DAP: The breaking news in Cambodia: “Cambodia frees Thai female to mark funeral of late ex-King Sihanouk” plus 5 more

JAKARTA, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- Secretary-General of the Association of South East Asia Nations (ASEAN) Le Luong Minh has stressed China and ASEAN should further strengthen dialogue and cooperation and bring the bilateral relationship to a higher level.

Le Luong Minh, who officially assumed his position as ASEAN secretary-general on Jan. 9 this year, told Xinhua in an exclusive interview here Thursday that China-ASEAN relations have undergone remarkable progress since the two parties established the full dialogue partnership in 1996.

"China-ASEAN relations have developed into one of ASEAN's most comprehensive, dynamic and fast-growing partnerships," Minh said.

ASEAN-China Dialogue Relations commenced when Qian Qichen, the then Chinese state councilor and foreign minister, attended the opening session of the 24th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting (AMM) where he expressed China's keen interest to cooperate with ASEAN for mutual benefit in 1991 in Kuala Lumpur. Five years later, China was accorded full Dialogue Partner status at the 29th AMM in Jakarta.

The secretary-general said in the past years ASEAN and China have been actively engaging each other through various mechanisms of regional cooperation such as ASEAN plus One, ASEAN plus Three, the ASEAN Regional Forum and East Asian Summit to pursue concerted efforts in addressing issues of common concern and interest.

Minh appreciated China's support to ASEAN's integration and community building endeavor, saying a strong, stable, united and peaceful ASEAN is very much in the interest of the region and neighboring countries including China.

"For the community building, we have a lot of work to be done from now to 2015. We have seen many potentials for furthering cooperation between China and ASEAN," said Minh, adding that China can participate in the projects of ASEAN's community building process.

The ten ASEAN countries -- Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam adopted in 2008 a charter aiming to form by 2015 a "community" based on three main pillars, namely ASEAN Political-Security Community, ASEAN Economic Community and ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community.

The ASEAN chief said China and ASEAN need to continue engagement and deepen existing cooperation while exploring new areas of collaboration. Both sides should work closely on, among others, implementing ASEAN Connectivity activities and addressing the challenges.

In this regard, he saw potentials in the areas of disaster management, disease prevention and control, cultural exchange and tourism.

Talking about the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership ( RCEP) negotiation launched at the 19th ASEAN Summit last November, Minh said the free trade pact is expected to further promote intra- regional trade and investment and economic cooperation within East Asia.

Sixteen countries including China, Japan, South Korea, India, New Zealand, Australia and ASEAN members are aiming to establish a regional trade and economic alliance to promote greater flow of goods and services, which has around 3.5 billion people and accounts for one third of the world's current annual GDP.

Minh said the RCEP will be the biggest single market in the world, even bigger than the traditional markets of the United States and the European Union.

He admitted challenges are there for the RCEP talks, saying, " The participates in the negotiating countries are very different in the level of economic development, we have the most advanced countries like Japan, South Korea, and China, and also we have countries with the low level of economic development."

"Given the resolve and the commitment of all the parties concerned, I am convinced that the RECP target will be achieved," Minh said.

PHNOM PENH, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- An estimated 1 million mourners took part in a funeral procession on Friday to move the body of late Cambodian former King Norodom Sihanouk from the royal palace to an ornate, custom-built crematorium in a park in the capital's parks.

The body of the most revered monarch, who died of illness at the age of 90 in Beijing on October 15 last year, was transported in a Khmer architectural float from the palace, where it has been exhibited for more than 3 months, and paraded through the city to the cremation site.

As the body began to leave the palace at around 08:45 a.m. local time, the 101-gun artilleries salute was fired in honor of the late King Father and Buddhist monks chanted in religious language, while mourners, handed with lotus flowers, wreaths, or Sihanouk's portraits, silently walked in the procession.

Among the mourners are Sihanouk's wife Queen Mother Norodom Monineath and his son King Norodom Sihamoni, President of the Senate Chea Sim, President of the National Assembly Heng Samrin and Prime Minister Hun Sen.

The procession ceremony was live televised through all local television channels and most of the radio stations.

All marchers, worn white shirts with black ribbons pinned to them in a sign of mourning, walked in the parade in the distance of 6 kilometers, starting from the palace onto Sisowath Quay along the riverside towards historical site Wat Phnom, and then marching on Norodom boulevard to the Independence Monument before reaching the crematorium at the Veal Preah Meru Square next to the palace.

Screams of crying among some of the mourners were heard along the roads wherever the parade had reached.

The country commenced a week-long mourning for the late King from February 1-7. During the period, all radios, television stations and entertainment places are not allowed to broadcast joyful spectacles, performances, and concerts, while national flags are instructed to fly at half-mast.

The late monarch's body arrived at the crematorium at 12:00 p. m., and the artilleries salute was fired for the second time to mark the arrival. Sihanouk's body will be kept at the site for three days before it is cremated on February 4 in an elaborate Buddhist ceremony.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said in a recently public speech that the funeral is the largest of all in the country's king funeral history.

"We hold it in order to express our deepest gratitude to the King Father for his royal crusades to gain independence from France in 1953," he said. "The funeral gives us the chance to bid a final farewell to him."

One of the mourners said that the former King Father was the great King, who brought the country peace, national reconciliation and development.

"It is a great loss for Cambodia; the former King is the hero of Cambodia," Sok Sophoan, 63, said tearfully while attending the procession. "The King Father loved his people as if he loved his children. Even though he left us, we still remember him in our hearts forever."

Born on October 31, 1922, Sihanouk ruled Cambodia from 1941 to 1955 and again from 1993 until his voluntary abdication on October 7, 2004 in favor of his son, the current King Norodom Sihamoni.

He had gone through decades of political and social turmoil in Cambodia, despite long periods of exile overseas.

During his life time, besides politics and social development, Sihanouk was a prolific amateur music and song composer. He had produced numerous works in Khmer, French and English.

The late monarch suffered from various forms of cancer, diabetes and hypertension and had been treated by Chinese doctors in Beijing for years before his death.

He wrote in a royal letter in January, 2012 that he requested his body to be cremated instead of being buried and his ashes to be put in an urn, preferably made of gold, and placed in a stupa at the Royal Palace.

Prince Sisowath Thomico, the spokesman for the Royal Cabinet and former aide to the late King Father Norodom Sihanouk, said Thursday that the urn was made of gold platinum.

HONG KONG, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong's Center for Food Safety has banned the import of poultry eggs from Cambodia due to an avian influenza outbreak in a village there.

Center for Food Safety issued the order on Thursday after being notified of the H5N1 outbreak by the World Organization for Animal Health.

The center said Hong Kong did not import live poultry or poultry meat from Cambodia, but 170,000 poultry eggs were imported from there last year.

It said the latest situation in Cambodia will be closely monitored, and the center will maintain close contact with major local egg importers, distributors and supermarkets.

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Some 40 Cambodian and U.S. military medics on Thursday concluded a three-day seminar on advanced blood safety, according to a press release from the U.S. embassy in Cambodia.

The seminar was attended by health officials from Cambodian Ministry of Defense, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, and the U.S. Pacific Command Surgeon's Office, it said.

Officials from the Cambodian National Blood Transfusion Center and the Laos National Blood Transfusion Center were also invited for the course.

The training focused on providing a safer supply of blood and blood products for patients in the region, the press release said.

Throughout the seminar, U.S. and Cambodian experts presented seminars that covered the topics of initial collection and storage of blood and blood transfusion and follow-up care, it said, adding that the Cambodian medical professionals who took part in this training gained valuable skills in providing a safer blood supply to Cambodian people.

Speaking at the closing ceremony, Lt. Gen. Kong Saly, director of the Defense Ministry's health department, said the course was very useful to build up capacity and expertise for Cambodian health officials in tasks related to safe blood transfusion.

"The seminar not only helps improve expertise for Cambodian health staff, but also create closer friendship relations between Cambodian military medics and their U.S. counterparts," he said.

Dr. Dora Warren, director of the Centers for Disease Control at the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh, said safe blood prevents transmission of HIV and hepatitis and other transmissible infections and blood transfusions are necessary for patients undergoing surgery.

She said that the United States is committed to partnering with Cambodia to improve its access to safer blood.

BEIJING, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Top Chinese political advisor Jia Qinglin will attend the royal cremation ceremony of the late Cambodian King Father Norodom Sihanouk on Feb. 4 in Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a daily press briefing that Jia, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, will also pay an official goodwill visit to Malaysia from Feb. 4 to 7 at the invitation of the country's government.

During his visit to Cambodia from Feb. 3 to 4, Jia will meet with Sihanouk's wife Queen Mother Norodom Monineath, King Norodom Sihamoni and Prime Minister Hun Sen to convey the grief of the 1.3 billion Chinese people to the late King Father Norodom Sihanouk, Hong said.

The top political advisor will express China's firm willingness to make joint efforts with Cambodia to push forward the bilateral traditional friendship from generation to generation, according to Hong.

Jia will also exchange views with the Cambodian side to further deepen China-Cambodia comprehensive strategic cooperation and on international and regional issues of common concern, Hong said.

During his visit to Malaysia, Jia will hold a series of meetings with its leaders on promoting bilateral strategic cooperation and other issues. He will also attend the launch ceremony of a cooperative industrial park, according to Hong.