing them behind closed doors but maintaining public silence.

Observing Obama’s chilly visit, Don Jameson, a former diplomat who served at the US Embassy in Phnom Penh in the early 1970s, said Obama seemed to stake out a middle way on human rights, discussing them behind closed doors but maintaining a public silence, possibly an effort to assuage  activists who criticized him for making the stop in Cambodia at all. Jameson observed that the remarks’ impact was limited to the international press. Domestically, Hun Sen basked in the legitimacy conferred by Obama’s visit; human rights issues received little coverage in the government-aligned press. “As long as he has China on his side,” Jameson said, “Hun Sen seems confident that he can weather any storm and does not need to be concerned about what the US thinks.”

Not far from the Peace Palace, protesters released balloons and signs with the international distress signal, SOS, and small photos of Obama.

Lao Mong Hay, a Phnom Penh–based rights activist, welcomed the president’s comments to Hun Sen, expressing hope that they might lead to new emphasis on human rights. “Cambodia cannot afford to have strained relations with the United States,” he said, adding that the country relies on the US as an export market for its garments, giving the US “strategic leverage.” In 2011, according to the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia, the country exported $2.06 billion worth of garments and textiles to the US, more than half of its total; the industry employs an estimated 350,000 workers. Cambodia’s garment exports to the US also make up a massive proportion over its overall exports, which totaled $4.87 billion last year. This stands in contrast to the wide trade deficit with China. In 2011, the $2.5 billion in two-way trade between Cambodia and China consisted overwhelmingly of imports of Chinese machinery, electronics, food, cars and medicines.

Cambodia relies on the US as an export market for garments, more than half that industry’s total, giving the US “strategic leverage.”

Whether the US chooses to use its leverage remains an open question. Obama’s landmark trip to Asia was a key step in Washington’s much-vaunted pivot toward Asia, an effort to bolster military, economic and political relationships as a counterweight to China’s rising influence in the region. Over the past decade, China has poured billions of dollars of “no-strings attached” loans and investments into Cambodia, transforming its physical infrastructure and reducing its dependence on Western development assistance tied to democratic and good governance reforms
In return, Cambodia does China’s bidding on a range of issues. It has deported to China Uighur asylum seekers, given vocal support to the One-China Policy and backed China’s position on negotiations over the South China Sea dispute. Two large green banners welcomed visiting dignitaries to Phnom Penh’s Peace Palace for the summit meetings, listing one leader and one country: “Welcome Prime Minister Wen Jiabao!” proclaimed one banner. “Long Live the People’s Republic of China!” read the other.
Hun Sen has played this game for years. US-Cambodia relations have steadily improved since July 1997, when he overthrew co–prime minister, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, in a violent coup de force. But as Hun Sen consolidated power in the early 2000s, Washington began to reengage. In August 2005, restrictions on US military assistance to Cambodia were lifted; in 2007, the US resumed direct foreign assistance, making Cambodia the third largest recipient of US aid in East Asia after Indonesia and the Philippines. This renewed commitment was symbolized by the December 2005 inauguration of a new $47 million US Embassy complex in Phnom Penh.

Then came the Obama administration’s pivot to Asia. In 2009, Cambodia and the US exchanged defense attachés, and Defense Minister Tea Banh visited Washington for talks about building up ties between the US military and the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF). Angkor Sentinel, an annual joint US-Cambodian military exercise, was inaugurated in 2010, and three days before Obama’s arrival last week, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta met with Tea Banh in Siem Reap and reaffirmed US military commitment to Cambodia.

According to Carl Thayer, the US is building relationships with those considered to have influence now and in the future.

Carl Thayer, a professor at the Australia Defense Forces Academy in Canberra, said that despite the lack of any real terrorist threat in Cambodia today, counterterrorism and defense cooperation allows the US to preserve a measure of influence as the country moves further into China’s orbit. “The US has an ‘in’ on the security and defense side that China really does not have,” he said. “Since [counterterrorism] is an already existing program it would have normative approval in the United States as a place to go, to keep some avenues of American influence open.”
Casting its eye to the longer term, the US also moves to establish strong relationships with Hun Sen’s eldest son and heir apparent. Hun Manet was given a place at West Point military academy, graduating in 1999. The 35-year-old is a RCAF major-general and commands the National Counter-Terrorism Special Force established with US assistance in 2008.

In August, at the close of Vector Balance Canoe, another joint military exercise, US Ambassador William E. Todd singled out Manet for his “outstanding job as the commanding officer of such a fine unit,” and reiterated that “America has been committed to Cambodia, is committed to Cambodia now, and will be committed to Cambodia long into the future.” Describing Manet as “a rising future star,” Thayer notes, “America’s very carefully building up relationships with people who are considered to have influence now, and are likely to have even greater influence in future.”

The chilly visit may strain relations, but in the long-run, the two countries will likely see benefits of closer ties. For the US, there is the need to offset a rising China, forcing the former to take a patient approach on human rights issues. For Cambodia, as always, there is the weight of history as a small nation vulnerable to powerful outside forces. It may be that as China’s influence grows Hun Sen will recall an adage often cited by Prince Norodom Sihanouk as he struggled to maintain Cambodia’s neutrality during the Cold War: “When two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.” In the end, the economic and military weight of the US may persuade Hun Sen and his successors to slide towards a more balanced position.

Sebastian Strangio is a journalist based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, covering Asia.

UNITED STATES: Need to prepare for the next wave of foreign students

Rahul Choudaha09 December 2012 Issue No:251

 

A recent commentary in University World News highlighted issues facing US higher education in sustaining international student growth rates. Although some of the concerns raised are relevant, they mask the latent strength in the scale, diversity and capacity of the American higher education system to become a more attractive player in the international student mobility arena.

The concept of international student recruitment in the US is a relatively new development. It gained traction in response to post-recession budget cuts, primarily in public higher education institutions.

The external environment prompted institutions to start recruiting international students, but the internal capacities and resources of many were ill prepared for this sudden shift towards a more proactive recruitment model.

Against a backdrop of higher expectations for international enrolment and declining budget support, this lack of internal capacity triggered the adoption of quick turnaround recruitment approaches. For example, several institutions started experimenting with commission-based recruitment agents, anticipating lower upfront costs.

These quick-fix practices, however, have created gaps in institutions’ ability to manage the qualitative risks associated with the use of agents and provide adequate support services to meet international student needs.

Research universities

Agent-using institutions are not necessarily the institutions that drive most of the international student enrolment growth. In fact, less than 3% of American institutions classified as "Research Universities (very high research activity-RU/VH)" by the Carnegie Classification are primarily responsible for overall expansion.

These 108 research universities increased their share of total international student enrolment in the US from 37.7% to 42.5% between 2010-11 and 2011-12, according to the Institute of International Education’s Open Doors survey. International student enrolment at these universities rose by 38%, compared to 23% for all institutions.

Until recently, most research universities did not actively ‘recruit’ as they could rely on strong word-of-mouth and institutional reputation. But with two-thirds of them being public institutions, they too could not shield themselves from the effects of the recent financial crisis.

This provoked several public institutions to begin recruiting international students, and this is evident from the much higher enrolment growth at some of the large public universities. For instance, Purdue University and the University of Washington each enrolled almost 3,000 more international students in the autumn of 2012 than the autumn of 2008.

When we look closely at the details of that expansion, we can see that research universities have witnessed a larger expansion in the enrolment of undergraduates than graduates. For example, at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA), new international undergraduate student enrolment grew seven-fold – from 142 to 1,012 – between 2008 and 2012.

This is one example of many that show how research universities are attracting more and more undergraduate-level international students – a new phenomenon for these institutions known for their research excellence, an excellence that traditionally drew graduate students.

This trend towards an increasing undergraduate focus is driven by a fall in the funding available at graduate level and a higher revenue potential for self-funded undergraduate students. This pattern prevails across all institution types as international student growth is driven by undergraduate students.

In 2011-12, 24,793 more undergraduate international students than in the previous year were enrolled in US higher education institutions as compared to 3,856 at graduate level. Undergraduate-level students now make up 78% of total international student enrolment.

Thus, it is undeniable that recent growth in international student enrolment in the US is driven by an overarching trend: large public research universities reaching out to increasing numbers of undergraduate-level students.

Next phase of growth

In order to capitalise on the potential for the next phase of enrolment growth, US institutions must continue to build their internal capacity to actively recruit international students. This growth may be risky if institutions rely on quick-fix recruitment practices rather than long-term capacity building models.

In addition to insufficient institutional preparedness for the changing environment of international student recruitment, lack of a coherent national policy has also hindered the US from attracting more international students.

However, recent proactive measures taken by US government agencies, such as providing information through Study in the States, will nationally brand American higher education for international students. In addition, recent policy initiatives like offering green cards to STEM graduates will make the US even more attractive to international talent.

The US is a recent entrant in the world of international student recruitment and will remain highly attractive to international students from all parts of the world. The central challenge for the US is not its unsustainability, but rather building the capacity and competencies required to recruit international students while maintaining high standards.

* Dr Rahul Choudaha is director of research and advisory services at World Education Services in New York. He is an international higher education specialist with a focus on student mobility, transnational education and enrolment management. He earned his PhD in higher education administration from the University of Denver and blogs and tweets (@DrEducationBlog) on higher education trends. Email: rchoudah@wes.org.
 

CHINA: Chinese attracted to branded British universities

China Daily09 December 2012 Issue No:251

 

What we perceive to be the best of British products for cars and clothes are the shiny labels – those that scream: "I am the best". Yet, carrying a Cambridge University certificate into a Fortune 500 company interview in Beijing screams that out loud, too, for Chinese nationals, writes Elizabeth Gasson for China Daily.

Chinese account for 22.6% of the total non-EU international population in Britain, according to statistics provided by the Higher Education Statistics Agency for 2010-11. Therefore, it is an imperative market to uphold for the Brits, who rely heavily on international funding to bolster their universities.

"They [Chinese] like brand names. The more unobtainable it is, the better," says Jazreel Goh,marketing director of the British Council. "They want to be seen."

Emma Leech, marketing director of Nottingham University, winner of the 2011 International Brand Master award, says: "I think we are one of the strongest brands in China because predominantly we've been established for a while and we are fairly well networked in China."

Full report on the China Daily site

PHILIPPINES: Institutions use courts to save ‘sub-standard’ programmes

Philippine Daily Inquirer09 December 2012 Issue No:251

 

The Commission on Higher Education, or CHEd, has decried the “enrolment by injunction” tactic of institutions that were ordered last year to close down programmes that did not meet government quality standards, writes Dona Z Pazzibugan for Philippine Daily Inquirer.

CHEd Legal Services Director Carmelita Yadao-Sison said these institutions had been defying CHEd and accepting students for banned programmes by getting injunctions from the trial courts. Sison said a trial court’s injunction order would defeat CHEd’s efforts to weed out college programmes that have not been offering quality education while making money from students.

In October 2011, CHEd ordered the closure of all courses of the International Academy of Management and Economics (IAME); two maritime courses of PMI Colleges in its Manila and Quezon City campuses; as well as five baccalaureate programmes and a masters programme at Harvardian College in San Fernando City. Sison said IAME still accepted foreign students and had managed to operate even after the Supreme Court and the Office of the President dismissed an appeal by IAME President Emmanuel Santos.

Full report on the Inquirer News site 

UNITED KINGDOM: Foreign exchange costs eased for international students

David Jobbins09 December 2012 Issue No:251

Universities’ increasingly important revenues from international students are being seriously depleted by foreign exchange charges on fees and other transactions.

In the UK alone universities spend £34 million (US$54 million) a year in foreign exchange charges, given that approximately 35% of international students make up to three payments a year by international bank transfer at a charge of £6 a transaction, with the remainder using credit cards, which carry a 1.6% surcharge each time.

But using a new system established by a UK-based company, Uni-Pay, the costs are reduced to nothing. International students pay their fees in local currencies in their home countries and the university receives payments in domestic currency (Pounds Sterling in the case of the UK).

So far six universities in the UK have signed up to the scheme and others in Colombia and Russia are in the pipeline.

But the system offers other advantages, according to Uni-pay Managing Director Simon Read.

One is the ability to demonstrate that payments have been made as part of the UK visa application process.

Students need a Certificate of Acceptance to Study (CAS) from their university, which is not normally issued until receipt of an initial deposit is confirmed.

“Most universities that receive a high volume of payments by international bank transfer will tell you that it is not easy to reconcile all of the international payments received in their bank account to individual students,” Read says.

“The correct reference is often not included on the bank statement and the amount is less than it should be due to banks creaming off their own charges.

“The net result is stressed out admissions or finance staff trying desperately to reconcile payments at peak periods, and a poor experience for the student at one of their first points of contact with their prospective university.”

Under the Uni-pay system all payments are fully reconciled for the university and the student as soon as funds are cleared, and the university can issue the CAS sooner and the student can apply for their visa earlier.

Two of the UK universities using the service are Durham and Manchester Metropolitan (MMU).

Clare Butcher, deputy director of finance at Durham, says: “It’s all been very smooth, easy and straightforward. I want to get more students using it. We will definitely be promoting this payment service further to overseas students in the coming year.”

And Paul Sheil, finance manager at MMU, added: “Our overseas students often find it difficult, costly and time consuming to transfer funds that are tied up in their home country, and this can lead to unnecessary dispute whilst we await payment.

“Increased choice in payment options is an important part of our student offering and we have seen positive interest in Uni-Pay, which is really encouraging.” 

SINGAPORE: Opposition, US professors weigh into Yale-NUS freedom debate

Adele Yung and Yojana Sharma07 December 2012 Issue No:251

 

The debate about academic freedom at the new Yale-National University of Singapore (NUS) liberal arts college has continued unabated, with Singaporean opposition politicians and American university professors adding their voices to the barrage of criticism of the venture.

The Association of American University Professors (AAUP), which has some 47,000 members, this week expressed “growing concern about the character and impact” of the new Yale-NUS College on academic and personal freedoms.

In an open letter posted on Tuesday and addressed to the ‘Yale community’, AAUP called for all documents and agreements relating to the establishment of the Yale-NUS College to be released by the Singaporean authorities.

Some Yale faculty have complained of a lack of transparency and discussion by Yale management on the setting up of the college, which will open in August 2013. Some 40 faculty members have already been appointed.

Yale has not made the specifics of its arrangement with the Singaporean government public and Singapore’s Education Minister Heng Swee Keat said in a response in September to a parliamentary question that the ministry was unable to divulge collaboration fees and other confidential details between Singapore’s universities and overseas partnering universities.

The US concern came as Singapore’s opposition Democratic Party Secretary General Chee Soon Juan and Reform Party of Singapore Secretary General Kenneth Jeyaretnam said that Yale’s motives for creating the college needed to be “reevaluated”.

They questioned Yale’s reasons for setting up the college and suggested that the US university was disregarding its established academic goals in order to “simply line [its] own pockets”.

Panel discussion

Speaking at a panel discussion on 30 November, sponsored by the Yale International Relations Association and the Council on Southeast Asia Studies at Yale, Chee urged the “US and its institutions like Yale not to be complicit in helping the ruling People's Action Party to oppress and exploit Singaporeans”.

Chee, a former National University of Singapore (NUS) neuropsychology lecturer who was dismissed from the post when he joined the opposition party in 1993, pointed out that students at the new college would not be allowed to form organisations affiliated to political parties.

“We had hoped that given Yale’s proud history, it would not allow Singapore’s government, or any other government, to dictate the kind of experience it provides for its students,” Chee said.

“But my worst fears were confirmed when it was declared that Yale-NUS would not allow certain political activities”, such as organising political parties and related events.

Chee and Jeyaretnam said political pressure in Singapore could come in the form of visits by the police. Students could be asked by the government to monitor “exactly what professors are teaching”.

Jeyaretnam added that in Singapore, opposition party politicians, national media and bloggers who try to circumvent state control were routinely threatened with defamation suits by the government, which he said had created a “climate of fear” about criticising the ruling party.

AAUP letter

Independently of the politicians’ remarks, but responding to growing concerns, the AAUP called on Yale to guarantee “provisions to ensure academic freedom and tenure and collegial governance”, including “anti-harassment and anti-discrimination provisions and rights to procedural fairness”.

Yale also needed to establish “genuinely open forums” in which the academic and political implications of the new campus could be reviewed, discussed and modified as necessary, the AAUP letter said.

Among the risks to students and faculty it listed were campus speeches, internet postings, email messages and broadcast lectures that may be critical of the Singapore government, laws and officials.

It questioned whether independent internet access, not subject to Singapore’s firewalls or to its monitoring systems, could be guaranteed at Yale-NUS.

Referring to the country’s censorship rules, it raised the issue of whether Yale-NUS faculty, staff and students – including Singaporean nationals – and the institution’s libraries would be exempt from restrictions on importation of publications or periodicals, and whether the right to invite speakers to campus would be compromised by restrictions on visitors to Singapore.

The AAUP also highlighted the issue of the working conditions for non-US staff and workers on the Singapore campus, including those working on its construction, maintenance and services.

This has become a hot topic and has been raised by human rights organisations and others after the Singapore government last week revoked the work permits of more than two dozen bus drivers from China and deported them for striking over discriminatory pay compared to other migrant workers.

In the Yale Daily News on Wednesday, Yale-NUS President Pericles Lewis said the new college had shown strong commitment to academic freedom.

“The AAUP doesn’t seem to have looked at the documents Yale-NUS has circulated already, such as the principles on academic freedom and non-discrimination,” Lewis said. “It has made assumptions without really investigating the matter.”

Lewis has previously said that "any college or university must obey the laws of the countries where it operates", and that academic freedom would be a "bedrock principle" of the college.

Yale University, in a response to the AAUP, said policies provided for a committee of Yale and NUS faculty to review complaints on discrimination or infringement of academic freedom. It said it did not receive any payment for its participation in Yale-NUS, although expenses incurred were reimbursed. 

CHINA: 1,000 university leaders to receive ‘upgrade’ training abroad

Yojana Sharma09 December 2012 Issue No:251

 

China is stepping up its overseas training programme for presidents and vice presidents of public universities as it looks to upgrade higher education to compete with world-class systems and top universities internationally.

Some 1,000 university presidents and vice presidents will be sent to the United States, Britain, Australia and Germany for leadership training courses beginning this month, under a new 80 million yuan (US$12.8 million) programme over five years, the Ministry of Education has announced.

China’s Vice-minister of Education Hao Ping said in mid-November, in remarks carried by the official Xinhua news agency, that the training would help university presidents to understand how higher education in developed countries has evolved and to learn about university management reforms.

In addition, overseas exposure for university leaders would help boost exchanges with institutions abroad, Hao has said.

The leadership scheme will be funded by the philanthropic Lee Shau Kee Foundation, created by the Hong Kong billionaire businessman of the same name, and the Pei Hua Foundation set up by a large number of wealthy Hong Kong businesspeople, including Lee Shau Kee, to train Chinese personnel.

Oxford training

A group of 23 university leaders and administrators will arrive at Oxford University from 9 December for three weeks of training under the ministry scheme, at Oxford’s Leadership and Public Policy programme at a cost of up to £5,000 (US$8,000) per person including accommodation.

Chinese university leaders will not only look at Oxford’s unique system. “We want to show similarities and differences, what’s common to the system and what’s the historical trajectory of each university,” said Alan Hudson, director of Leadership Programmes for China at Oxford.

“We also do international comparisons and try to relate it to the experience in China – looking at what Chinese people want from the university system, and how to move from a model that is effectively politically controlled to one which is academically determined – but still within the constraints of the Chinese system – both at an administrative level and at a strategic level.”

Some 4,000 Chinese officials, around a third of them higher education officials, have already passed through the Oxford leadership programme, which has been training Chinese officials for almost nine years.

Hudson told University World News: “Each programme is bespoke,” depending on the interests and seniority of the participants, and includes visits to other universities. However evaluation of curriculum and assessment of students is a major component.

According to one previous participant, who declined to be named, university leaders had asked to sit in on university senate meetings to understand how they operate, even though such open debate was unlikely to be replicated in China, he admitted.

US training

The University of Michigan (UM) at Ann Arbor in the United States has also been training higher education leaders from China.

“Primarily, we [show them] what it takes to run a major research university. For example, they are interested in the way we work in concert with our public officials,” said Constance Cook, associate vice provost for academic affairs at UM at Ann Arbor and director of the 2012 Michigan China-University Forum, which welcomed almost two dozen university leaders and administrators from China.

China has an interest in UM because it receives more research funding than any other public university in the US and is seen as a well-managed university, according to Cook, a professor of higher education. “Many of our faculty have gone on to lead other universities.”

“Michigan is a public university just as the elite Chinese universities are,” Cook explained. “We help China’s university presidents understand university management and bring in more international learning styles.”

Michigan has been running such leadership courses, mainly for university leaders and administrators from China’s western provinces, for around six years.

Central and western provinces falling behind

“China has been sending university leaders abroad on short courses for many years, in groups as large as 25 to 30. They usually send from fairly major universities, but recently the emphasis has shifted to [universities in] inland and western regions,” said Yang Rui, associate professor of education at Hong Kong University.

China’s education ministry has also said that leadership training will focus on universities in central and western provinces. According to China Education Daily newspaper, this emphasis ties in with a regional plan to revitalise universities in underdeveloped regions.

Western and central provinces have fallen behind the fast-growing eastern and coastal cities, particularly in the proportion of school-leavers able to secure a university place, according to a number of studies.

Academics have also noted that institutions in the centre and west of the country do not have the exposure to overseas universities achieved by prestigious universities in Beijing and China’s wealthier eastern and coastal provinces, which have strong exchange programmes with overseas institutions.

The most prestigious Chinese universities have also been able to attract academics and university leaders with many years of experience at top universities in the West. A large number have been lured by special packages under the government’s talent return programmes in the past 10-15 years, designed to strengthen the country’s human capital and compete with advanced economies.

According to some reports, in Shanghai – the first city to encourage returnee academics and researchers – 80% of presidents, deans, department chairs and leaders in specific academic fields in the city’s 40 higher education institutions are returnees.

While the emphasis for China’s most prestigious universities has been on building up research to internationally competitive levels, rising graduate unemployment has led to an interest in how to better prepare students for the labour market.

“Right now in China there is a lot of emphasis on better faculty and curricular development and better teaching skills. The [education] ministry is trying to make all institutions better at teaching,” Cook told University World News.

Differences between East and West

But some question whether Western higher education systems, with their greater university autonomy and academic freedom, can be imported wholesale into China, with its very different academic and political culture.

Although some top-tier universities are being given more autonomy, this still does not compare with the autonomy of universities in the West. “I don’t think you will see that kind of thing in China in the near future,” said Yang Rui.

Yang pointed to a “catch-up mentality” that obsesses some officials, who want China to be as good as the West. “Although this is understandable they should not focus too much on this. Western [university] autonomy and democracy cannot be easily borrowed in China.”

Creating more globally significant universities in China “would need a change in the political environment. Control from government [over universities] has become worse rather than less in recent years,” said Yang, although he added that broader perspectives and understanding of how universities are run in other countries would benefit the people who go on the courses.

“The mindset is predominantly instrumental – go to America, Australia and Britain, report back, assemble all the information and make better informed decisions,” said Hudson.

Cook noted: “The Chinese never simply adopt what they see; instead, they search for good ideas and then adapt them to their own environment.”

She added: “The Chinese Ministry of Education is very enlightened in its approach to university improvements; it is trying to reduce centralisation and increase institutional decision-making in order to foster greater quality.”

Siem Reap International Airport Passes 2-Million Visitor Mark

By Ben Woods - December 4, 2012

More than 2 million visitors have passed through Siem Reap International Airport since the start of the year, marking the greatest number of annual air passengers to transit any Cambodian airport, Cambodia Airports announced yesterday.


“At Siem Reap International Airport, we broke the 2 million passengers mark [for the] year…. This is the first time in Cambodia,” said Khek Norinda, communications manager at Cambodia Airports, which operates the Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Sihanoukville international airports.

Total handling capacity for both Phnom Penh and Siem Reap airports is 2.5 million passengers per year, according to Cambodia Airports, which has plans to expand the two facilities.

But while the number of international visitors to Cambodia is increasing steadily each year, experts say this growth is largely driven by Asian tourists, who have a lesser financial impact on the local economy than their European and American counterparts.

According to the Ministry of Tourism, nearly 2.9 million people arrived in Cambodia by land, air and sea during the first 10 months of the year, up from 2.3 million during the same period last year, a 24 percent increase.

Most visitors were Vietnamese, followed by South Koreans and Chinese.
Laos and Thailand, however, saw the most dramatic increases compared to last year, and the number of Lao tourists in Cambodia almost doubled from 106,000 in 2011 to 201,000 so far this year. Thai tourists increased from 91,000 to 160,000 during the same period.

In contrast, tourists from the U.S. and France—both of which have strong historical ties with Cambodia —accounted for only 8 percent of total visitors so far this year.

Emmett McHenry, general manager of the Sokha Angkor Resort in Siem Reap, said the province has seen a drop in tourists from countries such as Spain, Italy, Portugal and the U.K., attributing the trend to the recent economic recession in Europe. Mr. McHenry said that visitors to Siem Reap from neighboring countries such as Vietnam, Thailand and Laos are increasing most rapidly.

Rainer Deyhle, president of the Foreign Business Owners Association of Cambodia, said that tourists from Vietnam, South Korea and China often pay for group tour packages—which include flights, accommodation, food and in-country travel—while still in their home countries, meaning they spend almost no money in Cambodia.

“They’re not spending any [money] here; they paid already at home…. They stay in a group,” Mr. Deyhle said, noting a recent decline in the number of Western tourists, who contribute to local businesses by staying in upscale hotels and dining in high-end restaurants.

“People from Europe, they spend very well,” said Luu Meng, president of the Cambodia Hotel Association, adding that better transportation options and higher standards of cleanliness in hotels and restaurants would increase the number of wealthy tourists visiting Cambodia.

Cambodia Retains Its Reputation for Corruption

By Lauren Crothers - December 6, 2012

Cambodia continues to rank among the most corrupt countries in the world and much needs to be done to enforce the Anti-Corruption Law and investigate allegations of corruption, Transparency International (T.I.) Cambodia said yesterday.


According to T.I.’s 2012 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), Cambodia ranked 157th among 176 countries and territories listed, with a score of just 22 out of 100—a slight improvement on last year’s ranking of 164.

“The CPI score for 2012 indicates that Cambodia is still perceived as a highly corrupt country,” T.I. said in a statement.

“For corruption to be reduced in Cambodia there is a need for further progress in the enforcement of the Anti-Corruption Law and an increase in the capacity and outreach of the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) to effectively investigate corruption cases and bring them to court.”

Transparency also said the government needs to pass an Access to Information Law in order to make the state budget and other important financial decisions made by the government more transparent and “improve the effectiveness of the anti-corruption law enforcement.”

The Central African Republic and war-torn Syria fared better than Cambodia on the index, with joint rankings of 144. Mexico, in which a long-running and grisly drug war has claimed thousands of lives, also rated higher, ranking 105th in the world. Regionally, only Laos (160/21) and Burma (172/15) fared worse than Cambodia.

Neighboring Thailand was ranked 88th with a score of 37, while Vietnam came 123rd with 31 points. Among the Asean member nations, Brunei was judged the “cleanest,” with a rank of 46th and score of 55.
Speaking at a press conference to launch the report, Preap Kol, executive director of T.I.’s Cambodia office, likened corruption to HIV, saying that it infected many levels of society from education and health services to human rights and the judicial system.

Mr. Kol added that Cambodians “should have access to decent health care and education without paying bribes and fees.”

In a statement, T.I. Board of Directors Chairman Rath Sophal said law enforcement is crucial to minimizing corruption.

“Fighting corruption requires unwavering political will and determination of the government in terms of having an adequate legal framework and governance mechanisms that minimize the opportunity for corruption along with consistent enforcement,” he said.

Since its inception in 2010, the ACU has received hundreds of complaints detailing allegations of corruption, though only four arrests have been made so far. The most high profile of the arrests was Moek Dara, former head of the National Authority for Combating Drugs, who is serving life in prison on a raft of drug trafficking and bribery charges.

When asked how the ACU could improve, Mr. Kol said it is suffering from a lack of capacity.
“They don’t have the full capacity to investigate those cases,” Mr. Kol said. He also said he questioned the independence of the unit, which once had a statue of Prime Minister Hun Sen in its courtyard, but removed the effigy as it apparently displeased the prime minister.

Mr. Kol said corruption also impacted the economic sector and investment in particular. “If a company pays a bribe, they can be subject to sanctions in their own countries,” he said.
Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said the T.I. scorecard results were encouraging, but not reflective of the situation on the ground.

“I hope everyone on Earth understands that Cambodia is in a state of transformation,” he said. “We are reforming throughout the hierarchy of the government agencies. We should reform because the government will be a better service provider. That’s our goal.”
Mr. Siphan cited the ACU and the Anti-Corruption Law as examples of the effort the government has made to clean up graft, but said that all levels of society from government to NGOs needed to work together to stamp out the problem.

“It’s the government’s intention to fight corruption and change people’s mindsets.”
Mr. Siphan also noted that corruption in the U.S., which is ranked 19th on this year’s list, was the primary catalyst for the global financial crisis, but that Washington had a “sophisticated system” to deal with it.
Thun Saray, president of rights group Adhoc, said corruption pervades many tiers of society, but that the “poor and vulnerable” are affected the most.

“It creates more unhappiness of the people, and also creates social instability if we allow this kind of disease,” he said. “I think we have to acknowledge it and continue to collaborate to fight this social problem.”

David Carter, CEO of Infinity Insurance and president of the Australian Business Association, said Cambodia had come a long way in terms of its development, and that many developing countries wrestle with the problem of corruption.

“If you look at where the place has come from to here, it’s no surprise that corruption still remains an issue,” Mr. Carter said. “But it has improved dramatically in that time…and that might not be apparent in [the] report.”

© 2012, The Cambodia Daily. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced in print, electronically, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without written permission.

Angkor Wat site in danger: Deputy PM

Friday, 07 December 2012

Thik Kaliyann

In a rare acknowledgement of deforestation concerns, Deputy Prime Minister Sok An, chairman of the National Commission for UNESCO, said the widespread clearing of forests around Angkor Wat was harming views of the historic temple complex.

Sok An made the remarks in Siem Reap at a Plenary Session of the International Co-ordinating Committee for the Safeguarding and Development of the Historic Site of Angkor (ICC-Angkor) on Wednesday, and stressed that the forest, known as Phnom Kulen, was degraded and needed immediate attention.

“I’ve known that Phnom Kulen is endangered now, thus this plateau region needs urgent protection,” he said, calling for a halt to all forest clearing which “affects our view of our national park”.

Sok An also called on Siem Reap provincial governor Sou Phirin to co-operate with the APSARA Authority and UNESCO to protect the national park.

Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said that the Phnom Kulen issue was on the government’s radar.

“In the meeting, we’re paying attention to Phnom Kulen,” he said. “It’s becoming an endangered place.”

According to Siphan, talks are ongoing about problems posed by both flooding and groundwater fluctuations, which are thought to be causing some temples to sink, which in turn causes structural damage.

“We are still discussing surface water, and we have to make sure that there’s no flooding in the temples and Siem Reap city,” he said.

In September the Italian government donated $200,000 to repair an embankment and stairway in the temple’s moat that were damaged by floods.

Angkor marks its 20th year on UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites this year, but, due to the national mourning for King Father Norodom Sihanouk, who played a key role in Angkor’s addition to the list, anniversary celebrations will be postponed until the World Heritage Committee meeting in June.

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To contact the reporter on this story: Thik Kaliyann at kaliyann.thik@phnompenhpost.com