The Royal Government of Cambodia has regularly used rhetoric of foreign interference to accuse members of civil society organisations and opposition political parties of collaborating with international actors to corrupt Cambodian society. For example, in 2017, Kem Sokha, former leader of the opposition party CNRP – which was dissolved by the Supreme Court in the same year – was arrested for treason, and accused of colluding with the United States to topple the Cambodian government. The ruling party has implemented several measures such as amending the constitution to ban Cambodians holding dual nationalities from holding high-ranking political positions, citing the need to strengthen national loyalty and restrict foreign interference.

Against this backdrop, will the foreign interference bogeyman continue to be a central campaign rhetoric by the ruling party CPP in the upcoming general elections in July 2023? In this podcast episode, Chhengpor Aun talks to Asia Centre about foreign interference, elections, and politics in Cambodia.

Chhengpor Aun is a graduate student at the Hertie School in Berlin, studying international relations and security. Until 2022, he was the deputy bureau chief for the Voice of America in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. A journalist for eight years, he covered Cambodian and Southeast Asian politics, China-U.S. competitions in the Indo-Pacific, and human rights.

This podcast episode is part of the Foreign Interference Laws in Southeast Asia series, in partnership with the Japan NGO Centre for International Cooperation. To learn more about foreign interference laws, read Foreign Interference Laws in Southeast Asia: Deepening the Shrinkage of Civic Space.