trade war<\/a><\/em><\/strong> between Beijing and Washington, the US government has blacklisted Union Development Group (UDG), over the seizure and demolition of Cambodians\u2019 property for the construction of the Dara Sakor development project.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIn a release, the Treasury Department said the company has enlisted Kun Kim (Kim), a senior Cambodian general previously signalled by the authorities for involvement in corruption activities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
UDG is a firm that in 2008 was granted a 99-year lease with the Cambodian government for 36,000 hectares in the Koh Kong province, which was to be destined for the development of a $3.8 billion tourism resort project called Dara Sakor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the US accuses UDG of having forced Cambodians off their land and devastated the environment, damaging the livelihoods of local communities under the guise of converting Cambodia into a regional logistics hub and tourist destination. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Treasury Department said in a release: \u201cAs is too often the case with Beijing\u2019s One Belt One Road initiative, these activities have disproportionately benefitted the PRC, at the expense of the Cambodian people.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The department fears the huge Dara Sakor project, which includes a casino, hotels, and deep water seaport along the bay area, will also include a large runway able to receive some of the world’s biggest planes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The US claims that in order to seize land which extends into Botum Sakor National Park, a protected natural area that can only be handed over by royal decree, UDG registered itself as a Cambodian-owned company, headed by a Cambodian national. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It says that within three years of receiving the land, UDG switched back to being a Chinese-owned and operated company without repercussion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Cambodian government spokesperson, Phay Siphan, has mentioned to local media that Dara Sakor could be converted to host military assets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The US Treasury Department said: \u201cA permanent PRC military presence in Cambodia could threaten regional stability and undermine the prospects for the peaceful settlement of disputes, the promotion of maritime safety and security, and the freedom of navigation and overflight.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sanctions have been imposed under the Global Magnitsky Act, which allows the US government to target human rights violators worldwide by freezing any US assets they may hold and prohibiting them from conducting business with US citizens, effectively cutting them off from the US financial system. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The US Treasury Department fears land seized by the company will be put to use for military purposes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10018,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The US Treasury Department has sanctioned China's state-owned Union Development Group (UDG) for allegedly seizing land under false pretenses in Cambodia's Koh Kong province, ostensibly for the $3.8 billion Dara Sakor tourism project, which includes a casino. The US fears this development, granted a 99-year lease, is intended for military purposes, threatening regional stability and undermining maritime security. The sanctions, imposed under the Global Magnitsky Act, target UDG's US assets and prohibit business with US citizens.","focusai_entities":"US Treasury Department, Union Development Group (UDG), Kun Kim, Cambodian government, Phay Siphan, Beijing, Washington, PRC","focusai_location":"Cambodia, Koh Kong province, Botum Sakor National Park, US","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.9), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.8), payments_fraud_aml (0.8), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Sanctions Impact","query":"What are the specific implications of the Global Magnitsky Act sanctions on UDG's existing financial relationships and its ability to secure future capital for the Dara Sakor project, particularly concerning its casino vertical?"},{"label":"Geopolitical Risk Assessment","query":"How might the US Treasury's actions against UDG influence other large-scale integrated resort developments in Southeast Asia, prompting a re-evaluation of geopolitical risk and governance frameworks by international investors and operators?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[439,158,16333],"tags":[30,2319],"class_list":["post-10016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal-news","category-slider-home","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-cambodia","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10016"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21685,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10016\/revisions\/21685"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}