FT Investigation: How China bought its way into Cambodia
Phnom Penh has emerged as a vital ally, and in return Beijing is driving development in the country. FT Investigations
In Cambodia’s Chinese business community, “Big Brother Fu” is a name to be reckoned with. A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army... Few, if any, foreign investors in
this small but strategically important Southeast Asian nation enjoy
access as favoured as that of Fu Xianting.
...So close is Mr Fu to the prime minister that the
leader of his personal bodyguard unit, some of whose members have been
convicted of savage assaults on opposition lawmakers, calls him “a
brother” and has pledged to “create a safe passage for all of Mr Fu’s
endeavours”.
These connections have helped Mr Fu and his company,
Unite International, win a rare concession to develop one of the most
beautiful stretches of Cambodia’s coastline into a $5.7bn tourist
destination. More broadly, they signal how big money, secret dealings
and high-level backing from China’s Communist party have helped pull
Phnom Penh firmly into Beijing’s sphere of influence.
As China has sought to assert its authority in the South China Sea,
some Southeast Asian nations have bolstered their ties with the US,
including Vietnam and the Philippines. Cambodia is China’s staunchest
counterweight, giving the country of 15m people an outsized role in one
of the world’s most fraught geopolitical tussles. With an effective veto
in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the region’s top diplomatic grouping, Cambodia has a weapon to wield on China’s behalf....
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An analysis of state documents shows that in several cases, Chinese investments were facilitated personally by Mr Hun Sen, a ruler of 31 years who insists on being referred to as “Lord Prime Minister and Supreme Military Commander”.
Global Witness, the UK campaign group, claimed in a report
this year that the Cambodian leader presides over a “huge network of
secret dealmaking and nepotism” that has allowed his family to amass
stakes in leading industries and help “secure the prime minister’s
political fortress”....
...It is dated nine months after Mr Fu’s company donated 220 motorbikes to
Mr Hun Sen’s bodyguard unit, a 3,000-strong private army equipped with
armoured personnel carriers, missile launchers and Chinese-made machine
guns. The gift was the latest in a series of donations to the unit,
which is charged with guarding the prime minister and his wife, Bun
Rany, officially known as the “Most Glorious and Upright Person of
Genius”.
‘Our brother of many years’
...Unite formed a “military-commercial alliance” with
the bodyguard unit in April 2010, a highly unusual arrangement for a
foreign company in Cambodia. At a ceremony to celebrate the alliance,
Lieutenant General Hing Bunheang, commander of the bodyguards and one of
Hun Sen’s closest associates, showered praise on Mr Fu....
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