Japan's PM visits Cambodia, also one of China's key partners
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is in Cambodia for talks with his counterpart, Hun Sen, to deepen relations with one of the Southeast Asia’s closest partners of both China and Japan
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was in Cambodia for talks with his counterpart, Hun Sen, on Sunday to deepen relations with one of the Southeast Asia's closest partners of both China and Japan.
Kishida and Hun Sen were discussing cooperation covering trade and investment, education, infrastructure, defense and security, and the post-pandemic recovery, Cambodian officials said.
After China, Japan is Cambodia's largest donor and has funded the construction of bridges across the Mekong River, main roads linking Phnom Penh with provinces, the country's principal Sihanoukville port as well as upgrading clean water and sewage systems in the capital.
But Japan and the U.S. also share concerns over China’s growing military assertiveness in the region. In Cambodia, Washington has been recently focused on China’s construction of new facilities at Ream Naval Base and the potential for its military to have future basing rights there.
Ream faces the Gulf of Thailand that lies adjacent to the South China Sea, where China has been engulfed in territorial disputes with its smaller Southeast Asian neighbors. Cambodia generally supports Beijing’s geopolitical positions, and in return, Beijing’s backing for Hun Sen allows Cambodia to disregard Western concerns about its poor record in human and political rights
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