Cambodia refuses to allow Taiwan to open trade representative office

Asian Economic News, Jan 14, 2008

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 11 Kyodo

Cambodian government said Friday it will not permit Taiwan to open a trade representative office in Cambodia as the country adheres to a one-China policy.

''The Royal Government of Cambodia will not permit any opening of branch office or other types from Taiwan in Cambodia either in the present or in the future,'' the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The statement came just days after foreign and local media ran articles saying the Taiwan External Trade Development Council, or TAITRA, was seeking to open a representative office in Cambodia.

TAITRA is Taiwan's main nonprofit trade promotion organization.

Set up by the government, industry associations and several commercial organizations in 1970 to help promote foreign trade, it currently has some 48 overseas branch offices, including in such places as Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong.

Taiwan opened a trade representative office in Cambodia in 1993, but it closed after factional fighting in Phnom Penh in 1997.

Cambodia maintains diplomatic relations with China but not with Taiwan. It adheres to a policy that there is only one China, ruled from Beijing, and that Taiwan is part of China.