NVDB005_-_CH_3.002._China-Cambodia_relations_-_Dr._Chheang-2

17 — DP Vol. 05

Regional Security Dilemma: Trends, Directions, and Illusion

The concept of building a community with a shared future was put forth by President Xi Jinping in 2013 to advance China’s new foreign policy narrative focusing on cooperation, harmony, and humanity. It represents a grand strategic narrative which is part of China’s wider global activism as it begins to assert itself as an emerging global power on par with the United States.

China has promoted the concept at both bilateral and multilateral platforms. For instance, during a high-level dialogue between the Communist Party of China (CCP) and the world political parties in July 2021, General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed the importance of building “a community with a shared future for mankind” as a means to promote China’s vision to build a more just, inclusive, prosperous and harmonious world. Notably, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is regarded as a key cooperation mechanism in the realisation of a global community with a shared future.

It is argued here that this concept is shaping the regional order both materially and normatively. China is seeking to revise international norms and rules which do not reflect emerging Chinese interests and instead promote new norms and rules that better serve its interests. Southeast Asia provides a fertile ground and right conditions for China to trial its new ideas and initiatives.

Cambodia and Lao PDR appear to be the two Southeast Asian countries most closely aligned with China - a foreign policy stance reflecting their own national interests, especially economic interests. Cambodia for example signed the action plan on the “Community of Shared Future (CSF)” in April 2019. Following this, during his official state visit to Cambodia in October 2016, President Xi Jinping proposed that the two countries forge a community with a shared future. Moreover, during Premier Li Keqiang’s visit in January 2018, both sides agreed to deepen and institutionalise

the bilateral cooperation on the CSF. Furthermore, during Prime Minister Hun Sen’s visit to China in January 2019, both sides agreed to formulate an action plan on forging the Cambodia-China CSF with “strategic significance”.

The concept of building a “Community of Shared Future” is compatible with Cambodia’s foreign policy objective of promoting a new era of international relations. This new era focuses on a type of win-win cooperation that adheres to the principles of mutual respect, mutual understanding, mutual learning, non-interference, and sovereign equality. The concept is thought to help Cambodia realize its own national interests, including peace, prosperity, and prestige, and the vision to become a higher-middle-income country by 2030 and a high-income country by 2050.

The Action Plan embodies broad based cooperation under five main pillars: political, security, economic, cultural and people-to-people exchange, and multi- lateral cooperation. Thirty additional sectoral cooper- ation areas fall under these pillars. As monitoring and evaluation mechanisms are not yet in place, it is difficult to assess the progress of its implementation. Both enforcement and implementation of the action plan must be promoted. The following sections will examine each pillar in turn.

Political Cooperation

This pillar includes cooperation on foreign affairs, political parties, legislative bodies, and political consultative organisations. In terms of foreign affairs cooperation, both sides agreed to strengthen bilateral strategic communication, deepen mutual political trust, and promote the development of bilateral relations in the new era of “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of Cooperation”. In terms of political parties’ cooperation, both sides remain committed to

Dr. Chheang Vannarith is the President of the Asian Vision Institute (AVI). He is also a policy analyst and government relations strategist. He has over a decade of experience as a geopolitical and geoeconomic analyst, with a focus on Southeast Asia. He was honored a Young Global Leader by the World Economic FOrum in 2013. He previously served as Visiting Fellow at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Insititute (2017-2018), China Institute of International Studies (2016), Institute of Developing Economies in Japan (2017), and East-West Center in the United States (2010); Southeast Asia Consultant at the Nippon Foundation in Japan (2016-2018); Anjunct Lecturer at Nanyang Technological University’s School of Social Sciences (2017-Present); Lecturer of Asia Pacific Studies at the University of Leeds (2013-2016), and Executive Director of Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace (2009-2013).

He received his BA in International Relations from the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam in 2002, MA in International Relations from the International University of Japan in 2006, and PhD in Asia Pacific Studies from the Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in 2009.