Phnom Penh Retrograde?

Washington has imposed an arms embargo to punish growing Sino-Cambodian military cooperation, yet Cambodia’s subsequent arms imports from China and the latter’s dominant investments via the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) have pushed it deeper into Beijing’s orbit. In this context, this article addresses scholarship on China-U.S. hegemonic rivalry by examining China’s hegemonic features vis-à-vis Cambodia using the features of peripheralization and economic dominance per world-systems analysis in order to gauge whether U.S. hegemonic unipolarity has unraveled therein, with China emerging as hegemon. We find that, through BRI investment and the ruling Hun family network, China has achieved significant gains in economic dominance via facilitated copper and rice exports and increased tech imports by Cambodia, resulting in substantial trade surplus and production dominance. However, this economic influence remains incomplete due to Washington’s continued role as Cambodia’s primary export destination and the persistent use of the U.S. dollar, illustrating the complex, contested nature of hegemonic transitions in small state contexts.