Cambodian leader Hun Manet’s visit to France last week to discuss defence cooperation, among other issues, gives the Southeast Asian nation “a margin of manoeuvre” of counterbalancing its over-reliance. French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace, where Paris confirmed that it would provide €200 million (US$217 million) in support of Cambodia’s vocational training, energy, and water treatment sectors.
A proposed US$1.7 billion canal linking Cambodia’s southern coast with its section of the Mekong River could include funding from China and would allow shipments and security patrols on the major waterway to bypass Vietnam.