Cambodian PM convenes "rare meeting" with 5,000 armed forces officials

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday held a "rare meeting" with approximately 5,000 leaders and senior officials of all types of armed forces from across the country, according to a report of the state-run National Television of Cambodia (TVK).

The meeting was held at the prime minister's Bodyguard Headquarters in southern Kandal province's Takhmao district.

"The prime minister said that he was very pleased to meet with the representatives of all armed forces and said it was a rare opportunity to meet each other in such a large scale," the TVK reported.

He expressed his high appreciation to the armed forces for their tireless efforts and commitment to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity as well as national security.

Hun Sen also urged the armed forces and civil servants to continue working together to maintain peace, political stability, security and public order, and to enhance the process of multi- party liberal democracy and the rule of law.

The meeting was convened amid the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party's repeated accusations that the Cambodian government has used the maps drawn by the Vietnamese during its occupation in the 1980s to demarcate border line with Vietnam.

However, Hun Sen defended that the maps his government is using to demarcate border line with Vietnam are authentic ones, which were deposited at the United Nations in 1964. Endi