Cambodia caught in the middle of US-China clash over South China Sea military bases
- The US treasury department last month issued sanctions against Chinese company Union Development Group
- The company is developing the Dara Sakor tourism zone in Cambodia as part of the Belt and Road Initiative
Last weekend, in a speech at the virtual United Nations General Assembly, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen rebuked “some countries” for increasingly interfering in the sovereignty of smaller countries.
“As a peace-loving small country committed to democratic principles, Cambodia can play its part in the international community only if it is assured that the rules governing the international system are fairly applied,” he said.
“Unfortunately, all too often, depending on the political ambition and hidden opportunistic agenda of some countries, Cambodia had to deal with hypocritical double-standards, biased and politically motivated decisions, in short, injustice.”
Just days before the speech, the US treasury department issued sanctions against Chinese company Union Development Group which is developing the Dara Sakor tourism zone in Cambodia as part of the Belt and Road Initiative. The sanctions were imposed under the Global Magnitsky Act, an American domestic law that authorises the US president to sanction, block and seize assets of alleged human rights abusers.
Union Development Group was granted a 99-year lease in 2008 to build the project. When completed, it will be a coastal resort area spanning 36,000 hectares (89,000 acres) with golf courses, casinos, luxury housing, an airport and a port large enough for cruise ships, taking up around 20 per cent of Cambodia’s small coastline.
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The US accused the company of wrongly seizing Cambodian land, destroying the Botum Sakor National Park where the land was located and being a front for China to “advance ambitions to project power globally”.
At the same time, Cambodia slammed two US politicians, namely Robert Destro and Alan Lowenthal, for interfering in its domestic affairs after they criticised the Southeast Asian nation for the arrests of Cambodian trade unionists, human rights defenders and environmentalists.