As Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush sank his teeth into a fried snickers bar at the Iowa State Fair in an attempt to woo rural voters in America’s heartland, his younger brother, Neil, was in a rather different place – on his way to shaking hands with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Neil Bush, a scion of the Bush dynasty who has turned to business rather than politics, met the premier in Phnom Penh on Saturday afternoon in his capacity as non-executive chairman of Singapore-based property firm SingHaiyi.
“[Bush] is quite impressed with the stability and economy of Cambodia,” said Eang Sophalleth, spokesman for Hun Sen.
During the meeting, Hun Sen “briefed” Bush on Cambodian efforts to attract international investors, along with the country’s new industrial development policy.
The fourth of former president George HW Bush’s six children, Neil Bush has cultivated an at-times troubled image since his time on the board of directors of a major savings and loan firm when the entire industry started collapsing in the late 1980s.
Image issues pursued Bush to Asia, where he has since based much of his business.
As the result of a messy divorce case in 2003, Bush admitted to having sex with several women on trips to Hong Kong and Thailand.
Sophalleth said that, to his knowledge, Hun Sen did not discuss Bush’s well-known family.
