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Cambodian leader Hun Sen on Friday rejected opposition parties demands for talks outside the country, accusing them of trying to internationalize the political crisis.
Government and opposition parties have asked King Norodom Sihanouk to host a summit meeting after a series of post-election negotiations between the two opposition groups and Hun Sen's party to form a new government failed.
Opposition leaders Prince Norodom Ranariddh and Sam Rainsy, citing Hun Sen's threats to arrest opposition figures after two alleged attempts on his life, said they could not negotiate freely in Cambodia and called for talks at Sihanouk's residence in Beijing.
Hun Sen, however, rejected that.
I would like to make it clear that all meetings related to Cambodian affairs must be conducted in the Kingdom of Cambodia, Hun Sen told reporters after a Cabinet meeting on Friday.
No-one should internationalize Cambodian affairs.
It is detrimental to the sovereignty of Cambodia, he said.
Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party won 64 of the 122 parliamentary seats in July's elections, short of the two-thirds majority needed to form a government on its own.
Ranariddh and Sam Rainsy have charged that Hun Sen's victory in the elections was achieved through widespread fraud.
They have demanded a thorough investigation into their election complaints as a precondition for their cooperation in getting the national assembly moving and a new government formed.
Hun Sen said on Friday that the opposition concerns over their safety in the country was just an excuse for them to stay abroad.
Both Ranariddh and Sam Rainsy have been outside the country since parliament was ceremonially opened on Sep. 24.
Sam Rainsy and a number of opposition figures have been under court investigation for a grenade attack on Hun Sen's Phnom Penh residence on Sep. 7.
Hun Sen was not home at the time of the attack, which was followed by a police crackdown on demonstrators contesting Hun Sen's election victory.
The Sam Rainsy Party, in a statement released Friday, accused Hun Sen of being unwilling to make any compromise on negotiations to break the deadlock.
A meeting outside Cambodia, as suggested by the opposition, could place all parties on more equal footing, said the statement.
But the ruling party refuses to negotiate unless it is able to threaten its negotiating partners with arrest or worse.