Pivot To China

That strongman Hun Sen recently won Cambodia’s election (again) is no surprise. But the real winner is to the north.

- Philip Heijmans

THREE DECADES INTO THE RULE of Prime Minister Hun Sen, Cambodians went to the polls on July 29 to give the strongman another five-year term. The win was predetermined. Not only had Hun Sen’s cronies terminated his main opposition, the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), but he had the support of a colossal and deep-pocketed ally: China.

Under Hun Sen’s rule, billions of dollars in Chinese investments have helped Cambodia become one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. The financial influx has been part of an aggressive Chinese strategy to win power in Cambodia after years of U.S. influence. By 2017, China became Cambodia’s largest trading partner, with total trade volume reaching $5.8 billion, up 22 percent from 2016.

With this move toward China, “Hun Sen has explicitly come out and said to the West, ‘I don’t need your money anymore,’” says Alice Harrison, a senior campaigner with human rights group Global Witness, which has composed a detailed report of the Cambodian ruling elite and its vast connections to Beijing. “With so much Chinese financing, the economy has gotten to the point that he feels very safe in their hands.”

But few of those rewards trickle down to ordinary Cambodians. “In a large number of cases, the benefits have been minimal or negative,” says Sebastian Strangio, author of Hun Sen’s Cambodia. “Chinese state companies usually bring in their own labor force to build infrastructure, like roads, dams and bridges. And many villagers have lost their land to dam and real estate projects.”