In Cambodia Hun Sen shows the power of China’s cash
SITTING last month in the Phnom Penh villa that houses Cambodia’s main opposition party, Mu Sochua searched for a way to fight back against one of the world’s longest- serving leaders.
Her boss in the Cambodia National Rescue Party, whose face adorns a banner hanging in front of the building, was in jail over accusations that he plotted with the US to seize power. Independent media outlets closed down due to government pressure. And a pro- democracy non-profit group chaired by former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was expelled from the country.
Less than two weeks later, Mu Sochua fled Cambodia over fears of being arrested. Now her party faces dissolution, a move that would all but ensure Prime Minister Hun Sen wins an election set for next year to extend his more than threedecade rule in the Southeast Asian country.
A few decades ago, the US and its allies could use financial leverage over aid- dependent Cambodia to nurture a democracy forged after Pol Pot’s genocide wiped out about a fifth of the population. But these days the biggest spender is China, which has focused more on securing Cambodia’s backing in regional affairs than its embrace of free and fair elections.
Hun Sen’s ability to clamp down on his political opponents with little fear of repercussions shows the consequences of China’s rising clout in the region coupled with President Donald Trump’s moves to de- emphasise the importance of human rights in US foreign policy. Still, Cambodia’s opposition is hopeful that Western nations will take punitive action against Hun Sen.
“China can give Hun Sen money but not legitimacy,” Mu Sochua, a human rights activist who studied social work at University of California, Berkeley, said in a Whatsapp message while en route to Morocco. “Hun Sen will run a high risk of economic sanctions.”
For Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party, which controls about 55 per cent of 123 seats in the National Assembly, all this cash from China is helping to boost growth in a nation where per capita income is among the lowest in Asia. The International Monetary Fund projects that Cambodia’s economy will grow 6.9 per cent in 2017.
“If we waited around for the US or Canada, we’d be without lights,” CPP lawmaker and spokesman Sok Eysan said in an interview. “We went from four million people under Pol Pot to 15 million now, so we have a lot of needs, and we welcome China’s help.”
China has risen to become Cambodia’s single biggest donor and foreign investor, and eclipsed the US as its top trading partner in 2014. It sends more tourists to see Cambodia’s famed temples than any other country. President Xi Jinping has canceled roughly US$ 90 million of debt – in contrast to the US, which is still demanding that Cambodia pay about $ 500 million in loans from the Vietnam War era. China’s ambassador recently hailed the “strong momentum” in relations with Cambodia, saying his nation’s companies have built a third of Cambodia’s highways and more than a dozen major bridges and hydropower stations. China funded an elaborate office building for Cambodia’s cabinet, and has started work on a new national stadium.
More is coming. A Chinese private equity firm recently cut a US$ 1.5 billion deal to build a “Cambodia- Chinese Friendship City.” Cambodia’s biggest conglomerate, The Royal Group of Cambodia, recently partnered with state-run China Huaneng Group to build hydropower plants.
As Beijing has spent more in Cambodia, Hun Sen’s government has become a reliable advocate for China’s foreign-policy goals. This has been most evident in meetings of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, in which Cambodia has repeatedly watered down efforts to criticise China’s expansive territorial claims in the South China Sea. — WP-Bloomberg
Hun Sen’s ability to clamp down on his political opponents with little fear of repercussions shows the consequences of China’s rising clout in the region coupled with President Donald Trump’s moves to de-emphasise the importance of human rights in US foreign policy.