phnom penh cambodian prime minister hun sen challenge unite state sunday cut aid announce end fund general election next year response dissolution main opposition party media report hun sen strongman rule cambodia three decades take strident anti-american line increasingly tense run-up 2018 election include crackdown critics right group independent media unite state announce friday end fund election promise concrete step supreme court dissolve cambodia national rescue party cnrp request government ground plot seize power party deny accusation pro-government fresh news website report hun sen say speech garment workers welcome u.s. aid cut urge cut samdech techo hun sen confirm cut u.s. aid kill government kill group people serve american policies fresh news report use hun sen official title identify people suspect serve u.s. policies add hun sen ... welcome encourage u.s. cut aid u.s. embassy phnom penh respond request comment april u.s. embassy announce 1.8 million grant assist local elections year next year general election u.s. state department say website u.s. assistance cambodia program health education governance economic growth clear unexploded ordnance worth 77.6 million 2014. however chinese support big ticket project allow hun sen brush western criticism crackdown dissent china vastly outspends unite state country destroy cold war superpower rivalry money go highly visible infrastructure project demand political reform september authorities arrest cnrp leader kem sokha charge treason say plot take power u.s. help deny plot u.s. state department call friday cambodia release reverse decision ban party court also ban 118 party members politics five years police begin take cnrp sign offices across country mu sochua senior cnrp member move abroad shortly party ban say hun sen jeopardize foreign investment foreign investors serious invest cambodia come look exit compete china monopoly cambodia hun sen need pay back favor china say western countries decades support cambodia emergence war isolation show little appetite sanction response crackdown european union raise possibility cambodia lose trade preferences tariff-free access europe cambodian garment similar trade preferences unite state help cambodia build garment industry low-cost labor eu u.s. buyers take 60 percent cambodia export defiant hun sen tell u.s. cut aid cambodia