This book explores the tensions within Cambodia’s foreign policy between a tight alignment with China, on the one hand, and Cambodia’s commitment to the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as well as its delicate foreign policy diversification towards other major powers, on the other hand. It traces the long history of Cambodia’s quest for survival from its bigger and historically antagonistic neighbours – the Thai and the Vietnamese – and its struggle for security and independence from the two neighbours and external major powers, particularly the United States and China. It discusses Cambodia’s geopolitical predicaments deriving from its location of being sandwiched between powerful neighbours and limited strategic options available for the Kingdom. The book also assesses recent developments in Cambodia’s relations with its neighbours and their implications for Cambodia’s increasingly tight alignment with China in recent years. It considers the extent to which the ruling regime in Cambodia depends on strong relations with China for its legitimacy and survival and argues that there are risks and danger for Cambodia in moving towards an increasingly tight alignment with China.

This book focuses on the bilateral relationship between China and and Cambodia to present an though and deep cooperation of the two countries involving political, security, economic and cultural areas. It collects wisdom by the researchers and scholars attending the first China-Cambodia Cooperation Forum, which was held in Siem Reap, Cambodia, from December 6 to 8, 2019, with the theme of “Cambodia-China toward a Community with a Shared Future: We Grow Together”. It aims to build an overview with balanced perspectives on China-Cambodia relationship.

For more than a century, no US adversary or coalition of adversaries - not Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, or the Soviet Union - has ever reached sixty percent of US GDP. China is the sole exception, and it is fast emerging into a global superpower that could rival, if not eclipse, the United States. What does China want, does it have a grand strategy to achieve it, and what should the United States do about it? In The Long Game, Rush Doshi draws from a rich base of Chinese primary sources, including decades worth of party documents, leaked materials, memoirs by party leaders, and a careful analysis of China's conduct to provide a history of China's grand strategy since the end of the Cold War. Taking readers behind the Party's closed doors, he uncovers Beijing's long, methodical game to displace America from its hegemonic position in both the East Asia regional and global orders through three sequential "strategies of displacement." Beginning in the 1980s, China focused for two decades on "hiding capabilities and biding time." After the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, it became more assertive regionally, following a policy of "actively accomplishing something." Finally, in the aftermath populist elections of 2016, China shifted to an even more aggressive strategy for undermining US hegemony, adopting the phrase "great changes unseen in century." After charting how China's long game has evolved, Doshi offers a comprehensive yet asymmetric plan for an effective US response. Ironically, his proposed approach takes a page from Beijing's own strategic playbook to undermine China's ambitions and strengthen American order without competing dollar-for-dollar, ship-for-ship, or loan-for-loan.

China suffers from a trust deficit in the region, and Southeast Asian countries have adopted hedging strategies, at varying degrees, aimed at diversifying their economic and strategic interests from Chinese investments and influence. Cambodia considers China as an important strategic and economic partner in providing performance legitimacy and as a countervailing force against its immediate neighbours. Cambodia's economic overdependence and power asymmetry have enabled China to exert significant political leverage over the Kingdom, especially on international issues affecting China's core national interest such as the South China Sea dispute. Local communities are discontented with some Chinese investment projects, especially hydropower plants and land concessions, which have infringed on labour rights and environmental protection. Given the public resentment and dynamic changes and transformations of politico-social environment in Cambodia, China needs to address the concerns and issues raised by local communities in order to sustain and enlarge its political and economic footprint. Promoting good corporate governance, as well as social and environmental responsibility, would help.

China’s rise and stepped-up involvement in Southeast Asia have prompted a blend of anticipation and unease among its smaller neighbors. The stunning growth of China has yanked up the region’s economies, but its militarization of the South China Sea and dam building on the Mekong River has nations wary about Beijing’s outsized ambitions. Southeast Asians long felt relatively secure, relying on the United States as a security hedge, but that confidence began to slip after the Trump administration launched a trade war with China and questioned the usefulness of traditional alliances. This compelling book provides a snapshot of ten countries in Southeast Asia by exploring their diverse experiences with China and how this impacts their perceptions of Beijing’s actions and its long-term political, economic, military, and “soft power” goals in the region.

China suffers from a trust deficit in the region, and Southeast Asian countries have adopted hedging strategies, at varying degrees, aimed at diversifying their economic and strategic interests from Chinese investments and influence. Cambodia considers China as an important strategic and economic partner in providing performance legitimacy and as a countervailing force against its immediate neighbours. Cambodia's economic overdependence and power asymmetry have enabled China to exert significant political leverage over the Kingdom, especially on international issues affecting Chinas core national interest such as the South China Sea dispute. Local communities are discontented with some Chinese investment projects, especially hydropower plants and land concessions, which have infringed on labour rights and environmental protection. Given the public resentment and dynamic changes and transformations of politico-social environment in Cambodia, China needs to address the concerns and issues raised by local communities in order to sustain and enlarge its political and economic footprint. Promoting good corporate governance, as well as social and environmental responsibility, would help.

Why would China jeopardize its relationship with the United States, the former Soviet Union, Vietnam, and much of Southeast Asia to sustain the Khmer Rouge and provide hundreds of millions of dollars to postwar Cambodia? Why would China invest so much in small states, such as those at the China-Africa Forum, that offer such small political, economic, and strategic return? Some scholars assume pragmatic or material concerns drive China's foreign policy, while others believe the government was once and still is guided by Marxist ideology. Conducting rare interviews with the actual policy makers involved in these decisions, Sophie Richardson locates the true principles driving China's foreign policy since 1954's Geneva Conference. Though they may not be "right" in a moral sense, China's ideals are based on a clear view of the world and the interaction of the people within it-a philosophy that, even in an era of unprecedented state power, remains tied to the origins of the PRC as an impoverished, undeveloped state. The Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence mutual respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty; nonaggression; noninterference; equality and mutual benefit; and peaceful coexistence live at the heart of Chinese foreign policy and set the parameters for international action. In this model of state-to-state relations, the practices of extensive diplomatic communication, mutual benefit, and restraint in domestic affairs become crucial to achieving national security and global stability.