Chinese investments boost Cambodian development
China will continue to lend a helping hand to the development of Cambodia, Chinese experts said on Sunday, as the Buddhist kingdom kicked off its sixth general election. Cambodia’s National Election Commission said that 8.3 million people were registered to vote on Sunday and the
turnout was 82.71 percent. In the previous election in 2013, the turnout was 69.61 percent, Reuters reported.
Cambodia’s ruling party predicted a landslide win as vote counting was still underway, AFP reported. Official results are expected in mid-August.
China supports the Cambodian people in choosing a development path that suits its national conditions and supports and looks forward to a successful election, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a daily briefing on Friday.
Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen will very likely be re-elected due to the lack of competitive candidates and his high reputation, Chinese experts said Sunday.
China’s investment and trade in Cambodia will remain unaffected following the election, Shen Shishun, an Asia-Pacific expert at the China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times on Sunday.
Hun Sen is an old friend of China who has sound interaction and trust with China’s leadership, he noted.
“Under Hun Sen, Cambodia has been an all-dimension partner in the China-proposed Belt and Road initiative, and the country will continue to benefit from it,” Shen said.
The Southeast Asian country holds a general election every five years. Sunday’s election is the sixth since 1993.
China is Cambodia’s biggest trading partner and largest source of imports, with bilateral trade valued at $5.79 billion last year, according to data released on the website of the Chinese Embassy in Cambodia in April.
As the largest source of foreign investment in Cambodia, China’s tally reached $12.57 billion by the end of October last year, accounting for more than one-third of the country’s total, Xinhua said.
Cambodia is in need of capital and technology for its development, Shen said, and investments from China could help fill those needs.
China is also the largest investor in construction and real estate in Cambodia, as Chinese investors are confident in the country’s peace, political stability, favorable laws, incentives for investors and sound macro-economic stability, Xinhua quoted Seng Loth, a spokesman for Cambodia’s Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction, as saying.
Expanding potential
In addition to construction and infrastructure, China has been investing in Cambodia’s manufacturing industry, a move that will help Cambodia’s long-term development unleash its full potential, according to Chinese experts.
“Cambodia has a large population and needs jobs. China’s investments are creating more job opportunities for them, boosting local development,” Shen said.
Zhu Zhenming, a professor at the Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Sunday that “Cambodia’s manufacturing industry is weak in realizing the country’s industrialization, and China is cultivating their engineers and technicians to help them.”
Investment in infrastructure could bring immediate results, while investment in talent could bring more sustainable growth to the local economy and have far-reaching effects on the country’s development, Zhu said.
To further help with the country’s development, China is likely to invest in Cambodian human resources in science, agriculture and services, Zhu added.