Zhang Jinfeng (C) toasting with Hun Xen (R) and Xi Jinping (L)DPA
Phnom Penh - Beijing's ambassador to Cambodia returned home this week after four years in the post. Her time in the South-East Asian country was certainly lucrative for Cambodia: During Zhang Jinfeng's stint, China became the country's largest foreign investor with more than 6 billion US dollars approved since her arrival. That sum - which represents about half of all Cambodia's approved external investment - excludes 1.2 billion dollars of economic aid concessions announced by the visiting Chinese vice president in December as well as 880 million dollars China has provided in loans and grants since 2006.
Although this is small beer for China, which has 2.4 trillion dollars in reserves, it is a lot of money for impoverished Cambodia whose gross domestic product is around 10 billion dollars. But an increasing number of analysts are questioning what kind of influence China's money has bought.
Donald E Weatherbee, a professor from the University of South Carolina who specializes in the politics and international relations of South-East Asia, said much of China's investment in Cambodia is in infrastructure and goes straight back to Chinese construction companies with dam and road contracts.
"Of course, it is hard to separate out investment from assistance since aid in the form of concessional loans is often tied to Chinese state-owned companies," Weatherbee told the US Congress last month in hearings on China's activities in South-East Asia.
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