The government last week recalled its ambassador to the Philippines, Hos Sereythonh, the Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Friday amid a protracted scrap between the two countries.

Sereythonh was summonsed by the DFA to explain comments he made in a newspaper article accusing the Philippines of “dirty politics” after relations turned bitter between the two countries during the ASEAN summit in Phnom Penh in July.

But the DFA statement said the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs had told them Sereythonh had been recalled because it was the end of his assignment.

“It is the prerogative of governments to appoint or to recall ambassadors, as they deem fit and appropriate,” the statement reads. ASEAN foreign ministers failed to issue a joint communiqué because of bickering about whether bilateral disputes with China over the South China Sea should have been included.

Officials and the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs either declined to comment or said they were too busy yesterday.

To contact the reporter on this story: David Boyle at [email protected]