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.
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.”
Vong Sokheng
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