Bektimirova Nadezhda

Traditional factors in Cambodia’s foreign policy in the contemporary era

ЮГО-ВОСТОЧНАЯ АЗИЯ: АКТУАЛЬНЫЕ ПРОБЛЕМЫ РАЗВИТИЯ, 2015, №26, 114-137

 
Annotation: After the establishing of the Kingdom of Cambodia in 1993, the national government undertook to restore the centrality of the principle of neutrality in foreign policy that had been first moved forward by King N. Sihanouk back in the 1950s. In an increasingly globalised world the country’s ruling elite is reattempting to implement the policy of neutrality in the traditionally Khmer way of balancing between external and regional actors - primarily, between China and the USA, China and Japan, China and Vietnam. Thus, one of the core features of Cambodia’s current policy of balancing is that China remains one of the constants of this ‘balancing’ system. This article discusses the specificity of Cambodia’s bilateral relations with its key external partners - China, the USA, Japan, Vietnam and Russia.

Keywords: CAMBODIA, CHINA, USA, VIETNAM, JAPAN, RUSSIA, INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, POLICY OF BALANCING, STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP, NEUTRALITY