Cambodia Denies Allegation Biden's Guards Will Kill Anyone Approaching Convoy

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th November, 2022) The Cambodian Interior Ministry on Friday denied the allegation disseminated on social media that bodyguards of US President Joe Biden would shoot anyone who approaches his motorcade during a visit for ASEAN events.

Biden will attend the ASEAN-US summit and the East Asia Summit (EAS) during the weekend. Indonesia, the country which will chair ASEAN next year, is hosting several top-level summits in its capital city, Phnom Penh, starting Friday.

"This false information has caused confusion, and the government asks that social media users stop spreading this type of fake news," ministry spokesman Gen. Khieu Sopheak told a press conference, as quoted by the Cambodian newspaper Khmer Times.

Sopheak noted that taking pictures on public roads or non-restricted areas is permitted, but at the same time he warned citizens against riding motorcycles or driving cars behind any official convoy, as it could lead to confusion over the security and safety of delegates.

On Thursday, an anonymous statement marked as official said that Phnom Penh residents must not use the Russian Federation Boulevard, one of the Cambodian capital's main streets, as it will be limited to convoys of delegates to the ASEAN summits.

"Especially on the 12th (of November) when Biden will come to Cambodia for the ASEAN Summit, so the US side has already asked the Cambodian government for permission to shoot anybody who comes too near or follows the convoy and takes photos of the US presidential delegation," Khmer Times quoted the anonymous statement.

ASEAN is a political and economic union founded in 1967 to promote economic, political, defense and cultural cooperation among Southeast Asian countries. Its 10 members include Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. China has been an ASEAN full Dialogue Partner since 1996.

EAS is an annual forum held by heads of, originally, 16 countries in the East Asian, Southeast Asian, South Asian and Oceanian regions, in accordance with the ASEAN Plus Six mechanism. In 2011, EAS membership was expanded to 18 states to include the United States and Russia.