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William Langley

The Cambodian Ministry of Health has rejected media reports that Prime Minister Hun Sen has publicly shunned the use of Chinese coronavirus vaccines.
Ministry spokeswoman Or Vandine said on Wednesday evening that a media outlet had falsely quoted a speech made by Hun Sen on Tuesday. Without naming the outlet, she said it had claimed Cambodia would not buy Covid-19 vaccines from China.
She said Hun Sen actually said Cambodia would only use vaccines approved by the World Health Organization. He also announced that the country would take part in the WHO-led Covax Facility vaccine scheme which grants lower income countries enough vaccines to inoculate 20 per cent of their population.
He said Cambodia would also buy a further 1 million vaccines from the Covax scheme.


The ministry underlined Hun Sen’s statement that Cambodia would only buy vaccines approved by the world health body. Any vaccine issued by the Covax scheme, it said, would require WHO approval.
“I call on the media organisation that made the erroneous report to immediately correct this issue so as to avoid causing any division in bilateral relations and multilateral cooperation” she said.
While Or Vandine did not name the outlet in question, Nikkei Asia ran a headline on Tuesday suggesting Hun Sen’s speech was a rejection of China.
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The Nikkei report made a splash on social media in the following days, with some netizens quick to discuss the apparent rejection of China by Cambodia, one of Beijing’s closest allies.
Since the rebuttal, however, talk of Cambodia’s supposed rejection of China have continued to circulate on social media. Asia Times ran a headline on Thursday saying Cambodia had rejected China. Taiwanese news outlets, including  The Liberty Times , shared articles discussing how even China’s allies were turning their back on its vaccines.
According to  The Phnom Penh Post , Hun Sen said on Tuesday that “Cambodia will not use its own people to test a vaccine from any company or any country. This is [my] unwavering position.”


Two days later, it quoted Vongsey Vissoth, Cambodian secretary of state for the Ministry of Economy and Finance, as saying that Cambodia was focused only on securing vaccines approved by the WHO.
“The government will buy a vaccine that is recognised by the World Health Organization, whether that’s through the Covax Facility, via direct purchase from pharmaceutical companies or through bilateral diplomatic channels,” he said.
Professor Masato Kajimoto, who studies news literacy and disinformation in East Asia at the University of Hong Kong, said headlines that claimed Cambodia was directly rejecting China were misleading, but the content of many of the articles did not constitute active disinformation.
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“I would call it ‘inaccurate headline’ and it is everywhere,” he said. “But in this particular case, the impact is perhaps more political in nature.”
He said the rebuttal could have stemmed from Cambodian concerns about securing vaccines from China in the future.
“I think it would be reasonable to assume that their concern here is about the potential influence of the coverage on their relationship with China,” he said.
“But frankly, if authorities involved in public health in either country make decisions based on just one or two news headlines with some political implications … that is a far more serious problem for the public.”


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Cambodian Ministry of Health says report misquoted Prime Minister Hun Sen as saying country would not buy supplies from China
Phnom Penh will only use injections approved by the World Health Organization, ministry says



Cambodian Ministry of Health says report misquoted Prime Minister Hun Sen as saying country would not buy supplies from China.
