Cambodia is a crucial leg in Xi’s regional tour, with half of companies there exporting to the US Chinese language-owned.
Cambodia is hoping to shore up extra monetary help from China as President Xi Jinping arrives in Phnom Penh in an effort to strengthen regional commerce ties to offset the impact of steep US tariffs.
As a part of a three-pronged Southeast Asia tour, which included Vietnam and Malaysia, Xi on Thursday is assembly Cambodia’s King Norodom Sihamoni, Prime Minister Hun Manet and Senate President Hun Sen.
“We count on extra cooperation together with on infrastructure improvement,” Meas Soksensan, a spokesman for the Cambodian Ministry of Financial system and Finance, instructed the Reuters information company on the eve of Xi’s arrival.
He was answering a query about whether or not Cambodia anticipated Beijing to announce monetary help for the 180km (110-mile) Funan Techo Canal, the nation’s most bold infrastructure undertaking.
Phnom Penh is an in depth companion of China, which has invested billions of {dollars} in varied tasks, together with roads and airports, and is the nation’s largest creditor.
“The Trump administration may be very clearly attempting to isolate Beijing, and Beijing’s response is right here to increase its arms to its Asian neighbours,” stated Al Jazeera’s Katrina Yu, talking from the Chinese language capital.
Yu added that Xi acquired the warmest help in Cambodia on his tour as a result of the 2 are “ironclad mates”, with deep army ties along with the infrastructure investments.
In the meantime, Cambodia is a significant exporter of clothes and footwear to the US, with half of those corporations owned by Chinese language enterprise house owners, Yu defined.
Phnom Penh was slapped with a US tariff fee of 49 p.c, one of many highest globally, earlier than most duties have been paused till July.
“[Cambodia] will attempt to negotiate that [tariff rate] down, and Xi Jinping desires to remind them that, right here we’re mates, and we don’t need you to chop any offers at Beijing’s expense,” stated Yu.
In an article printed on Thursday morning in Cambodian media, Xi urged Phnom Penh to oppose “hegemonism” and “protectionism”, repeating messages he despatched earlier this week to Vietnam and Malaysia within the first two legs of his journey.
‘Pivotal function’
China is Cambodia’s greatest buying and selling companion and supply of funding, and greater than a 3rd of Cambodia’s $11bn in overseas debt is owed to China, in line with the Worldwide Financial Fund.
Up to now, China has made no public monetary dedication to Cambodia’s canal undertaking, whereas Phnom Penh has modified its statements on Chinese language engagement from overlaying 100% to 49 p.c of whole prices, estimated at $1.7bn.
Beijing signed no new loans to Cambodia final yr, in line with Cambodian official information, a marked distinction with earlier years when it lent the nation a whole bunch of hundreds of thousands of {dollars}.
The drop in funding got here as China lowered general abroad investments amid home financial woes and issues over unsuccessful tasks.
Regardless of this, Hun Manet, in a video posted on Wednesday, stated the 2 international locations had “widespread pursuits primarily based on the ideas of respect for sovereignty, equality, and noninterference in inner affairs”.
He additionally stated China had performed a “pivotal function” in Cambodia’s socioeconomic improvement.
