Cambodia distances itself from S China Sea dispute

John Kerry has been visiting S.E. Asia trying to get various countries to sign on to some kind of agreement to block China's expansion ..

In the last few years China has been financing business deals in various countries in S.E. Asia while in many cases becoming partners for high speed rail projects, roads and other infrastructure projects.

PHNOM PENH — United States Secretary of State John Kerry met Cambodian leaders yesterday, but failed to secure the country’s commitment to a more robust stance alongside the other member states in the Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN) against China’s pursuit of territorial claims in the South China Sea.

www.todayonline.com...

As I posted several months ago when the USA and Thailand were having their disagreements (USA wanted Utapao airbase..Thais said no... Utapao is a commercial airport now that serves Pattaya which is a major tourist resort) that by disparaging Thailand, Laos and Cambodia would follow politically.. China has been all over S.E. Asia building and financing stuff where in the past it was always cheaper to just buy a few politicians.. Looks like those days are over for that kind of thinking and policy.

Don't get me wrong there are still situations where a little nudge can get a country headed in a desire direction however it appears the pressure points; they are a changing.

Like Cambodia, Laos has close political and economic ties with China — worrying the Obama administration that Vientiane might behave like Phnom Penh when it held the ASEAN chair in 2012.

If I had to bet Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and no telling who else will take the middle ground and try to act like they are neutral while playing the game of who offers more of a financial benefit to the individual countries. Can't really blame them..

China is a big next door neighbor and if the propaganda is to be believed is not backing down on it's territorial claims..

a reply to: 727Sky

One of the bigger issues to consider in that part of the world is that Japan has some bad history with its neighbours and that is not going to help much .Money is one thing but when you have a choice of deciding between your enemy's money or a optional neighbour ,most would go with China .

originally posted by: the2ofusr1
a reply to: 727Sky

One of the bigger issues to consider in that part of the world is that Japan has some bad history with its neighbours and that is not going to help much .Money is one thing but when you have a choice of deciding between your enemy's money or a optional neighbour ,most would go with China .

I agree and as little as 45 years ago there was a bunch of bad blood because there were still survivors of Japans misdeeds all over S.E. Asia. Even if you were a supposedly friend during the war there were plenty of "not nice stories" to tell the grand kids. However in the last 45 years those memories have all but faded as everyone drives Japanese cars and uses Japanese products now as a normal course.

Japan did try to make a deal with Thailand about a high speed rail project between Bangkok and a couple of tourist spots down south but I have not heard if they got the contract.. Last I heard was China is the go to... and on another project they are planning a connection of high speed between Vientiane and Bangkok.. The Chinese had already built and finished a big highway to Vientiane from China and other parts back in the early 70s so a connection makes economic sense... Since Kerry did not get what he wanted and his departing news comments about human rights probably did not endear him to the present Cambodian leadership; I really don't see much of a posture change coming out of that region..

Either way the wind blows it really is blowing from the North (China's direction) and not necessarily the west according to all the articles I am reading that are posted locally. The Philippines and Japan are so far the biggest supporters of the swing to Asia policy the USA is purported to be instigating presently.. They should for they have the most to lose in the neighborhood if China gets it's way.

On the day after Christmas, three Chinese boats, one modified to carry four cannons, entered Japan’s territorial waters surrounding the Senkaku Islands in the southern portion of the East China Sea. The move, a dangerous escalation, is the first time the People’s Republic of China sent an armed vessel into an area that Tokyo claims as its own.


The sending of the three Chinese vessels on Dec. 26 appears to signal a new phase of incursions to grab not just the Senkaku Islands but the nearby—and far more important—Ryukyu Islands. Those include Okinawa, which hosts more than half of the 54,000 American military personnel in Japan, including those at Kadena Air Force Base, the Army’s Fort Buckner and Torii Station, eight Marine Corps camps, as well as Air Station Futenma and Yontan Airfield, and the Navy’s Fleet Activities Okinawa.

I can't seem to get a proper link to work so just cut and paste into your search engine..that will get you to the article/
www.thedailybeast.com...

a reply to: 727Sky

China makes some good points and I dont think they will completely back away from them . from your link

Beijing’s argument, like all its territorial claims, is rooted in long-ago history—1372 to be exact. By that year, as Gen. Luo pointed out to the China News Service, the Ryukyu kingdom was paying tribute to the Chinese court, and Japan did not complete its annexation of the island chain until 1872.
In their landmark May 2013 People’s Daily commentary, Li Guoqiang and Zhang Haipeng of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences maintained the annexation of the Ryukyus constituted an invasion. Moreover, they wrote that Japan’s defeat in World War II nullified the Treaty of Shimonoseki of 1895, by which the Qing court formally renounced its claims to the islands.
“For now, let’s not discuss whether they belong to China—they were certainly China’s tributary state,” said Luo to the China News Service. “I am not saying all former tributary states belong to China, but we can say with certainty that the Ryukyus do not belong to Japan.”

Seems that even the people of Japan dont want the base there

Much of Cambodia's growing economy is backed by Chinese investments. Not to mention most Government Officials there are corrupt and live off these "investments". Why bite the hands that feeds them?

originally posted by: joemoe
Much of Cambodia's growing economy is backed by Chinese investments. Not to mention most Government Officials there are corrupt and live off these "investments". Why bite the hands that feeds them?

www.transparency.org...

The scale of the issue is huge. Sixty-eight per cent of countries worldwide have a serious corruption problem. Half of the G20 are among them.

Not one single country, anywhere in the world, is corruption-free.

a reply to: 727Sky

True but when most of that corruption money is coming from one benefactor (in this case China), you would go out of your way to please them. Yes? Been to that part of the world many times, I know a bit about that region.

Though I would post this yt vid interview with Jeff Brown . He lives in China and has a pretty good grip on what is on the ground . He mentions the history behind the region and attempts to explain it to us in the west .

originally posted by: 727Sky
John Kerry has been visiting S.E. Asia trying to get various countries to sign on to some kind of agreement to block China's expansion ..

In the last few years China has been financing business deals in various countries in S.E. Asia while in many cases becoming partners for high speed rail projects, roads and other infrastructure projects.

PHNOM PENH — United States Secretary of State John Kerry met Cambodian leaders yesterday, but failed to secure the country’s commitment to a more robust stance alongside the other member states in the Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN) against China’s pursuit of territorial claims in the South China Sea.

www.todayonline.com...

As I posted several months ago when the USA and Thailand were having their disagreements (USA wanted Utapao airbase..Thais said no... Utapao is a commercial airport now that serves Pattaya which is a major tourist resort) that by disparaging Thailand, Laos and Cambodia would follow politically.. China has been all over S.E. Asia building and financing stuff where in the past it was always cheaper to just buy a few politicians.. Looks like those days are over for that kind of thinking and policy.

Don't get me wrong there are still situations where a little nudge can get a country headed in a desire direction however it appears the pressure points; they are a changing.

Like Cambodia, Laos has close political and economic ties with China — worrying the Obama administration that Vientiane might behave like Phnom Penh when it held the ASEAN chair in 2012.

If I had to bet Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and no telling who else will take the middle ground and try to act like they are neutral while playing the game of who offers more of a financial benefit to the individual countries. Can't really blame them..

China is a big next door neighbor and if the propaganda is to be believed is not backing down on it's territorial claims..

This of itself does not say much and little should be inferred from it.

Cambodia, Laos and Thailand are very small countries and they are simply signalling that they want to stay out of the way of the big players. Both Cambodia and Laos have seen enough war and have grown sick of it, They still feel the pain.

Thailand just wants to be head down, arse up, work and build themselves a modern economy with modern living standards. They do not want trouble with the US or China either.