Cambodia seeks China help as Xi visits amid US tariff standoff

Cambodia is betting on more financial support from China, including for infrastructure, as President Xi Jinping visits the country on Thursday at the end of a three-nation tour of Southeast Asia, a Cambodian government spokesman said.

Phnom Penh is a close partner of China, which has invested billions of dollars in projects including roads and airports, and is the country's largest creditor.

"We expect more cooperation including on infrastructure development," Meas Soksensan, spokesman for the Cambodian finance ministry, told Reuters on the eve of Xi's arrival in the capital Phnom Penh.

He was answering a question about whether Cambodia expected Beijing to announce financial support for a 180 km (111.85 miles) canal, which is the country's most ambitious infrastructure project.

In an article published on Thursday morning in Cambodian media, Xi urged Phnom Penh to oppose "hegemonism" and "protectionism", repeating messages he sent earlier this week to Vietnam and Malaysia in the first two legs of his trip.

Southeast Asian countries have been hit hard by U.S. President Donald Trump's "reciprocal" tariffs. Cambodia is a major exporter of clothing and footwear to the United States, and was slapped with a rate of 49 per cent, one of the highest globally, before most duties were paused until July.

Xi, who has a road named after him on the outskirts of the capital, listed past Chinese infrastructure projects in Cambodia that benefited the local economy but mentioned no new specific project in the article.

The Cambodian government has said China would pay for the Funan Techo Canal, which would run from the Mekong River, from a site near Phnom Penh, to the coast on the Gulf of Thailand, diverting water from the fragile rice-growing Mekong Delta and reducing Cambodian shipping through Vietnamese ports.

China has so far made no public financial commitment to the project, while Phnom Penh has changed its statements on Chinese engagement from covering 100 per cent to 49 per cent of total costs, estimated at $1.7 billion, nearly 4 per cent of Cambodia's annual gross domestic product.

Loans and flags

Xi's visit to Cambodia is part of a long-planned trip that has been seen as a charm offensive in Southeast Asia, in the wake of the U.S. tariffs. He started the tour in Vietnam, which has expressed misgivings about the Funan Techo canal.

Beijing signed no new loans to Cambodia last year, according to Cambodian official data, a marked contrast with previous years when it lent the country hundreds of millions of dollars.

The drop in funding came as China reduced overall overseas investments amid domestic economic woes and concerns over unsuccessful projects.

China and Cambodia have repeatedly said they are "ironclad" friends, despite recent tensions over scam centres in Cambodia that are often run by Chinese gangs and target Chinese nationals, either as victims or captive workers.

Xi on Thursday urged Cambodia to crack down on online frauds. Before his arrival, the Cambodian government said it had deported to China a number of "Chinese criminals", including people from Taiwan, in a move that angered Taipei.

As he travelled from the airport to meetings with leaders, Xi was cheered by people lining the road waving Chinese flags, footage posted on social media showed.

"Lots of flags, lots of MoUs and lots of bromances, probably not a lot of substance," a Cambodia-based Western diplomat said of the visit, referring to non-binding memoranda of understanding that are often signed during state visits.