Neou Vannarin, VOA Khmer
21 July 2015
PHNOM PENH—
Cambodian Defense Minister Tea Banh made a five-day trip to China last week, meeting with high-ranking military officials and receiving pledges of assistance from the Chinese military.

In an interview last week, Tea Banh, a trusted member of Prime Minister HE’s administration, told VOA Khmer the visit was successful in bringing military cooperation between the countries even closer. That relationship is closer than Cambodia’s with the US, he said.
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Tea Banh defended the bilateral relationship, saying Chinese aid comes with no strings, while China has never interfered in Cambodian affairs. He declined to disclose how much aid Cambodia would receive from the latest trip.
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Yet analysts warn that China is getting more out of the deal than Cambodia. Chheang Vannnarith, a visiting professor at the University of Leeds, said China needs Cambodia as a partner in Southeast Asia, where competition is rising. Cambodia needs Chinese partnership, as Vietnam moves closer to the US.

“The region is full of complicated competition,” he said: China and Japan, China and the US. “China takes Cambodia in Indochina and the Mekong region to strengthen its sphere of influence in the Asia Pacific.”

In the end, Cambodia is playing a riskier game than China, Chheang Vannarith said. “Once we rely on China so much, we will lose what is called self-determination in foreign policy,” he said.

Paul Chambers, a professor at Chiang Mai University, said China, “a growing super power,” uses Cambodia for influence within Asean, in what he called a “growing cold war” between China and the US. China also hopes to split up Asean, he said.
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