Opinion | Why the US is suddenly going soft on Cambodia

On US Defence Secretary Floyd Austin’s recent visit to Cambodia, human rights and China’s military presence in Cambodia, two topics discussed on the previous US visit, received little attention. This was surprising as Chinese influence in Cambodia continues to grow while Cambodia’s human rights record has not improved.

Instead, the main discussion topic over the one-day visit, during which Austin met Senate President Hun Sen, Prime Minister Hun Manet and Defence Minister Tea Seiha, was how to strengthen US-Cambodia military relations, including the possibility of resuming Cambodian cadets’ access to US professional military education programmes. Such US elite military academy scholarships were cancelled in 2021 amid US concerns over China’s military presence in Cambodia.

While many pundits seek to interpret the visit through the lens of growing US-China competition, I would argue that the latest soft approach from the US is the result of a rapidly changing geopolitical landscape, in particular the rising threat from warming Russia-North Korea ties.

The US is deeply concerned over Pyongyang’s possible acquisition of technology from Russia that could be used to develop military satellites, hypersonic missiles and multi-warhead missiles. Such missiles are alarmingly hard to detect by radar and could slip past the defence systems of both the United States and its allies.

There are also grave concerns over North Korea supplying Russia with weapons in its war against Ukraine. The US believes the situation is a concern for China too, given how the Pyongyang-Moscow relationship could destabilise Northeast Asia. This probably explains the US rapprochement towards Cambodia, a key ally of China.