Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet headed to Beijing on Thursday on his first official trip abroad since taking office last month in a demonstration of his country\u2019s warm relations with China, its closest political and economic ally. He is expected to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping and other officials on the three-day trip, according to Cambodia\u2019s Foreign Ministry. The statement said the two countries\u2019 leaders will discuss tightening relations for a shared future with the building of a \u201cCambodia-China Community\u201d, strategic directions for their bilateral relations and regional and international matters.<\/p>\n
Cambodia is a key Chinese diplomatic partner and supporter in regional and international forums. It helps dampen criticism of Beijing within the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, several of whose members are engaged in territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea. China has gained important influence in Cambodian politics and its economy, as seen in the numerous Chinese-funded projects, hotels and casinos in the capital Phnom Penh and elsewhere around the country. China\u2019s state banks have financed airports, roads and other infrastructure built with Chinese loans. More than 40 per cent of Cambodia\u2019s USD 10 billion in foreign debt is owed to China.<\/p>\n
Cambodia\u2019s close relations with Beijing were cultivated by Hun Manet\u2019s father, Hun Sen, who stepped down last month as prime minister after almost four decades. His Cambodia People\u2019s Party has had a stranglehold on power, fostered by Hun Sen\u2019s autocratic rule and adroit political maneuvers that crippled any effective opposition. China\u2019s Foreign Minister Wang Yi had visited Cambodia to reaffirm his country\u2019s commitment to its ally shortly after Hun Sen announced his retirement plan. Hun Manet, Hun Sen\u2019s eldest son, had been army commander before succeeding his father. He was educated at the US Military Academy at West Point, but is widely expected to maintain arms-length relations with Washington.<\/p>\n
The US has shown disapproval of Hun Sen\u2019s undemocratic moves and is also uneasy over the expansion of a Gulf of Thailand naval port Cambodia and China started last year. Hun Sen consistently denied that Cambodia had granted China the right to set up its own military base at Ream Naval Base.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet headed to Beijing on Thursday on his first official trip abroad since taking office last\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":3226,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[186],"tags":[743,742,158,745,744,164],"class_list":["post-3225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-allies","tag-cambodia","tag-china","tag-chinese-financed-projects","tag-naval-base","tag-south-china-sea"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}