As President Xi Jinping travels to the country on Thursday ( Apr 17 ), a Cambodian government spokesman said, the country is betting on more financial support from China, including for infrastructure.
Prior to July, the nation’s major supplier of clothing and footwear to the United States was hit by a 49 % “reciprocal” tax from US President Donald Trump, one of the highest rates in the world.
Phnom Penh is also a close companion of China, which has invested billions of dollars in infrastructure projects like highways and airports and is the nation’s largest bank.
On the day of Xi’s appearance in Phnom Penh, Meas Soksensan, a spokeswoman for the Thai finance department, told Reuters,” We anticipate more assistance, including on network development.”
He was addressing a problem about whether Cambodia anticipated Beijing to proclaim financial aid for the country’s most optimistic infrastructure project, the 180 km canal.
Xi reaffirmed messages he sent earlier this week to Vietnam and Malaysia in the first two feet of his journey by writing in an essay published on Thursday morning on Thai internet that were published on the country’s advertising.
In his post, he mentions previous Chinese infrastructure projects in Cambodia that helped the local market, but he doesn’t mention any new jobs.
The Funan Techo Canal, which had run from a page close to Phnom Penh to the coast on the Gulf of Thailand, would be funded by China, the Thai government has stated, deflecting water from the delicate Mekong Delta, which would reduce Thai shipping through Taiwanese ports, and reduce shipping from the Mekong River.
Cambodia has yet to announce its public financial commitment to the project, while Phnom Penh has changed its policy to cover 49 % of the project’s total costs, which are estimated to be US$ 1.7 billion, or nearly 4 % of Cambodia’s annual gross domestic product.