Your Custom Text Here
Image: China & Taiwan: 2 sisters, Large propaganda board with China and Taiwan depicted as two sisters, happily holding each other in Xiamen, PRC: 思归照统一，两岸一家亲, kattebelletje, CC BY-NC 2.0
Later this week we will be providing our usual round up of events in the world of Sino-Cambodian relations, but today we take a break to pose a question that my own research currently examines, what I call the "Bates Question."
Read more
Image: Poipet (Thai border), Cambodia. 2; James Antrobus; CC BY 2.0
It is no secret that Cambodia’s borders are quite porous. Much of the illegal cross-border trade seems to be accomplished with a nod and a wink – there are established, though of course informal, understandings as to how to get people and goods across formal, legal border crossings, as well as informal border crossings which seem to be well known and accessible, as the author discovered in the course of her field work in Cambodia.
Read more
Image: ASEAN Dimsum.2005; Anton Diaz; CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Cambodia has pushed for increased openness and regional integration in recent years, particularly within the borders of its ASEAN counterparts. For example: in 2012 Prime Minister Hun Sen called for increased integration by removing trade barriers and liberalizing frameworks so as to transform the region into a global market with free-flowing goods, services, investment, skilled labor and capital.
Read more