There is space for both India and China to invest in Cambodia, Ansari said as he dismissed the notion that India’s foray into the Southeast Asian country would make the communist giant uneasy.
There is space for both India and China to invest in Cambodia, Vice President Hamid Ansari said today as he dismissed the notion that India’s foray into the Southeast Asian country would make the communist giant uneasy. “We are doing what we can do best, capacity building, some specialised areas of assistance like water resources, telecommunication, transmission lines and these patterns. China is doing it on a different scale. I think there is space for both,” Ansari told reporters on his way to the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh.
Asked about whether India’s push for making investments in Cambodia would make Beijing uneasy, Ansari said, “No I don’t think (so). Chinese levels of investment are so different that I don’t think that will be (the case). And I think there is no suggestion at the local government level.” The China-Cambodia relationship has reached new peaks in recent years. China is one of Cambodia’s largest foreign investors, a major donor of aid and an increasingly important trading partner. China has also actively made investments in Laos and other Southeast Asian countries.
Ansari, who is on a four-day two-nation tour to Cambodia and Laos, said the trip is important as both the countries are members of the ASEAN and as part of government’s Act East policy it is essential to step up ties with these countries.