Plans for a new location were in the works from at least 2000, when the embassy announced plans to acquire a new site in August. This was partly motivated by security; in addition to the general tightening of protocol in all US diplomatic missions after two embassies were bombed in 1998, terrorist threats and a protest-turned-riot over the United States bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade in 1999 led to the embassy nearly being breached and forced it to close in December that year. However, UNESCO's Phnom Penh office publicly objected to one of the planned sites, located next to the Wat Phnom temple and home to the Phnom Penh International