China’s One Belt, One Road Investments in Cambodia Under Scrutiny as Beijing Forum Commences

Cambodian workers clean a street at a building construction site in Sihanoukville, the coastal capital of Preah Sihanouk province, Cambodia, on Dec. 14, 2018. Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP/Getty Images

As China invites world leaders and representatives to the capital to sign investment deals during the Belt and Road Forum that begins April 25, criticism is mounting over the negative impact of such deals for participating countries thus far.

There is growing international concern about China’s ties with Cambodia, one of the earliest supporters of the One Belt, One Road initiative (OBOR, also known as Belt and Road). Launched by Beijing in 2013, it is the Chinese regime’s flagship project to build up geopolitical influence via investments across Southeast Asia, African, Europe, and Latin America.