Cambodia's Hun Manet Signals 'Unchanged' China Policy Ahead of Succession

Phonm Penh/Washington — 

Cambodia’s incoming prime minister, General Hun Manet, had a trial run over the weekend for his most important foreign relationship, hosting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during a visit to Phnom Penh.

Hun Manet assured Wang Yi that Cambodia’s new government will maintain an “unchanged stance” on Bejing’s one-China policy and a “non-interference policy” toward China, according to a message on the Cambodian leader’s Facebook page.

Hun Manet also agreed to join a Belt and Road Initiative forum in China in mid-October, which is likely to be one of his first foreign trips after being sworn in to office later this month. He will join the 20th China-ASEAN exposition in Nanning, the capital of the southern Guangxi region.

Following his visit to Phnom Penh, Wang Yi said the forum would promote China’s “industrial development corridor” and “fish and rice corridor,” as well as “enhance Cambodia's capacity for independent development at a faster pace,” according to a statement on the Chinese embassy’s website.

He also thanked Hun Sen for his “historic contribution” to the China-Cambodia friendship and said Beijing is “ready to work with the new Cambodian government…so that the friendship between the two countries is deeply rooted in people's hearts and passes on from generation to generation.”

However, Hun Manet received Beijing’s highest blessing long before Prime Minister Hun Sen announced last month that his eldest son would succeed him within weeks of July’s national parliamentary election.

In February last year, Hun Sen brought Hun Manet to a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. “His excellency the president strongly believes in Hun Manet’s capacity … to maintain the speed of development” for the country, said a senior Cambodian official after the visit.

Cambodia over the past decade has become increasingly reliant on China for its economic growth, and by extension its political stability. At the same time, Cambodia has been a spoiler in regional efforts to counter China’s rising influence.

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