China to help out Cambodia with soft loans
September 4, 2012
China has recently announced it will give more than $500 million in grants and soft loans to Cambodia to thank them for maintaining a good relationship between Beijing and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), according to Reuters.
This past July, a summit of 10 members of the ASEAN were unable to come to an agreement about the borders in South China Sea, which has become one of Asia's biggest potential military outlet. China's overwhelming ownership of the area was not agreed upon by Vietnam and the Philippines. This was the first time a joint communique was not met in the group's 45-year-old history, according to the media outlet.
Cambodia was believed to be stonewalling the group in order to support China. Over the weekend, the Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen was given four loan agreements for various projects amounting to $420 million. In addition, another three loan agreements were later given out, which were worth more than $80 million. It is believed this has a lot to do with the recent meeting, the news outlet reports.
"The Chinese government also voiced high appreciation for the part played by Cambodia as the chair of ASEAN to maintain good cooperation between China and ASEAN," Aun Porn Moniroth told the news source.
According to the Global Times, since 2013 will be the 55th anniversary of China and Cambodia's diplomatic relations, China has agreed to invite 100 Cambodian children to the country to visit and celebrate.
Those who want to discuss China's relationship with Cambodia can make calls to China using international calling cards to do so without breaking the bank.