China’s Xi visits Cambodia to cap 3-nation South Asia tour

PHNOM PEHN

This pool photo taken and released on April 17, 2025 by Agence Kampuchea Presse (AKP) shows China's President Xi Jinping (C) Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni (C-L) greeting people upon arrival at Phnom Penh International Airport

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Cambodia on Thursday for a two-day state visit that serves as an opportunity to further strengthen already robust relations.

The visit, Xi’s first since 2016, concluded a three-nation Southeast Asian tour that included stops in Vietnam and Malaysia.

China has been increasing its influence in the region over the past decade, largely by exercising its substantial economic leverage.

China is presenting itself as a source of stability and certainty as Southeast Asia scrambles to respond to tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump, which threaten the region export-oriented economies whose largest markets are generally the United States.

The visit comes on the 50th anniversary of the April 17, 1975 takeover of Cambodia by the communist Khmer Rouge, which imposed a reign of terror with Maoist-inspired policies that saw an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians die of starvation, overwork or executions.

Beijing was the main foreign backer of the Khmer Rouge and supported the group in carrying on a guerrilla war after it was ousted from power in 1979 by an invasion from Vietnam, though such history is rarely discussed by either country.

China is Cambodia’s largest trading partner, surpassing $15 billion in 2024 and representing nearly 30% of Cambodia’s total trade volume, though greatly in Beijing’s favor.

Beijing also helped fund an expansion of the Ream Naval Base on Cambodia’s southern coast, raising worries it could become a strategic outpost for the Chinese navy in the Gulf of Thailand. Cambodia has repeatedly denied any agreement granting China special privileges or the establishment of a foreign military base.