Phnom Penh, Cambodia (AP) – Chinese President Xi Jinping has crowned a Tour in three countries in Southeast Asia Friday, in Cambodia, the promotion of the reliability of Beijing as a region faces economic uncertainty due to the pricing proposals of American President Donald Trump.
China has greatly increased its influence in the region over the past decade, largely by exercising its substantial economic lever effect. Beijing now presents itself as a source of stability and certainty as Trump prices threaten economies oriented towards exporting the region, the largest market of which is generally the United States.
Cambodia is facing the highest reciprocal rate rates offered by Washington. In addition to the universal price of 10% of Trump, it faces the threat of a 49% price on exports to the United States once its 90-day break expires. For the other nations visited by XI, Vietnam The price would be 46%, and Malaysia “S 24%.
XI’s trip had the impact of the reaction to American tariff proposals
“The time of the visit is extraordinarily conducive to China, falling just following the announcement of Trump’s prices which caused a dismay managed in Cambodia and Vietnam … and upset in Malaysia,” said Astrid Norén-Nilsson, a lecturer in the study of the contemporary of the South East of Asia Lund, E-mail on an e-mail interview.
“Xi Jinping can now perform the tour equipped with the moral authority and the goodwill of a singularly constant friend and a reliable trading partner.”
In Vietnam and Malaysia, XI has focused on strengthening links, in particular in trade and investment, and stressed the need to oppose unilateralism and protectionism and maintaining the multilateral trade system.
A summary of the visit published on Friday by the Cambodia Ministry of Foreign Affairs barely mentioned the commercial crisis, rather focusing on bilateral relations, although the Xinhua news agency in China stated that XI had discussed the same commercial questions as on its previous judgments.
Cambodge-China Relations already on a firm basis
“This stage visit not only reaffirmed the unshakable commitment to friendship to all of Cambodia and China, but has also strengthened and in-depth the full strategic partnership and winning-win cooperation between the two countries,” said the Cambodian declaration.
During his stay, XI obtained a royal audience of King Norodom Sihamoni and held meetings with Prime Minister Hun Manet and the President of the Senate, Hun Sen, who is the father and predecessor of Hun Manet as Prime Minister. The visit was the first of Xi in Cambodia since 2016.
Xi and Hun Manet also chaired the signing of 37 documents covering investment, trade, education, finance, information, young people, agriculture, health, water resources, female business and other subjects.
The details of the largest transaction were announced on Friday, the signing of a public-private partnership contract to finance the ambitious $ 156 billion project in Funan Techo Canal, which was launched last year, but the work was arrested shortly after the inauguration.
The 151 km (94 mile) -long channel would link a branch of the Mekong to a port of the Gulf of Thailand.
China was the largest trading partner in Cambodia for 13 consecutive years, with two -way trade in 2024 reaching $ 17.83 billion, although greatly in favor of China. It is also the greatest source of foreign investment in Cambodia in the 13 consecutive years, as well as a major aid donor and his greatest creditor.
The position of China on the climate and the help contrasts with us
Referring to social and development issues, the Declaration of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has implicitly contrasting with the positions held by the United States, claiming that “the two parties recognized the global threat posed by climate change and have committed to strengthening the protection of the environment (and) to advance clean energy collaboration.”
He also mentioned China’s help to deal with Cambodia problem cleaning land mines left armed conflicts decades and cooperation in the health sector. The Trump administration’s foreign help cuts affected these sectors and others.
The declaration also said that “the two parties agreed to further strengthen the cooperation mechanism between the armed forces of the two countries”.
Beijing has helped finance an expansion of Ream Naval Base On the southern coast of Cambodia, raising concerns, this could become a strategic outpost for the Chinese Navy in the Gulf of Thailand.
The declaration did not mention the basic problem. Cambodia has repeatedly denied any agreement granting special privileges in China or the creation of a foreign military base.
Cambodia said that the warships from all sympathetic countries are welcome to Dock in its new pier, provided they meet certain conditions. Japan has announced On Tuesday, two of its flirtators will visit the Ream base this weekend during the first visit to the foreign navy since the end of the extension project.
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Peck reported in Bangkok.
