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Mekong Memo Cambodia Weekly: Business, politics, finance, trade & legal news.

Jul 20, 2026

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Hun Manet Shops China for an AI Economy

Hun Manet spent three days in Beijing and Shanghai chasing an AI future to replace the garment factories and tour buses that have been carrying the economy for years. He had the opportunity to meet with Xi Jinping in Shanghai, Premier Li Qiang in Beijing, and managed to get Cambodia signed on as one of 29 founding members of the new World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization, which will be based in Shanghai. During the trip, Haier Group said it would build a tablet assembly plant, and Beijing Star AI said it was looking for local partners, two moves that will add to $4.7 billion in Chinese-backed project approvals recorded in the first half 2026. China holds more than a third of Cambodia’s external debt. Minister Delegate Jean-Francois Tain was keen to reassure everyone that the "ironclad friendship" is not a military alliance and that protecting sovereignty "remains Cambodia's own duty."

Read more: Phnom Penh Post (WAICO), The Star (growth forecast), CamboJA News (investment), Xinhua (crime pledge), China Daily (mechanism)

Taiwan Pulls Visa Access After One-China Backing

Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Cambodia will lose access to the Guanhong Project and Travel Authorization Certificate scheme from August 1, shuttering two paths that Phnom Penh has used since 2018 for tour-group and conditional visa-free entry. The announcement came during Hun Manet's China trip, where he told Xi Jinping that Hong Kong, Taiwan, Xinjiang and Xizang are "purely China's internal affairs" and thanked Beijing for its "selfless" support. Taiwan said Cambodia had failed to reciprocate Taiwan's goodwill, parroted Beijing on sovereignty, and appeared to back China's possible use of force toward unification. It also raised concern about Cambodia's connection to cross-border fraud. Thailand, Brunei and the Philippines, in contrast, were given a one-year extension through July 31, 2027, while India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Myanmar and Laos get to keep their access through December 31. Any reversion to the status quo, MOFA said, will depend on a change in Phnom Penh's Taiwan policy.

Read more: Taipei Times (visa review), Khmer Times (MOFA statement), Cambodianess (China trip)

Air Cambodia Orders 20 COMAC Jets

Twenty COMAC C909 regional jets are headed to Air Cambodia under a deal agreed to in Shanghai, the first bulk order for the Chinese-built aircraft from any foreign flag carrier. Deliveries should begin this year. PM Hun Manet met COMAC's Shen Bo and Air Cambodia CEO David Zhan in advance of the ceremony. The airline currently flies three ATR 72s and three A320s, and it has orders for 10 Boeing 737 MAX 8s with an options on 10 more. China supplies almost a third of Air Cambodia's seat capacity, and the carrier's ownership tilts the same way. The government owns 30%, Vietnam Airlines has 14%, and the rest is with China's Henan Airport Investment Group and Hong Kong's 7Trip International. A separate MOU will give COMAC a role in training local maintenance crews and pilots for the new fleet.

Read more: The Star (C909 specs), Khmer Times (MOU), Aviacionline (fleet), Aviation Week (ownership)

Anderson Tells Senate Scams Are Job One in Phnom Penh

Christopher Anderson, nominated in June to fill a US ambassadorship that was vacant for more than two years, told his Senate that taking down scam networks that have "stolen tens of billions of dollars from American citizens and exploited hundreds of thousands in forced criminality" will be his top priority. Anderson, who told the panel he has spent his career "back against the wall, trying not to be noticed," inherits a crackdown that has already claimed its biggest scalp, the January extradition of Chen Zhi (erstwhile adviser to Hun Sen) to China. But much of the industry seems to be surviving. Of the more than 16,000 people deported in the first half of 2026, and the 240,000 who left "voluntarily," no official count exists of how many were trafficking victims rather than criminals. The National Police did not respond to requests for comment.

Read more: The Economist (Chen Zhi), Khmer Times (Senate hearing), CamboJA News (Amnesty findings)

Courts Jail Three Over Border Coverage

The Supreme Court in June upheld 14-year treason sentences for TSP 68 TV's Pheap Pheara and Battambang Post TV's Phon Sopheap, who were convicted because of selfies with Cambodian troops after last July's border fight. One image allegedly showed landmines that Thai media later connected to claims of newly laid mines. The Oddar Meanchey Provincial Court added a third case, sentencing Lout Sophal to two years for “demoralizing the army” because of his February 7 report on frontline troops running short of water. More than 30 journalists, activists and opposition figures were arrested over border-related social media posts between July 2025 and February 2026.

Read more: CamboJA News (pardon letter), CamboJA News (Sophal sentencing)

a view of a city with tall buildings in the background — Photo by Siborey Sean on Unsplash

Tourism Police Chief Probed Over $505,000 “Release Fee”

Interior Minister Sar Sokha has told a task force to investigate Lieutenant General Run Rathveasna, director of the Tourism Police Department, after a complaint said his officers arrested a 25-year-old Phnom Penh man without a warrant, held him at department HQ, and let him go only after he paid a half million dollars. Huot Sitthireach says he was picked up on July 13, 2024 on a breach-of-trust allegation, and he filed his complaint the next day naming Rathveasna. He wants the $505,000 returned in addition to $200,000 in damages. The Tourism Police have no authority to arrest or detain suspects outside their statutory duties, as that power is reserved to the penal police, and, in any event, requires a warrant. Rathveasna could not be reached for comment.

Tokyo Give PP Its First Free Patrol Boats

Patrol boats and communications gear worth about $3.2 million, are on their way to the Cambodian military under Japan's Official Security Assistance program. It’s the country's first shipment under OSA, a program that Tokyo reserves for "like-minded" militaries.

Factory Count up a Quarter to 3,319

Cambodia counted 3,319 large-scale operating factories as of June, up a quarter compared to last year, with $27.8 billion in cumulative investment and providing about 1.3 million jobs, Industry Minister Hem Vanndy says. That works out to roughly 664 new plants at an average of about $8.4 million apiece. Vanndy said the growth shows that Cambodia is moving beyond cheap-labor manufacturing toward AI, automation and robotics. That might be true, but no breakdown was given of how many of the new factories will be running automated lines compared to garment plants doing the same piece work as before.

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