A Midnight Crackdown in Cambodia (original) (raw)
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Cambodia–China Relations A Positive-Sum Game
China has re-emerged to become a dominant foreign player in Cambodia. Politically, Cambodia is one of China's oldest and closest allies. Economically, China is Cambodia's top foreign investor, a major donor, and an increasingly important trading partner. Culturally, Chinese values are deeply embedded in many aspects of Cambodian society. However, China's dominance is surrounded by renewed controversies. While the government warmly welcomes Chinese aid, saying that it comes with no strings attached, many experts are concerned that China is providing aid for more nefarious reasons. Critics also accuse Chinese investment and aid of having exacerbated corruption, weakened governance and harmed human rights, and of ruining Cambodia's natural resources and environment. With such controversies, it is relevant and significant to assess the roles that China has played and continues to play in Cambodia's socio-economic development. Using expert interviews, media analysis and an extensive literature review, this paper uniquely contributes to the existing discussion on China-Cambodia relations by closely examining the controversies of China's investment and aid, critically analysing China's interests in Cambodia, and asking if the relationship between the two nations is a positive-sum game.
China was recently described by the Prime Minister Hun Sen as Cambodia‟s “most trusted friend”. This claim might be proved by a flood of China‟s aid as well as her sharp growing trade and investments in the last decade, which put China the biggest donor and the largest investor. However, Cambodia-China relations stretch much longer than what we see at the present and might be even more complex in the old days. Hence, I begin to examine how their connections have developed over time, especially at each cross section of the Cold War and the post-Cold War periods. Then, I will study closely what made these two countries approach each other and became the strategic partners in Southeast Asia by classifying each party‟s interests into economic and strategic characteristics. This classification might, on one hand, project a clear picture of Cambodia‟s unequal status in the relations, and, on the other hand, illustrate its growing independence from China‟s influence. After all, the paper discusses how this bilateral relationship might have the implication on Cambodia‟s domestic politics and vice versa .From Cambodia‟s perspectives, I argues that their current relations might widen the economic inequality and make the situations of human rights worse in Cambodia so this pair of consequences would, in turn, have domino effects on their future relations through the declining strategic interests of Cambodia‟s government, particularly from the post-national election 2013 onwards.
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In 2015 Cambodia celebrated the anniversary of 30 years of Hun Sen's government. This article argues that this anniversary coincided with a crisis of hegemony of both the leadership and the Hun Sen's government. During 2015 Hun Sen tempted to face the crisis without a precise strategy. The most important was the so called «culture of dialogue» with the opposition coalition and its leader Sam Rainsy. In a first stage this dialogue was unexpectedly fruitful, but after a few months was interrupted and the two parties plunged in the traditional clash. In terms of international relations, the Cambodian government has further strengthened its relations with China. The solid relationships with Beijing have allowed Phnom Penh an approach more assertive in respect of Vietnam and of others ASEAN members.
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Capriciously, China appears to shift its policy towards Hun Sen and the Cambodian People’s Party in the wake of Phnom Penh tussle on July 5 and 6, 1997. At a short notice, Cambodia under the leadership of Hun Sen discernibly has burgeoned relations with Beijing emphatically. Some even suggest this bilateral relation has reached its peak in the last few years. Concurrently, the relations between Phnom Penh and Washington remain strained, despite strenuous efforts aimed for diplomatic revitalization since the mid1990s. It is perceptible that Cambodia has undertaken foreign policy that apparently takes side with Beijing, rather than the Washington between 1997 and 2013. While economic interests have been attributed to this move, this paper aims to explore motivations that exhort Cambodia to be more supportive to China, rather than the United States during the unfolded period. The findings of the thesis postulates that five catalysts serve as the motivating forces, including the personality perception, and background of the Prime Minister Hun Sen, the influences of the bureaucrats and Cambodian interests groups, Cambodia’s contexts between 1997 and 2013, different intensities of economic interdependence and exchange visits between Cambodia and the two countries.
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