With China’s growing economic and geopolitical influence reverberating across Southeast Asia, nowhere is this influence felt more deeply than in Cambodia. Over the last few decades, Cambodia has visibly moved closer to China, endorsing Chinese global agendas, and serving China’s regional interests.
The bilateral relationship reached its political pinnacle in 2010, when they elevated their ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership, raising China to the highest status in Cambodia’s three-tier diplomatic hierarchy. Today, the two countries continue to enjoy a relationship with a high degree of political trust, extensive governmental interaction, and robust inter-party connections between the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) and the Chinese Communist Party. They describe their relationship as an “unbreakable ironclad friendship”, and invaluable like a “diamond”.
Considering this state of affairs, it is unsurprising to see international mainstream media portraying Cambodia as a Chinese client state. However, this perspective tends to overlook Phnom Penh’s domestic rationale for its relationship with Beijing, as well as its efforts to diversify its partnerships and pursue an independent foreign policy stance on the global stage.
In full: https://www.9dashline.com/article/diverting-from-china-cambodias-foreign-policy-in-a-new-era
