Belt and Road Initiative and Cambodia: Capacity-building Challenges

Capacity-building has been a tremendous challenge in Cambodia as the country experienced prolonged internal and regional political turmoil in the second half of the twentieth century. Since 2014, the China-led Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has provided additional financial resources and technical support to Cambodia but has also raised concerns over worsening crime rates and corruption, widening income disparity, cross-cultural conflicts, and worsening pollution. Reflecting on sustainable development of Cambodia, this chapter discusses two areas of capacity-building challenges: management capacities and education. Cambodia was not unprepared for the risks of project financing entailed by the ‘debt trap’ argument, but has prudently planned to balance the need for financing resources and its capacities, including its domestic capacity for project management. Large gaps in education attainment persist despite significant past improvements, so further expansion of education and training infrastructure is imperative. The chapter reviews examples of good practices in Hong Kong’s private sector investment in Cambodia, and suggests possible directions for how the role of Hong Kong may develop in the future. © 2023 the authors.