On visit to Beijing, Cambodia's Hun Sen meets China's Xi; cement close ties between two Asian countries

In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen (left) and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands on the sidelines of a meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, Friday, Feb. 10, 2023. Hun Sen met Friday with Xi Jinping on a visit to his ally that underscores increasingly close ties between the two Asian countries. - AP

BEIJING, Feb 10 (AP): Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen met Friday with Chinese President Xi Jinping on a visit to his ally that underscores increasingly close ties between the two Asian countries.

Cambodia is a key Chinese diplomatic partner, helping dampen criticism of Beijing within the 10-member Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean), several of whose members are engaged in territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea.

No details were immediately released about the Diaoyutai State Guest House meeting that comes in the middle of Hun Sen’s three-day visit.

Hun Sen took power in 1998, and with strong Chinese backing, has eliminated all democratic threats to his rule, muzzling the press and locking up or exiling opponents and critics.

In return, China has gained an outsized role in Cambodian politics and the economy, as seen in the numerous Chinese-funded projects, hotels and casinos dotting the landscape.

In June, China and Cambodia broke ground on a naval port expansion project that has raised concerns from the U.S. and others that it could give Beijing a strategically important military outpost on the Gulf of Thailand.

Hun Sen in 2019 reportedly granted China the right to set up a military base at the Ream Naval Base. He has long denied that, saying Cambodia’s Constitution prohibits foreign military facilities. - AP