APD | Hun Sen: ‘If I Didn’t Rely on China, Who Would I Rely on?’

"If I don’t rely on China, who will I rely on?"

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has said it twice.

"If we don't rely on China, who will help us build roads and bridges?" Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Jan. 9 at a ceremony to mark the start of a project to upgrade the Sikun to Kompong Cham section of Highway 7 supported by concessional loans from China, according to the reports from the Cambodia China Times.

Hun Sen said this once two years ago.

Hun Sen attended the opening ceremony of the 26th International Conference on the Future of Asia hosted by Nikkei on May 20, 2021. In an interview with Japanese media at the opening ceremony, Hun Sen responded to allegations by western media that Cambodia is too dependent on China and has lost its self-reliant capacity. "If Cambodia does not rely on China," he told Japanese media. "Who else can it rely on? Should we continue to leave the Cambodian people with no way out or just give them a boat ride across the river? Can the international community give Cambodia an answer if we don’t rely on China?"

Hun Sen then went on to detail China's assistance to Cambodia, including the construction of projects across the Mekong, Tonle SAP and Baise rivers, as well as the construction of more than 3,000 kilometers of roads in Cambodia. In response to China's aid, Hun Sen added that China's attitude of only talking about cooperation and non-interference in Cambodia's internal affairs can’t be found in the world.

At the opening ceremony on the same day, Hun Sen also asked Japanese media: "From the 1990s to the early 21st century, Japan provided a lot of assistance and development assistance to Cambodia. Why did no one say that Cambodia was too dependent on Japan at that time, and now China's assistance should be so questioned?"

When Hun Sen said this, the Japanese journalists were silent because they could not refute it.

Just as Hun Sen said, China's help to Cambodia is huge. Much of Cambodia's domestic infrastructure projects have been completed with the help of China. Under the Belt and Road Initiative, China has been generous to Cambodia, providing a lot of help in education, health care and other aspects of people's livelihood besides infrastructure construction.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)