Cambodia is an important leg in Xi’s regional tour, with half of businesses there exporting to the US Chinese-owned.
Cambodia is hoping to shore up more financial support from China as President Xi Jinping arrives in Phnom Penh in an effort to strengthen regional trade ties to offset the effect of steep US tariffs.
As part of a three-pronged Southeast Asia tour, which included Vietnam and Malaysia, Xi on Thursday is meeting Cambodia’s King Norodom Sihamoni, Prime Minister Hun Manet and Senate President Hun Sen.
“We expect more cooperation including on infrastructure development,” Meas Soksensan, a spokesman for the Cambodian Ministry of Economy and Finance, told the Reuters news agency on the eve of Xi’s arrival.
He was answering a question about whether Cambodia expected Beijing to announce financial support for the 180km (110-mile) Funan Techo Canal, the country’s most ambitious infrastructure project.
Phnom Penh is a close partner of China, which has invested billions of dollars in various projects, including roads and airports, and is the country’s largest creditor.
“The Trump administration is very clearly trying to isolate Beijing, and Beijing’s response is here to extend its arms to its Asian neighbours,” said Al Jazeera’s Katrina Yu, speaking from the Chinese capital.
Yu added that Xi received the warmest support in Cambodia on his tour because the two are “ironclad friends”, with deep military ties in addition to the infrastructure investments.
Meanwhile, Cambodia is a major exporter of clothing and footwear to the US, with half of these companies owned by Chinese business owners, Yu explained.
Phnom Penh was slapped with a US tariff rate of 49 percent, one of the highest globally, before most duties were paused until July.
“[Cambodia] will try to negotiate that [tariff rate] down, and Xi Jinping wants to remind them that, here we are friends, and we don’t want you to cut any deals at Beijing’s expense,” said Yu.
In an article published on Thursday morning in Cambodian media, Xi urged Phnom Penh to oppose “hegemonism” and “protectionism”, repeating messages he sent earlier this week to Vietnam and Malaysia in the first two legs of his trip.
‘Pivotal role’
China is Cambodia’s biggest trading partner and source of investment, and more than a third of Cambodia’s $11bn in foreign debt is owed to China, according to the International Monetary Fund.
So far, China has made no public financial commitment to Cambodia’s canal project, while Phnom Penh has changed its statements on Chinese engagement from covering 100 percent to 49 percent of total costs, estimated at $1.7bn.
Beijing signed no new loans to Cambodia last year, according to Cambodian official data, a marked contrast with previous years when it lent the country hundreds of millions of dollars.
The drop in funding came as China reduced overall overseas investments amid domestic economic woes and concerns over unsuccessful projects.
Despite this, Hun Manet, in a video posted on Wednesday, said the two countries had “common interests based on the principles of respect for sovereignty, equality, and noninterference in internal affairs”.
He also said China had played a “pivotal role” in Cambodia’s socioeconomic development.
