Analysts See Cambodia Bolstering Military Ties With China

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Analysts See Cambodia Bolstering Military Ties With China

Neou Vannarin

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA— Cambodia is strengthening its military ties with China, and analysts say it is likely to continue doing so for the forseeable future.

Cambodian Defense Minister Tea Banh made a five-day trip to China last week, meeting with high-ranking military officials and receiving pledges of assistance from the Chinese military.

In a recent interview, he told the VOA Khmer service that the visit was successful in bringing military cooperation between the countries even closer. That relationship is closer than Cambodia’s military ties with the U.S., he said.

Analysts say Phnom Penh is likely to look more and more to Beijing for support because of growing tensions with its old patron, Vietnam, over border issues.

Cambodia and China have traditionally enjoyed close relations, and they became noticeably closer after 2012 when Cambodia, as host of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit, sided with China over the contentious South China Sea issue.

Read more: http://www.voanews.com/content/analysts-see-cambodia-bolstering-military-ties-china/2872342.html

[geovalin]

Not military ties but ties anyway. Every day more ties and often good ones.

Cambodia-China direct cargo shipping route on course

Xinhua Editor: Gu Liping

Two Chinese shipping giants are likely to sign agreements with Cambodia's Sihanoukville Autonomous Port (SAP), paving the way for exporters to move cargo directly from Cambodia to China, a local newspaper reported Wednesday, citing a senior port official.

Lou Kimchhun, director general of SAP, said that a rise in the kingdom's exports had drawn the attention of marine freight companies China Shipping Container Lines and China Ocean Shipping Group Company (COSCO), according to the Phnom Penh Post.

China Shipping Container Lines and COSCO are among the world's largest freight transport firms that ship from Cambodia, together shipping more than 1.2 million standard twenty-foot containers annually.

Once the agreements are reached, the two shipping giants will be the first to link Cambodia directly with the world's second- largest economy, avoiding the stopover at Vietnam's Cai Mep port in shipping, Kimchhun added.

"Very soon, we will have the direct shipment from our country to China without going through Vietnam as we will reach agreement with China Shipping Lines within the next few weeks while the COSCO will reach the agreement later because we need further talks, " the newspaper quoted him as saying.

"It will definitely benefit a lot of traders which have business with Chinese counterparts. Moreover, it will not only help our exporters for exporting directly to China, but also to other destinations with a more competitive fee," he added.

read more: http://www.ecns.cn/business/2015/07-22/174088.shtml

[geovalin]

Cambodia-China Military Cooperation: Beijing Influence In Indochina Usurps Washington's Influence In Asia Pacific

By Michelle FlorCruz

Military cooperation this month between Cambodia and China suggests that leaders in Phnom Penh are now more likely to turn to Beijing for support in regional disputes rather than Washington, analysts say. Cooperation between Cambodia and China has reportedly strengthened amid Cambodia's border dispute with Vietnam.

Cambodia’s Defense Minister Tea Banh concluded a five-day trip to China last week. He met with high-ranking military officials as Cambodia received pledges of assistance from China’s People’s Liberation Army. Banh said Cambodia's burgeoning relationship with China is stronger than its ties to the U.S., according to an interview with Voice of America’s Khmer service.

Cambodia’s ongoing border conflicts with Vietnam were part of the reason it turned to China for military assistance. Earlier this month, a border clash between Vietnamese authorities and Cambodian civilians left more than a dozen people injured. Roughly 250 Cambodian activists illegally entered Vietnamese territory through the eastern region of Cambodia. In an effort to stop them, Vietnamese authorities tried to reason with protesters before allegedly being attacked. Seven Vietnamese and 10 Cambodians were injured during the confrontation.

Though ties between Phnom Penh and Beijing are a concern for officials in Hanoi, the alliance also is viewed as a threat to U.S. influence in the region.

“The region is full of complicated competition,” Chheang Vannarith, a professor at the University of Leeds in England, told VOA. “China takes Cambodia in Indochina and the Mekong region to strengthen its sphere of influence in the Asia-Pacific.”

China’s role as “a growing superpower” in the region could contribute to a “growing cold war” between Washington and Beijing, added Paul Chambers, a professor at Thailand’s Chiang Mai University.

source: http://www.ibtimes.com/cambodia-china-military-cooperation-beijing-influence-indochina-usurps-washingtons-2019842

[FangFerang]

Of course they are turning to China. The US foreign policy has been imperialist and aggressive for far too long.

I think the US needs some healthy competition.

As the great W said (no, not the one about 'they misunderestimated me') "Markets are good."

Haunting words all around...

[Nice Boyd]

They re going Bankrupt, No other choice, China has the bucks

[AloisAmrein]

Cambodia and Vietnam are traditional ennemies, not to forget that the Vietnamese Liberation Army had to invade Cambodia for eliminating the terror regime of the Khmer Rouges, strongly supported by China. The Khmer Rouges killed about one fourth of the own population in forced labour and extermination camps and the Chines did nothing about it. Also not forget that Hun Sen, actual president, was member of Khmer Rouges. The actual regime in Cambodia is worse then the military regime in Thailand, highly corrupt and inefficient. Still one of the poorest countries in the world.