China doles out 17 million dollars in aid to Cambodia at ASEAN expo

Buy an ad on DigitalJournal.com

China has doled out more than 17 million dollars in aid to Cambodia to be spent on the construction of a new Council of Ministers building and "projects to benefit the people," a government spokesman said Tuesday.

The aid, which was signed over to Prime Minister Hun Sen during a trade expo for China and the 10-member Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) over the weekend, includes 10.7 million dollars with "no strings attached," Hun Sen's spokesman Srey Thamrong said by telephone.

China simultaneously pledged an additional 6.7 million dollars as an interest-free loan at the Nanning expo, Thamrong said.

"This is to build a new Council of Ministers building and anything left over is to be used to fund projects of interest to the Cambodian people," he said.

Hun Sen was in China at the weekend. Several ministers from the Cambodian delegation stayed behind for ministerial ASEAN talks in conjunction with China.

China has rapidly become Cambodia's largest foreign investor and has also poured aid into the country, last year almost matching the entire amount pledged by the Consultative Group of donors, which includes Japan, the World Bank and the UN Development Programme.

The Cambodian and Chinese governments have both said Chinese aid comes with no strings attached although some rights and environmental groups have claimed that in fact it helps facilitate Chinese bids for commercial tenders and land concessions - a charge the government denies.

ASEAN consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. dpa sl ls