The U.S. is giving Cambodia a stark choice: stop oppressing dissidents and resist China’s influence, or risk losing millions of dollars in aid.
The U.S. Congress passed a $1.4 trillion budget bill on Monday that includes conditional support of at least $85 million to fund programs in the Southeast Asian country — an aspect of the legislation panned by Trump, who still has to sign it into law.
The 5593-page draft Consolidated Appropriations Act 2021 states that the aid is only available if the U.S. secretary of state certifies that Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government ceases its crackdown against political opponents and critics and “assert its sovereignty against interference by the People’s Republic of China.”
