Phnom Penh, September 19, 2019 –Amidst on-going global trade wars somehow driving economic uncertainty, Cambodian Prime Minister sees effort to build firm “self-standing” as the best mitigation for the Kingdom.
Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen shared the insight in his response to the question from prominent Chinese media related to possible fallouts of the happening trade war on Cambodia.
“For me, it is too early to make any assessment of the U.S.-China trade war implications, and I am hopeful that soon a solution will be reached among concerned parties,” said Samdech Techo Prime Minister during the interview at his residence in Takhmao town of Kandal province, adding that Cambodia is watching the situation carefully and getting prepared with mitigation actions.
According to the Prime Minister, it is essential for Cambodia to work hard and “stand firm by itself through building of strong economy.”
“With a strong economic growth, Cambodia will be able to minimise the fallouts of the global trade wars, not only between the U.S. and China, but also between the U.S. and other countries,” he said.
As recalled by the Prime Minister, China’s resilient and robust economy contributed significantly to bring affected countries by the 1997 Asian financial crisis as well as 2007-2008 worldwide economic crunches back on track.
Now becoming the second world largest economic power, China is being troubled by the on-going trade wars, threatening economic performance of countries across the world, including Cambodia.
“Cambodia is concerned and gets ready for the consequence, however, we are still positive especially when seeing that Europe is not taking side with the U.S. putting pressure on China. Instead, Europe is increasing trade with China,” he said.
An update on online site called China Briefing wrote that “with neither [U.S. President Donald] Trump nor China’s President Xi Jinping willing to back down, U.S.-China trade tensions have erupted into a full-blown trade” reaching day 434 on Sept. 13, 2019 since its commencement.
“So far, the U.S. has slapped tariffs on US$550 billion worth of Chinese products. China, in turn, has set tariffs on US$185 billion worth of U.S. goods,” it added.
Although sharing Cambodia’s mitigation for the impacts of the trade wars, Samdech Techo Prime Minister urged all sides to resolve them as soon as possible.
“Those who suffer most from the confrontation are the end-users of tariffed products, including Americans themselves, and they are not happy with this as well,” he underlined.
By Lim Nary
