In Cambodia, China’s Wang Yi set to challenge US pressures

The Chinese foreign minister will meet Prime Minister Hun Sen as part of a diplomatic drive in Southeast Asia amid the growing US-China rivalry

While the visit signals deepening China-Cambodia ties, it also comes as Phnom Penh is wary about becoming a ground for US-Chinese competition, analysts say

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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi greets Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen in Beijing on February 5, 2020. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 8:30am, 11 Oct 2020Updated: 9:03am, 11 Oct 2020

China’s foreign minister Wang Yi is expected to arrive in Cambodia on Sunday, in a trip that signals deepening ties between the neighbours but also comes at a time Phnom Penh is concerned about becoming a ground for Sino-American competition, analysts say.

In the first stop of his four-nation tour to Southeast Asia, Wang is expected to meet Prime Minister Hun Sen, Deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong, and Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn, the Cambodian foreign affairs ministry said.

China is Cambodia’s biggest source of foreign direct investment, its top trading partner, and also is the holder of 46 per cent of the country’s US$7.9 billion foreign debt. Its growing presence in Cambodia has led the country to get caught in the crossfire of the US-China rivalry.

Last month, Washington placed sanctions against Union Development Group, a Chinese-owned investment firm that had leased about 20 per cent of Cambodia’s 440km coastline allegedly for a tourism project that the US said was possibly hosting Chinese military assets, while causing environmental harm and leading to the forced evictions of local residents.

In the same month, Cambodia tore down a US-funded facility at its main naval base of Ream in the Gulf of Thailand, while accepting Chinese sponsorship of a pier expansion, sand dredging to accept large warships, and the construction of a ship repair facility.

“We have concerns that the razing of the facility may be tied to plans for hosting People’s Republic of China military assets and personnel at Ream Naval Base,” Chad Roedemeier, a spokesperson of the US embassy in Phnom Penh, said in a statement this week.

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