VZCZCXRO2719
RR RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHPF #0958/01 3561021
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 221021Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY PHNOM PENH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1500
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 2596
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1717

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PHNOM PENH 000958 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PREF PGOV PHUM PREL CB
SUBJECT: CAMBODIAN ABOUT FACE ON UIGHUR ASYLUM SEEKERS PORTRAYED IN 
THE MEDIA 
 
REF: PHNOM PENH 954 AND PREVIOUS 
 
¶1. SUMMARY:  The Cambodian press has been following the plight of 
the Uighur asylum seekers since their presence in Cambodia became 
widely known on December 4.  The media excerpts tell an 
extraordinary story in itself, and offer a revealing picture of the 
Cambodian government's reversal from originally accepting the 
Uighurs' status of "persons of concern," to eventually rejecting 
them as "illegal immigrants" with ties to a terrorist organization 
in China.  They were ultimately deported on December 19.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. Begin excerpts: 
 
Dec. 5 The Cambodia Daily:  Ministry of Interior spokesman General 
Khieu Sopheak - "the Uighurs are applying for refugee status in 
Cambodia.  There are 16 here and they are under the sponsorship of 
the UNHCR in Phnom Penh". 
 
Dec. 7 The Cambodia Daily:  Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) 
spokesman Khieu Kanharith upped the number of Uighurs from 16 to 22 
and stated that he did not know where the group was and that the RGC 
was waiting for the UNHCR to take the lead. 
Dec. 7 Voice of America Khmer service:  Ministry of Foreign Affairs 
spokesman Koy Kuong said he has spoken to a UNHCR official who 
confirmed that 22 Uighurs, including three children, are now under 
UNHCR care in Phnom Penh. 
"The ministry is now waiting for recommendations from UNHCR on their 
final decision for the 22 'persons of concern'" Koy Kuong said, 
adding that the government would cooperate with the agency. 
Khieu Sopheak said Monday the government had not yet received any 
information from UNHCR. "If the government learns the Uighurs have 
no legal documents, they will be returned to their port of entry." 
Dec. 9 The Cambodia Daily:  Khieu Kanharith stated that the RGC had 
not received official confirmation that the group was in the country 
and would not speculate on the potential response.  Khmer language 
press quoted Khieu Kanharith as saying that the RGC would not deport 
the group if they faced execution but he later denied this. 
Dec 16 The Cambodia Daily:  Chinese spokeswoman in Beijing accused 
Uighurs in Cambodia of being "wanted criminals". 
Dec. 17 The Cambodia Daily:  National Police spokesman Kirth 
Chantharith said the police have no instructions to round up the 
group and that they are "under the protection of the UNHCR".  Koy 
Koung stated that "The UNHCR and the Cambodian authorities are 
cooperating with each other to interview them.  Right now we have to 
discuss about the procedure to review their applications."  He added 
that the interviews had not yet begun. 
Dec. 17 Voice of America Khmer service: Cambodia is cooperating with 
the UN's refugee agency in Phnom Penh to determine the status of 22 
Uighur asylum seekers who fled China, officials said Wednesday. 
China has meanwhile sent a diplomatic note to the government 
concerning the status of the Uighurs, said Koy Kuong, a spokesman 
for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 
"Our Cambodian position is not to do anything yet," Koy Kuong said. 
"We are waiting for the results of their interviews, because now 
they have received 'persons of concern' status. With this, they are 
not yet up to refugee status, so they are still cooperating with 
Cambodian authorities in interviews to decide who is a real 
refugee." 
Cambodian officials have said that they will return anyone who does 
not receive refugee status. 
UNHCR's country director, Toshitsuki Kawauchi, said local 
authorities have cooperated with the agency.  He declined to speak 
specifically about the Uighurs, but said there was "no information 
that any asylum seekers or refugees are in danger." 
Dec 17 Phnom Penh Post: Koy Kuong, spokesman for the Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs, said Amnesty's concerns were "premature," and that 
the government, with UNHCR's assistance, was conducting interviews 
to determine whether the Uighurs are eligible for refugee status. 
 
"China and Cambodia are both sovereign states, so neither one can 
put pressure on the other," he said. 
 
"It is premature for Amnesty International to say that the Chinese 
government will put pressure on the Cambodian government. This idea 
is wrong." 
 
Koy Kuong said he did not know whether the Uighur issue would be 
raised during upcoming talks with Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, 
who is scheduled to arrive in Cambodia for a two-day visit Sunday. 
Dec. 18 Voice of America Khmer service:  The Chinese Muslims from 
China's restive Xinjiang province, the site of violent anti-Chinese 
protests in July, entered Cambodia last month and were given a 
"people of concern" status by the UN refugee agency before they and 
were taken to police custody for violating immigration law. 
"They are not real refugees," Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu 
Sopheak told VOA Khmer by phone late Friday night. "They will have 
to leave Cambodia in no later than one week." 
Earlier reports said that twenty-two Uighurs, including three 
children, arrived in Cambodia overland, but in an interview with VOA 
 
PHNOM PENH 00000958  002 OF 002 
 
 
on Friday spokesman for Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Koy Kuong, said 
authorities are now taking control of only 20 and have no knowledge 
of two others. 
Dec. 19 The Cambodia Daily:  General Khieu Sopheak stated that the 
Uighurs are "criminals escaping from China and involved with a 
terrorist organization in China.  If they were really refugees, how 
did they know where the UNHCR office is in Phnom Penh?  And when 
they arrived in Cambodia they had their people pick them up from the 
ferry.  We don't care if China asks us or not.  They are illegal 
immigrants so we have to apply the law.  They are going back the way 
they came." 
 
Koy Koung stated that the RGC considers them illegal immigrants 
because they entered the country without documentation.  "They came 
illegally, without passports or visas, and they violated Cambodian 
immigration law and they have to be expelled from the country." 
 
Dec. 21 The Cambodia Daily: General Khieu Sopheak noted that 20 of 
the 22 Uighurs who sought refuge in Cambodia were put on a plane to 
China at about 9pm on Saturday night.  "They were deported at 9 
o'clock last night.  They went back on a Chinese plane".  He also 
said the government decided to send the asylum seekers back to China 
after an investigation revealed that they were criminals connected 
to a terrorist group in China, which he declined to name.  "They 
were led to Cambodia by a leader of a terrorist group, but I do not 
want to mention the name.  If they are civilians why didn't they 
report to the Cambodian government?" he asked. 
 
Spokesman for the Council of Ministers Phay Siphan stated that the 
Uighurs were named in a "Chinese criminal list" and that the 
government had deported them because of its "obligations as a 
sovereign state".  He attributed the government's decision to 
Cambodia's poverty, stating that "Cambodia is a poor country which 
cannot feed the Uighurs for very long.  We practiced the law as 
written since they were criminals". 
 
Dec. 22 Phnom Penh Post: "China has thanked the government of 
Cambodia for assisting in sending back those people to China, 
because they are criminals under Chinese law," government spokesman 
Khieu Kanarith told reporters after a ceremony in which Chinese Vice 
President Xi Jinping and senior Cambodian officials signed 14 
economic aid agreements totaling US$1.2 billion. 
 
Dec. 22 Voice of America Khmer service: Foreign Ministry 
spokesperson Koy Koung responded to criticism of the government's 
deportation of 20 Uighur asylum seekers  by stating "the 
international community continually urges Cambodia to respect the 
rule of law and that is what the government is doing in this case". 
He noted that the immigration law of 1994 had been used in this 
situation and that the law was applied fairly and without 
discrimination.  Mr. Kuong also noted that the image of Cambodia 
will not be undermined by the deportation of the Uighurs since the 
government was applying its own laws to illegal immigrants who had 
entered the country without proper documentation. 
 
ALLEGRA