China’s 11 billion dollar mystery plant in remote Cambodian province

Insight: Cambodia’s $11 billion mystery – Reuters, February 14, 2013
…That money carries political clout. Last year, Cambodia used its powers as chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to stymie discussion on the South China Sea, where China’s territorial claims overlap those of five other countries. Cambodia emerged as a staunch China ally willing to put the interests of its giant neighbor over those of its ASEAN members.
The lesson for Washington was clear.
“For U.S. strategists, if you neglect certain ASEAN countries you hurt U.S. interests,” says American scholar Carlyle Thayer, an Asia Pacific security expert at the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra. “There’s a price to pay … because China’s economic dominance carries political influence, the U.S. has to compete across the board…”