Prince Norodom Sihamoni was named Cambodia's new king yesterday, succeeding his father, Norodom Sihanouk, who stunned the country last week by announcing his abdication because of ill health.
Sihamoni, a former ballet dancer and cultural ambassador, was approved by a nine-member Throne Council, the panel said in a statement signed by its chairman and acting head of state Chea Sim.
The statement did not say how many council members voted for the prince, but two palace officials said on condition of anonymity that the vote was unanimous.
The Throne Council "has chosen Samdech [honorary title] Norodom Sihamoni as the king of the Kingdom of Cambodia,'' said the statement, issued after the panel had met for about half an hour.
Sihamoni is currently with Sihanouk in Beijing, where the monarch has been receiving medical treatment, and is expected to return to Cambodia with his father next Wednesday.
A low key coronation ceremony is planned for Oct. 29, according to Prince Norodom Ranariddh, Sihamoni's half brother and head of the National Assembly.
Sihanouk had said "we should save the nation's money" rather than splash out on an elaborate ceremony, Ranariddh said.
Ranariddh, deep into politics like most of Sihanouk's other children who survived the Khmer Rouge's "Killing Fields," helped to persuade the reluctant Sihamoni to succeed to the throne.
Sihanouk has said Sihamoni, who has spent much of his life outside Cambodia, would be his ideal successor because he was not involved in politics.
Sihamoni, 51, has been an ambassador to the UN cultural agency UNESCO in Paris, and is the king's only surviving son by his Eurasian wife, Queen Monineath.
Cambodia's monarchy is not hereditary and the king does not pick his successor, but Sihanouk, 81, made it clear he wanted Sihamoni to be king even though his son previously had shown no interest in the throne.
The throne council had been unlikely to go against his wishes although it had no legal obligation to follow them.
Key political leaders -- including Ranariddh and Prime Minister Hun Sen -- had endorsed the choice. Influential Buddhist leaders had also expressed support for Sihamoni.
Sihanouk announced last week that he was abdicating because of ill health. He said afterward that if he were to die on the thrown, it could create "turmoil that would be mortal for the Khmer monarchy and, above all, catastrophic for Cambodia and its people, who don't deserve a new major misfortune."
Sihamoni has none of the vast experience of his father. However, diplomats said the polyglot bachelor, who has never held political office, might not be the pushover many expect.
"He's very much an unknown quantity, but he's certainly no fool," said one Western diplomat who met Sihamoni at UNESCO.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of