The economic, political, strategic and cultural dynamism in Southeast Asia has gained added relevance in recent years with the spectacular rise of giant economies in East and South Asia. This has drawn greater attention to the region and to the enhanced role it now plays in international relations and global economics.

The sustained effort made by Southeast Asian nations since 1967 towards a peaceful and gradual integration of their economies has had indubitable success, and perhaps as a consequence of this, most of these countries are undergoing deep political and social changes domestically and are constructing innovative solutions to meet new international challenges. Big Power tensions continue to be played out in the neighbourhood despite the tradition of neutrality exercised by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

TheTrends in Southeast Asia series acts as a platform for serious analyses by selected authors who are experts in their fields. It is aimed at encouraging policy makers and scholars to contemplate the diversity and dynamism of this exciting region.

INTRODUCTION

China's rising economic and political clout has created both opportunities and challenges for Southeast Asian countries. China's economic cooperation with Southeast Asian countries is multidimensional and multi-layered involving business collaboration, trade and investment, and financial assistance (grants and concessional loans), which are “fused indistinguishably”. Although the Chinese have claimed that their financial assistance has no strings attached, there is a close link between economic ties and political influence. Some regional analysts argue that “China's rise exerts a profound and complex impact on the political, security and economic contexts of Southeast Asia”. A Cambodia expert, Sophal Ear, puts it this way, “Taking the geopolitical interests of China in Southeast Asia into account, Chinese investment does not come free; political and economic strings tie those who benefit to the influence of China.”

Cambodia, a small and less developed country in the region, is largely perceived to be under strong influence from China due to the high level of economic dependency and power asymmetry — some valid, some overstated. China is now Cambodia's top donor and investor. It has strong interest in regional power projection and Cambodia is regarded as a core strategic partner. The analyst David Koh argues “having a strong ally in Cambodia means China occupying a central position on Indochina”.

In addition to economic interests, Cambodia has its own political and strategic calculation and interest in embracing China. Being geopolitically and geo-economically “sandwiched” by two big neighbours, Cambodia has China as a “protector” and counterweight to Vietnam and Thailand. China helps strengthen the legitimacy of the government, under the leadership of the Cambodian People's Party (CPP).

This paper provides an overview on Chinese investment in Southeast Asia in general and in Cambodia in particular. It discusses the perception of Cambodian stakeholders towards Chinese investment and its implications on Cambodia's domestic politics and foreign policy.

CHINESE INVESTMENT IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

The presence of Chinese commerce in Southeast Asia dates back to the third century when official missions were despatched to countries in the South Seas (Nanyang). These missions were then followed by Buddhist pilgrims and later, during the Song dynasty, by traders.

The processes by which Buddhism was introduced and mediated in the culturally specific context of Kyaukse are exemplified by the Ta Mok Shwe-gu-gyi temple complex. While to some degree its development was stimulated through its relation to Bagan, Ta Mok's principal identity is local. In this context, it deepens our understanding of the complex interrelationships and definitions that constituted Bagan and questions normative concepts of centre and periphery. The archaeology of Ta Mok authenticates national traditions of the founding of the eleven khayaing of Kyaukse by King Anawrahta (1044–77 CE) (Than Swe 1994, p. 19). Pyu (2nd to 9th century CE) pottery, burnished wares, and bones possibly dating to 3000 bce from Ta Mok highlight earlier connections to other regions. Thus, in both its prehistoric and historic dimensions, the Ta Mok evidence demonstrates the nuanced manner in which global ideas and styles were used to address issues of active local concern.

Chronology of the Site

The Shwe-gu-gyi temple complex, 9.65 kilometres west of Kyaukse, is located inside the Ta Mok fort, the only one of the nine Pan Laung Shwe-gu (“golden cave”) located within the khayaing fort wall. Based on the plan, brickwork and iconography, five features of the complex are dated here to the reign of Anawrahta: the central temple, two gu or small caves on the southwest of the complex, the thein or ordination hall, the innermost of the encased images of the Buddha in the southwest gu, and a row of three images of the Buddha in the thein and the palin or thrones of these images.

Based again on stylistic grounds, we argue that Myit-taw Narapatisithu (1174–1211 CE) enlarged the central temple and added an upper storey. The interior and upper storey of the main temple and other buildings such as the ordination hall and images of the Buddha were repeatedly encased and redecorated from the 11th to 14th century ce. However, as described below, the many unique aspects of the temple set out new parameters for the art, patronage and chronology of wider Bagan.

The earliest structure that has been unearthed is located on the northeast of the two-storey temple: a square building provisionally dated to the 8th to 10th century ce late Pyu period, with burial urns at the foundation level.

From Bagan to St Petersburg

For nearly seventy years, four Burmese stone sculptures dating to the 11th–12th centuries have been in storage at the Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg. They arrived in Russia after World War II, part of a large group of Asian art objects (from India to Japan and Indonesia) from two institutions in Berlin, the Museum für Volkerkunde and the Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst. It was only after the radical political changes in the Soviet Union in the early 1990s that, after a long period of obfuscation regarding their background, Russia and Germany were able to begin to work together, and with other specialists, on these collections.

The Burmese sculptures comprise three images depicting events from the life of the Buddha: the cutting of the hair in preparation for his life as an ascetic; the Naga King Mucalinda sheltering him from a storm in the sixth week after the Enlightenment; and the taming of the raging elephant Nālāgiri. We discussed these images at the EURASEAA 14 Conference in Dublin in September 2012 and our findings will be published in the conference proceedings. The fourth image, examined here, represents Viṣṇu on Garuḍa, Viṣṇu Garuḍāsana.

These sculptures were sent to the Museum für Volkerkunde between 1894 and 1896 by a German geologist and palaeontologist, Friedrich (Fritz) Wilhelm Nötling (1857–1928), who at the time was employed by the Geological Survey of India and was working at the Yenangyaung oil fields near Bagan. Nötling studied geology and related subjects before graduating in 1885, after which he worked as a private docent (tutor) at the University of Königsberg. In the same year, he was assigned by the Berlin Academy of Sciences to go on a mission to Palestine, and he subsequently published his first paper for the Geological Survey of Prussia in 1886. Until the University Reforms of the late 1900s, palaeontology was not taught at English universities, and the Geological Survey of India from time to time found it necessary to resort to Germany to find suitable people to fill palaeontological posts. In January 1887 Nötling sailed to Calcutta and served in the Geological Survey until 1903. He became a prolific researcher on geological, paleontological, prehistoric and ethnological subjects and published over forty papers and three books (Struwe 2006, p. 33).

This chapter starts with the assumption that Bagan of the 11th through the 14th centuries was a religious hub for monks and pilgrims and constituted one of three important nodes in a Buddhist common world or commonwealth, or what I have elected to call “Buddhist ecumene”. The Buddhist ecumene demarks a common world within which exchanges and interactions between the different nodes shared a religion: Buddhism. Buddhism represents an overarching principle for all the polities which belonged to the same ecumene, but it is by no means the only linking principle. Within this ecumene, ideas, texts and items travelled and were exchanged among the different nodes of the same network that were also connected via commercial trade. Polities waged wars, sometimes on the pretext of religion, but in other times to obtain more people, more resources and to assert supremacy over another. The ecumene refers to a network of centres which is marked by a common shared religion under the “one house” (oikos) of Buddhism.

Bagan represents one of the three key nodes of this Buddhist ecumene. The Buddhist ecumene begins with the reign of Anawrahta, an 11th-century king of Bagan whose exploits are recorded in the Burmese chronicles of the 18th and 19th centuries, the northern Thai chronicle(s) of the 15th century and the Sri Lankan chronicle, Cūlavaṁsa. The Cūlavaṁsa dates from the 13th century but contains updates through the 19th century. The chronicles present the view that Bagan, northern Thailand and Sri Lanka had close interactions with one another, which began as early as the 11th century. These accounts emphasize the king's importance and the position of the kingdom's capital, Bagan, within the context of a regional Buddhist commonwealth or network, characterized by the idea of a Buddhist ecumene (for detailed discussions, see Goh 2007 and 2014).

Chronicle Accounts

Textual accounts of Anawrahta and Bagan characterize the king making great efforts to obtain Buddhist texts and relics. His endeavours to take religious texts and relics to Bagan resulted in the sending of a number of expeditions to foreign countries such as Tarup-China, Sri Lanka and India. According to the textual accounts, most of these missions were carried out without the outbreak of wars.