Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables
- Notes on Contributors
- Foreword
- Introduction: Strategic Challenges and Escalating Power Rivalry in the South China Sea
- 1 Between Competition and War: Complex Security Overlay and the South China Sea
- 2 The South China Sea as an Echo Chamber of Chinese Foreign and Security Policy
- Part I Claimants of the Contested South China Sea
- Part II Non-Claimants in Southeast Asia
- Part III Quadrilateral Security Dialogue States
- Part IV Non-Claimants in Europe and Eurasia
- Conclusion: Looking over the Horizon – Prospects for Settlement of the South China Sea Dispute?
- Index
10 - Cambodia’s South China Sea Policy: From ASEAN Aligned to Echoing Chinese Clientism
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 April 2023
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables
- Notes on Contributors
- Foreword
- Introduction: Strategic Challenges and Escalating Power Rivalry in the South China Sea
- 1 Between Competition and War: Complex Security Overlay and the South China Sea
- 2 The South China Sea as an Echo Chamber of Chinese Foreign and Security Policy
- Part I Claimants of the Contested South China Sea
- Part II Non-Claimants in Southeast Asia
- Part III Quadrilateral Security Dialogue States
- Part IV Non-Claimants in Europe and Eurasia
- Conclusion: Looking over the Horizon – Prospects for Settlement of the South China Sea Dispute?
- Index
Summary
Introduction
The South China Sea has once again become a flashpoint for conflict between China and some ASEAN states, particularly the Philippines and Vietnam. It has also strained relations between China and the United States (US). China's recent position of growing more assertive in advancing its claims has raised tensions and risked the militarization of competing claims by other states including the US and its allies. The diplomatic impasse between China and the ASEAN claimant states, as well as within ASEAN has, furthermore, made the situation less predictable. Worse still, taking advantage of a world distracted by the current coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic, China took new and bolder actions, as evidenced through its declaration of the establishment of two new administrative districts in the Paracel and Spratly Islands.
China's growing assertiveness in the South China Sea has put ASEAN states, other actors, and Cambodia in a challenging strategic situation, seeking to balance with China and the US to further their strategic interests. Cambodia has decided to adopt a different policy approach from its ASEAN member states regarding China and the US. Some other states in the region chose to have engaged in a balanced strategy (that is, hedging or neutral) with both superpowers in order to gain benefits from both sides: economic interests from China and security interests from the US. In contrast, Cambodia has pursued a strategy of bandwagoning towards China to accrue economic interests.
Among the strategic challenges facing Cambodia, balancing between ASEAN, the West, and China on the contentious issue of the South China Sea is and continues to be the most significant to their foreign policy in the 21st century. Since 2012, the South China Sea has re-emerged as the most significant and challenging foreign policy dilemma for Cambodia. As a non-claimant state, the South China Sea is not of direct concern for Cambodia. However, it holds great relevance to Cambodia as a member of ASEAN and as a nation that is a significant beneficiary of Chinese aid and investment. While ASEAN has always been a cornerstone of Cambodia's foreign policy, the country has been accused of siding with China at the expense of ASEAN, and hence damaging the unity of ASEAN.
Drawing particularly upon interviews, observations and investigations, this chapter examines Cambodia's approach to the territorial disputes in the SCS.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Security, Strategy, and Military Dynamics in the South China SeaCross-National Perspectives, pp. 193 - 214Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2021