Prime Minister Hun Sen said over the past 68 years, the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) has striven to save the Kingdom from foreign colonisation and invasion, as well as managed to prevent a “colour revolution” initiated by former opposition politicians.

Speaking during an event to mark the 68th anniversary of the CPP on Koh Pich on Friday, Hun Sen said the party was born out of patriots fighting against French colonisers.

He said the party, which was initially named the Khmer Revolution Party, had later gone through numerous obstacles in its struggle to protect independence, peace and sovereignty during the 1953-70 period.

When Cambodia fell into a civil war from 1970 to 1975, Hun Sen said the party struggled to protect the country from foreign invasion and was among those that successfully liberated the Kingdom from the Pol Pot regime on January 7, 1979.

The CPP, he said, also took pride in preventing a return of the Khmer Rouge.

“The party has a very solid base in protecting the constitution, monarchy, independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, peace, political stability, and in preventing a colour revolution as well as all forms of hostilities from the opposition and ill-intentioned groups that wanted to push Cambodia away from the path of democracy and the rule of law."

“I take this opportunity to remind [compatriots] that Cambodia is not under the supervision of any country. We do not allow foreign countries to interfere in our internal affairs. We must not bow our head to any oppression or threat,” he said.

Hun Sen said over the past two decades, Cambodia has been among the world’s fastest-growing economies, having maintained an average annual growth of over seven per cent.

He said the Cambodian economy is on track to achieve a 7.1 per cent growth thanks to its robust industrial and service sectors, although the growth of the agricultural sector remains low.

“Within the first six months of this year, all economic activities continued to go smoothly. During the first four months of the year, 115 investment projects worth around $4 billion were approved, garment export remained high, more than 210,000 tonnes of rice were exported – an increase of 8.3 per cent compared to the same period last year – and the construction and real estate sectors continued to see robust growth."

“Cambodia has [so far this year] received more than 2.4 million tourists – an increase of 11 per cent compared to the same period last year,” he said.

Kin Phea, the director of the International Relations Institute at the Royal Academy of Cambodia, said the party had undergone many shifts since its creation, and it was after 1993 that it abandoned its socialist origins.

“The last political turning point from 1993 meant that the political ideology of the CPP is not a communist ideology or socialist [anymore],” he said.