Cambodia slams Australian politician for labeling Cambodia as "beast"

Cambodia on Wednesday strongly condemned Hong Lim, Member of Parliament of Victoria in Australia, for calling Cambodia as "beast", saying that his disgraceful statement was absolutely contrary to the reality.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation condemns in the strongest term this individual Hong Lim for this disgraceful statement that is completely inconsistent with the reality in Cambodia," said a ministry's statement.

"The Kingdom of Cambodia and Australia have been enjoying the relations of friendship and good cooperation in many fields. We hope that the statement made by Hong Lim does not in any way reflect the views of the government and people of Australia as a whole," the statement said.

It added that the humiliation made by Hong Lim upon the Cambodian nation has pushed the ministry to consider him as "persona non grata" for Cambodia.

The reaction came after Hong Lim, who was born in Cambodia and first elected to the Victoria state's legislature in 1996, delivered the criticism during his interview with the U.S.-backed Radio Free Asia last week. Endit