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WASHINGTON - THE United States on Thursday stopped a shipment of military trucks to Cambodia as punishment after it sent Uighur asylum-seekers back to China in defiance of international appeals.
Cambodia in December deported the 20 Uighurs, members of a largely Muslim minority group in western China, even though they were seeking UN refugee status and said they would face torture if returned.
The United States, which had warned against the deportation, said it was calling off a shipment of 200 trucks and trailers under a programme by which the United States provides surplus military supplies to other countries.
'They failed to heed not only our call that they step up to their international obligations but specific obligations they have as a country,' State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters.
'We said there would be consequences, and this is a step in that direction,' he said.
'This is something that I think is important to Cambodia,' he said of the trucks. But the assistance pales in comparison to aid from Beijing. China, which had put heavy pressure on Cambodia to hand over the Uighurs, signed off on one billion dollars in assistance days after the deportation, although Beijing denied there was a link.
Cambodia in December deported the 20 Uighurs, members of a largely Muslim minority group in western China, even though they were seeking UN refugee status and said they would face torture if returned.
The United States, which had warned against the deportation, said it was calling off a shipment of 200 trucks and trailers under a programme by which the United States provides surplus military supplies to other countries.
'They failed to heed not only our call that they step up to their international obligations but specific obligations they have as a country,' State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters.
'We said there would be consequences, and this is a step in that direction,' he said.
'This is something that I think is important to Cambodia,' he said of the trucks. But the assistance pales in comparison to aid from Beijing. China, which had put heavy pressure on Cambodia to hand over the Uighurs, signed off on one billion dollars in assistance days after the deportation, although Beijing denied there was a link.
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