Phnom Penh Post
A police officer walks past a banner hanging outside the Peace Palace
during the ASEAN and East Asia summits in Phnom Penh earlier this week.
Several other China-friendly banners were on display. Photograph: David
Boyle/Phnom Penh Post
In his first public speech following
this week’s ASEAN summit, Prime Minister Hun Sen offered lavish praise
for China’s financial largesse and congratulations for its newly
appointed Communist Party heads.[PM Hun Sen lavishes praise on China, while he snubbed President Obama].
His words come in the wake of
the third and final ASEAN summit Cambodia will chair and at which, yet
again, analysts concluded China exerted undue influence on the regional
meet through its close friend.
Speaking to thousands of
villagers during a ceremony to inaugurate National Road 8 in Prey Veng
linking Cambodia to Vietnam, Hun Sen said Chinese grants had led to
substantial development.
The $107 million Prey Veng road, said
Hun Sen, was built with an $83 million loan from the Chinese and would
go far to helping improve the lives of rural Cambodians.
“On
behalf of the government and people of Cambodia, I would like to express
thanks to the government of China for providing grants and loans to
Cambodia for social and economic development,” added Hun Sen.
He
also reiterated that he had requested $300 to $500 million in annual
loans from China to build at least 4,000 kilometres of roads. On Sunday,
Hun Sen met his Chinese counterpart, Wen Jiabao, and inked trade
agreements totaling hundreds of millions of dollars.
In the
meeting, Hun Sen also requested further development aid, and Wen Jiabao
agreed to grant $52 million for water resource development and said he
would consider providing more, Hun Sen’s spokesman said at the time.
During
yesterday’s speech in Prey Veng, Hun Sen also congratulated China’s new
Communist Party General Secretary, Xi Jinping, who last week was
confirmed as the head of the seven member politburo.
It is expected that Xi Jinping will become president in March.
“We
appreciate Xi Jinping and other Chinese politicians in his office, and
we wish for them to be successful within this new mandate,” said Hun
Sen.
“Xi Jinping visited Cambodia in 2009 and I already knew
him, therefore it will be easier for further relationship ties between
China and Cambodia.”
A Chinese Communist Party delegation will visit Cambodia on December 7 to 8, he added.
Cambodia
has repeatedly come under fire this year from observers and diplomats
alike for doing China’s bidding at ASEAN, particularly in pushing their
position on the South China Sea.
In July, after the bloc failed
to issue a joint communiqué for the first time, Cambodia was accused of
placing China’s interests above ASEAN unity.
Though this week’s high-level summit ended without such a bang, the hints of Chinese influence loomed large.
From
the banners strung up outside the Peace Palace welcoming Wen Jiabao
(the only signs posted outside the building), to the Chinese-built
Council of Ministers which housed the media, China’s role was apparent.
In
his speech yesterday, Hun Sen stressed that the special welcome
received by Wen Jiabao was because he was the only leader to arrive
early on an official state visit.
“A number of media outlets were wrong to comment on the arrival of head of states,” he said.
“Only
Wen Jiabao received an official reception with patrolling troops at
the Peace Palace, because [only] he paid an official visit to Cambodia.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Vong Sokheng at sokheng.vong@phnompenhpost.com
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