How to better understand Cambodia

Khmer Times, Opinion, 25 January 2023 (Link)

There are two ways to better understand a country and its people.

One way is to give up all prejudice and try to approach local people with naked eyes.

Another is to seek to understand the original thoughts, cultures and identities of local people.

Now let us discuss about the first way, the importance of seeing local people with naked eyes without predetermined frames of prejudice.

The approach towards Cambodia and Cambodian people should be in a learning attitude, trying to understand without prejudice and predetermined judgment.

For example, for Cambodian people, when asked what they think about Japanese, they often can accept Japanese as they are, not as the imperialist invaders based on historical and cultural prejudice even if Cambodian people like to watch Khmer-dubbed Chinese movies, Korean movies and American movies that portray Japanese as devil imperialists.

They just accept Japanese people as Japanese, as friends, as guests, as pure human being without any prejudgment.

Cambodian people know that there are also some rude and arrogant American, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. But they still approach those foreigners without discrimination.

Cambodian people rarely view Westerners in the historical frames, such as the past colonists, the past bombers over our grandparents, the past “sanctioners” over our parents, or as the past Khmer Rouge sympathizers.

Generally, we don’t have vengeful feeling against foreigners.

Such kind of approach by Cambodian people should be reciprocated by foreigners.

Now let us discuss about the second way, the importance of digging deeper by getting to know the original thoughts and ways of life of local people.

Cambodia’s gradual shift to medium- and high-tech manufacturing

 

Khmer Times, Opinion, 29 June 2026 (Link)

For decades, external observers viewed Cambodia through a predictable economic lens: a low-cost hub heavily reliant on the garments, footwear, and travel goods (GFT) sector. However, a structural shift has quietly accelerated. Moving beyond basic light manufacturing, Cambodia is positioning itself as a key strategic node for medium- and high-technology industries within the Southeast Asian supply chain.

Precision component manufacturing: Adapting beyond the ‘Plus-One’ crisis

The initial pivot into medium-technology manufacturing was modelled around a “Thailand Plus One” strategy, where global automotive and electronics giants sought to buffer their operations in Thailand by offloading labor-intensive component segments to Cambodia.

As an early anchor in the Royal Group Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone (SEZ), Japan’s Minebea pioneered high-precision machining in Cambodia by steadily moving from basic assembly to the manufacturing of advanced micro-motors, LED backlights and complex electronic components, effectively proving that Cambodia’s young workforce could adapt to tight technical tolerances.

In tandem, Japanese automotive giant Denso identified the Kingdom as a strategic manufacturing hub. Denso executives have praised the Cambodian workforce for its perseverance, teamwork and unique patience required in handling equipment-intensive vehicle and motorcycle components like sensors, oil coolers and magnetos.

Faced with an unstable land route to Bangkok, manufacturing anchors like Minebea and Denso have had to urgently re-engineer their logistics. Rather than relying on a land corridor, companies have bypassed the land border. They have redirected cargo towards maritime shipping via the Sihanoukville Autonomous Port (PAS) and utilised emergency air charters. This crisis has forced Cambodia to prove it can sustain high-tech production even when physically isolated from its immediate neighbour.

Automobile assembly sector: Driving full-scale localisation

Preparing the landscape for Cambodia’s semiconductor sector

 

Khmer Times, Opinion, 15 June 2026 (Link)

Cambodia does not have a policy for semiconductors. This article is to share the perspectives from a foundational study that the General Secretariat of the Committee for Economic and Financial Policy conducted and published in September 2024.

Entitled the “Study on the Identification of Strategic Industries and their Promotion through Special Economic Zones,” the research identified semiconductors as one of the future strategic industries. The paper is available only in Khmer.

Consultations were conducted in January and February 2024 with industry players in Vietnam and Thailand regarding the preparatory landscape for the sector.

In Thailand, the Working Group met with the Federation of Thai Industries and the Thailand Printed Circuit Association.

Thailand is a major electronics hub. Between 2021 and 2023, the country brought in a massive 132.1 billion baht ($3.7 billion) in printed circuit board (PCB) investments from tech companies from China – including Hong Kong and Taiwan – Japan and Germany. Because of this big footprint, Thailand handles 5% of the entire global market for PCBs, exporting up to $1.6 billion a year, a figure projected to surge up to 15% (roughly $8 billion) per year in the near future.

But when the team asked the big question: “Is Thailand ready for a semiconductor industry?” – the answer was not an immediate yes or no.

In general, it is understood that the PCB industry is one of the first step towards building up a semiconductor ecosystem. Despite sitting on a multi-billion-dollar PCB industry, Thai industrial players were still not immediately-enthusiastic for this high-tech industry because this industry is no longer just a regular business; it is highly strategic and politically sensitive.

Semiconductors have become matters of national security. Giant semiconductor companies will not risk investing billions in advanced factories unless they have absolute confidence that global political tensions or trade wars won’t suddenly shut down their production lines or block their markets.

Thailand’s lesson is clear: building the early-stage ecosystem is only half the battle; navigating global politics is the other.

Cambodia-Thailand: The choice between building an iron curtain or a lasting, legal border

Khmer Times, Opinion, 23 January 2026 (Link)

The deadly border wars between Cambodia and Thailand in 2025 beg a serious question: Would the permanent neighbours prefer to build an iron curtain or a legal border between them?

There are several border models that Cambodia and Thailand should contemplate, considering they are eternal neighbours who cannot move away from each other unless one of them is wiped off the world map.

First, there is the iron curtain which was manifested in a few models during the Cold War.

For instance, there was the wall that divided Eastern and Western Germany, the heavily fortified Berlin Wall that stood for 28 years from 1961 to 1989.

And then there was the iron curtain in Hungary that was described in detail in a documentary entitled 1989 – The fall of the Soviet Union, produced by Anders Ostergaard and Erzsebet Racz.

In the documentary, the Hungarian reformist communist Prime Minister Miklos Nemeth (1988-1990) played a crucial role in dismantling the Hungarian Iron Curtain by opening the border with Austria in 1989.

He described how he had uncovered secret financial mismanagement by the communist state in the construction and maintenance of the electric border fence, which was constantly triggered by intruders, including wild rabbits, and thus constantly woke the border guards, depriving them of sleep.

Unnecessary spending, particularly on the construction of a superfluous border fence, had left Hungary bankrupt and heavily indebted.

Other models Cambodia and Thailand might want to emulate are the old Franco-German border model or the new Franco-German border.

ASEAN leaders’ silence on Cambodia-Thailand conflict chilling

Khmer Times, Opinion, 31 December 2025 (Link)

It is a struggle to reconcile Cambodia’s efforts to promote peace in the region and the strange silence of ASEAN leaders in the face of the loss of regional peace.

Under Cambodia’s ASEAN chairmanship in 2022, I vividly recall how Mr Hun Sen travelled to Naypyidaw in January 2022, braving criticism from some ASEAN member states, even risking his own safety and that of his entourage, when Myanmar was on the brink of civil war, and a curfew had been imposed.

His intentions were to try to prevent peace from breaking and ensure that the Myanmar people would not face the same tragedy as Cambodia did from the 1970s to the end of the 1990s.

Before that, Mr Hun Sen and the other ASEAN leaders had attended the ASEAN Special Summit in Jakarta in April 2021, when the whole region was struggling to contain COVID-19. While abiding by a strict health and security protocol, every ASEAN leader risked their own health to try to uphold peace in Myanmar in flying to Jakarta when travel was restricted and quarantine was enforced.

In May, even after leaving his government post, Mr Hun Sen, now Senate President, travelled to Indonesia to promote peace and share Cambodia’s experience in peacebuilding at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta. He was warmly received by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, who rendered him a treatment befitting a head of state.

Free trade zones to drive industrial innovation and trade growth in Cambodia

Khmer Times, Opinion, 14 November 2025 (Link)

Around the world, supply chains are being reshaped by new technologies, shifting cost structures, diversification of supply chain and evolving trade frameworks and tension, which have accelerated relocation from traditional manufacturing hubs.

For many countries, this moment presents both a challenge and a clear opportunity to connect more deeply with regional value chains.

Cambodia is still in the conceptualisation stage of the free trade zone (FTZ), the development of which has gone through rigorous multistakeholder consultations, and of course international cooperation from partners such as the government of China and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

There should be three contexts to consider when discussing about Cambodia’s development of FTZ.

First, FTZ’s development is part and parcel of Cambodia’s coastal development master plan.

The plan runs from 2025 to 2040, covering four provinces with a total area of nearly 18,000 square kilometers. It consists of 141 sub-projects with a total estimated investment of $ 15–20 billion.

By embedding FTZ development within this broader plan, Cambodia aims to ensure that industrial growth is not a standalone project, but part of a durable, well-sequenced national strategy.

Second, factory relocation.

Economisation of foreign embassies in Cambodia

Khmer Times, Opinion, 25 September 2025 (Link)

There are two major trends that have spurred the economisation of foreign embassies in Cambodia. One is Cambodia’s planned graduation from Least Developed Country (LDC) status in 2029, and the other is Cambodia’s boycott of Thailand-made products.

Cambodia is scheduled to effectively graduate from LDC status in 2029 and partner countries are supporting Cambodia in the process to ensure smooth transition through market enlargement, trade facilitation and enhancement of production capacity, among others.

It is encouraging to note that the evolution of the partnership, once primarily focused on politics and aid, towards a multifaceted cooperation that includes more exchanges in terms of trade and economic activities has gained positive momentum.

Key partner countries have begun to create a trade, investment and economic portfolio within their embassy staff rosters, and those that already have this portfolio are finding themselves adding more economic staff to the team to meet the growing need for specialisation and dedicated resources.

There are multiple examples to look at.

For instance, the British Embassy is very proud that the British architectural firm Foster and Partners participated in the design of Techo International Airport, a modern and breathtaking airport, at least from the perspective of the Cambodian people, thus inscribing the name of the Cambodian airport on the list of world-class airports. A Cambodian delegation recently visited the United Kingdom to learn about the process of joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

Imagining peace and healing between eternal neighbors, Cambodia and Thailand

Khmer Times, Opinion, 13 August 2025 (Link)

Every peace-loving Cambodian and Thai wake up to read news that could hurt our inner souls and blur our human compassion; news that continues to create hatred, anger, and resentment that eventually dominate our hearts and leave us with deep wounds, to the point that we wonder if our human hearts will ever heal anytime soon.

There are two key sets of questions related to peace and healing.

We constantly wonder when peace can reign and be assured between the two eternal neighbors? Will it be tomorrow? Next week, next month, or next year?

What remedies should heal the wounds of our hearts?

This is a mental exercise that peace-loving Cambodians and Thais practice unconsciously, trying to connect with their innermost souls.

Among many thoughts, here are four elements of thought that may cross their minds as they seek to guide their minds toward peace and healing.

1. Think about families

Cambodia has seven provinces bordering Thailand: Koh Kong, Pursat, Battambang, Pailin, Banteay Meanchey, Oddar Meanchey, and Preah Vihear, stretching over 800 kilometers.

With such a long border, it is inevitable that the two people share many things including “blood”. There are Khmers who are married to Thais and vice-versa. There are “mixed-blood” children who cannot separate or cut their flesh from purely Khmer or Thai.

These are silent groups who want nothing more than peace because if anything happens, they know they will have to kill some of their brothers and sisters, relatives or distant relatives who have mixed blood.

2. Think about friends

Thailand’s Threat Game–Self-Destructive Maneuvers Based on Outdated Information

Khmer Times, Opinion, 25 June 2025 (Link)

Following a brief border skirmish between Cambodia and Thailand that led to the killing of a Cambodian soldier on May 28, 2025, tensions have been escalated in other areas especially restrictions of border crossings and transnational economic activities.

The tit-for-tat restrictive measures are textbook examples of how interdependence has been exploited for national security at the expense of bourgeoning trade relations that benefit both sides.

Interdependence used to be the cornerstone of peacebuilding, and confidence-building.

A unilateral series of border measures was ordered by Bangkok on June 6, ranging from closures and arbitrary hours at major border crossings like Poipet, which have interrupted flows of goods and people from both sides.

In response, on June 13, the Cambodian government shut down the Doung border crossing in Battambang province that has led to significant congestion, with many trucks loaded with Thai produce stranded at the border.

On June 17, Cambodia banned all imports of Thai fruit and vegetables in response to Thailand’s refusal to fully open all border checkpoints.

On June 21, Military Region 2 of the Thai army informed about its unilateral decision to close Choub Korki border checkpoint at Oddar Meanchey province. In response, Cambodia also decided to close another checkpoint at Choam, together with Choub Korki checkpoint.

Using international law to create peaceful borders between eternal neighbours

Khmer Times, Opinion, 12 June 2025 (Link)

Tensions on the Cambodian-Thai border have created a toxic atmosphere of ultra-nationalism. With assistance from Google Translate, it’s possible to understand how extremists on both sides express themselves about their neighbors on social media, using Khmer and Thai to mask international censorship of hate speech.

One group demanded that the other country be wiped off the world map.

The language of hatred and rejection of another nation, as well as the promotion of revision of history or the revival of past imperial glory, dominate their discussions.

Some asked “what if” questions, such as “if France weren’t there.”

Both sides display a condescending attitude, arguing over who is more superior, more civilised, who has more, and who loses more.

Some have accused Cambodia of playing on victim narratives. But who can escape such memories when, throughout its 500-year history, Cambodians have heard nothing but defeats, wars, invasions, and occupations?

This has been Cambodia’s position in world history. Cambodia must live with it.

Cambodia has lost more than its history can record: 500 years of chaos, internal disunity, and wars driven by contested borders, survival, and existence.

For Cambodians, remembering history means describing the vastness of the Khmer Empire, which flourished from the 9th to the 15th centuries, representing the highest level of civilisation in continental Southeast Asia, and the period of decline that followed.

These two contradictory periods have shaped the pride and complexion of Cambodian people.