China and Cambodia - Rise of a Surrogate State

Cambodia’s affiliation to China and its foreign policy priorities could be gauged from the fact that in 2012 when Cambodia was the chairperson of ASEAN, the Communiqué of the annual summit was never released. This happened first time in the history of the multilateral organisation. The purpose was to sabotage the references that Vietnam and Philippines wanted to be inserted in the Communique related to the aggressive activities by Chinese vessels in South China Sea.

In the year 2020, under Hun Sen regime, three major issues related to Cambodia gained attention. Firstly, the development of the Sihanoukville port with docking facilities for Chinese naval ships. The berthing docks have been specially enlarged to accommodate large ships. Secondly, development of Ream base with a long airstrip as well as adjoining township to provide accommodation to Chinese soldiers and naval personnel. The long airstrip shows that China wants to conduct maritime surveillance activities from that base. Lastly, Cambodia’s accession to UNCLOS. China has been a signatory of UNCLOS but has reservations on its applicability in South China Sea. Cambodia, on the other hand, has joined it last year. These developments show that Cambodia is keen on giving access to its military facilities, and also in order to protect Chinese asset in its coastal zones, have joined the UNCLOS. It was believed that Cambodia's military infrastructure development by China was meant to completely control South China Sea from Vanguard bank to the Cambodian coastal waters. While areas such as Vanguard bank are non-disputed, Chinese activities lately in that region through patrol boats and intimidating tactics have raised international concern. Given the fact that very recently both Indonesia and Malaysia have also raised concerns with regard to Chinese encroachment activities therefore it is believed that under Vietnam chairmanship of ASEAN there would be more resonating voices within ASEAN on this subject.

The deployment of naval ships by Indonesia around Natuna islands, the resource rich waters shows that Indonesia would like to thwart and counter any activity by the Chinese fishermen militia. Earlier also Indonesian navy had captured the Chinese fishing boats and have destroyed it in their waters, While Indonesia being on the largest ASEAN members in terms of population and capability but it needs to be seen how it can counter Chinese encroachment in the non-disputed waters. Indonesia is not a party to the South China Sea disputed but recurrent Chinese assertive activities have forced Indonesia to take a strong position on the subject.

Chinese activities in Cambodian southern coast is seen from strategic point of view. China nurtures this ambition that it can build the Kra of Isthmus canal to avert the Malacca straits dilemma. For protection of that canal it needs to secure entry and exit points. With increasing tensions in the Indian Ocean and Chinese activities being closely monitored by the Quad countries, China would like to get access to the Gulf of Thailand by supporting the military regime in Thailand which is facing intense international pressure to restore democracy.

Chinese military ambitions in Cambodia can be seen from three basic objectives. Firstly, it wants a regular monitoring of the oil exploration activities of both Malaysia and Vietnam. In order to do that it would have to position its patrol ships closer to the Cambodian coast for undertaking regular patrols in the Vietnamese EEZ and Malaysian EEZ. Secondly, China has been very instrumental in exploring the sustenance of its unmanned submersibles and their such activities have been detected by the Indian navy closer to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Chinese would like to use these unmanned submersibles for anti-access and area denial of the legitimate waters of these smaller ASEAN countries, and monitor the activities of the submarines of the Quad countries. Lastly, the establishment of naval and coast guard base in Cambodia gives that intercepting edge to China.

While these are strong possibilities, the questions arise that why Cambodia would allow Chinese takeover of its base. The Cambodian longest serving Prime Minister Hun Sen and President of National Assembly Heng Semrin are willing to secure the political futures for their respective sons- Hun Manet and Heng Samnang, and Chinese support would be instrumental in curbing any opposition to their political legacy. There have been anti-Chinese protests in Cambodia but most of these were unreported. Chinese have been accused for no respect for human rights, environment and the local administrative laws. Cambodian government in order to facilitate Chinese presence along its coast have given a 99-year lease in Koh Kong province to a Chinese company. This lease agreement gives rights to more than 1/5^th of Cambodian coastline. According to one estimate in the last 26 years since 1994 China has invested more than US $ 12.6 billion in the Cambodian economy in the forms of investment aid, and grants. Between 2016-2019 the investment amounted to US $ 7.9 billion which shows the increased attention that China is giving to the country. Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone (SSEZ) witnessed establishment of more than 100 Chinese companies which are meant to reroute Chinese manufactured products through Cambodia thereby skirting the stringent Rules of origin imposed by countries such as India and many others.

China has swarmed the Chinese economy so much that it has built seven dams and completely controls Cambodian electricity generation network. It is also building four lane highway connecting Sihanoukville with the capital Phnom Penh. Secondly, the Chinese workers comprise more than 60 per cent of foreign labour force and are given higher salaries than Cambodians, leading to disgruntlement among the local workers. Also in terms of tourism Chinese visitors to Cambodia were more than 2 million in 2019. The solidarity that Hun Sen had shown towards China while visiting China at the peak of COVID -19 shows the resolve and the commitment to their political and strategic masters. 

Pic Courtsey-James Wheeler at unsplash.com

(The views expressed are personal)