The latest China-funded infrastructure project in Washington’s crosshairs is a proposed canal in Cambodia.
The U.S. is urging greater transparency from Cambodia over a planned $1.7 billion canal that observers say could be used to bolster China’s military presence in the Southeast Asian nation, posing a potential security threat to regional neighbors like Vietnam.
Spanning some 180 kilometers from Phnom Penh to the coastal province of Kep, construction on the the Techo Funan Canal is slated to begin later this year after the state-owned China Bridge and Road Corporation landed a deal to develop it during a Belt and Road initiative summit last October.