Country profile · Southeast Asia
Cambodia
Cambodia is a Southeast Asian kingdom of over 17 million people. Hun Sen ruled for about 38 years and handed power to his son Hun Manet in August 2023. China is Cambodia's closest partner and biggest lender. The United States is its biggest export market. In 2025 Cambodia fought two border wars with Thailand, and the land border is still closed.
Where Cambodia ranks
All rankings →Which alliances is Cambodia in?
All alliances →Who runs Cambodia?
Prime Minister Hun Manet was born on October 20, 1977, in Kampong Cham province. In 1999 he became the first Cambodian to graduate from West Point. He was army commander before the National Assembly voted him prime minister on August 22, 2023. His brother Hun Many is a deputy prime minister. Their father, Hun Sen, was prime minister for about 38 years, from January 1985. Hun Sen is now president of the ruling Cambodian People's Party and of the Senate. He stands in as head of state when King Norodom Sihamoni is abroad. The Supreme Court dissolved the main opposition party, the CNRP, in 2017. Its successor, the Candlelight Party, was barred from the July 2023 election, and the ruling party won 120 of 125 seats (chart). In 2025 parliament changed the constitution so that citizens can lose their citizenship for treason. Opposition leader Kem Sokha, sentenced to 27 years in 2023, was pardoned in May 2026 but is still banned from politics.
- Cambodian People's Party 120
- FUNCINPEC (royalists) 5
Photo (May 2025): Cabinet Public Relations Office, Prime Minister's Office of Japan, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
Who are Cambodia's allies and rivals?
China is Cambodia's closest partner, though there is no formal alliance. Chinese lenders hold about a third of Cambodia's foreign debt. China largely paid for the upgrade of the Ream naval base on the Gulf of Thailand, which opened in April 2025. Chinese warships have used its new pier since December 2023, and China gave Cambodia a corvette in April 2026. China also holds 49% of the Funan Techo canal, a 180 km waterway from the Mekong to the sea begun in 2024. Cambodia is mending ties with the United States. Prime Minister Hun Manet nominated President Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize in August 2025. The United States lifted its arms embargo in February 2026, a US warship visited Ream in January 2026, and joint exercises are set for February 2027. Vietnam, which overthrew the Khmer Rouge in 1979, upgraded ties with Cambodia in October 2026. Thailand is the rival after two border wars in 2025.
Allies and partners
ChinaBiggest lender; paid to upgrade the Ream naval base
United StatesBiggest export market; arms embargo lifted in 2026
VietnamEnded Khmer Rouge rule; ties upgraded in October 2026
JapanLargest bilateral aid donor; builds Sihanoukville port
MalaysiaBrokered the July 2025 ceasefire with Thailand
Rivals
ThailandBorder wars in July and December 2025; border closed
- Ream Naval base upgraded with Chinese money and opened in April 2025. Chinese warships use its pier.
- Funan Techo canal A 180 km canal from the Mekong to the sea, begun in 2024. China holds 49%.
- Preah Vihear Temple the International Court of Justice gave to Cambodia in 1962. A 2013 ruling gave Cambodia the whole hilltop.
- Ta Krabey Temple claimed by both countries. Thai troops have held it since December 2025.
- Poipet Busiest crossing to Thailand, with casinos. Thailand closed all land crossings in June 2025.
- Cambodia
- Partner
- Rival
Who does Cambodia trade with?
Cambodia's exports were $31.3 billion in 2025 and its imports $34.0 billion (UN Comtrade). Clothes, shoes and travel goods made up about half of exports, from factories with over 900,000 workers. The United States bought 41% of all exports, and China supplied 53% of imports (chart). The US announced a 49% tariff on Cambodian goods in April 2025, and a deal in October 2025 set it at 19%. After the US Supreme Court struck down those tariffs in February 2026, Cambodian goods have paid 10% since July 2026. The UN estimated that 100,000 to 150,000 people were held in Cambodian scam compounds in 2023 and 2024 and forced to cheat people online. In October 2025 the US sanctioned the Prince Group and moved to seize 127,271 bitcoin, then worth about $15 billion. Cambodia sent its chairman, Chen Zhi, to China in January 2026. The government says no scam compounds remain, a claim Amnesty doubts. The IMF expects growth to slow from 5.3% in 2025 to 3.0% in 2026.
Singapore
Why are Cambodia and Thailand fighting?
France, which ruled Cambodia, and Siam, as Thailand was then called, drew the border in 1904 and 1907. Thailand rejects parts of the French map. In 1962 the International Court of Justice gave the temple of Preah Vihear to Cambodia, and in 2013 the whole hilltop. Other temples were never marked out. A Cambodian soldier was killed in a clash on May 28, 2025. Thailand closed all land crossings in June, and they are still closed. Fighting from July 24 to 28 killed at least 41 people and displaced over 300,000. Malaysia brokered a ceasefire, and President Trump attended the signing of a peace declaration in October. Thailand suspended it in November after a landmine wounded its soldiers. A second war, from December 7 to 27, killed at least 101 and displaced about 1 million (International Crisis Group). Thai troops still hold Ta Krabey and Ta Muen Thom temples. Prime Minister Hun Manet says about 20,000 Cambodians cannot go home.
Deaths in conflict in Southeast Asia, 2025
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Myanmar2,317
Philippines197- Cambodia175
- Thailand122
Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP), Georeferenced Event Dataset, version 26.1
What did the Khmer Rouge do to Cambodia?
Cambodia's Khmer Empire built Angkor Wat in the early 12th century. France ruled Cambodia from 1863 until independence in 1953. During the Vietnam War, the United States bombed Cambodia from 1969 to 1973. The communist Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, took Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975. They emptied the cities, abolished money and schools, and forced people into farm labor. By January 1979 about 1.7 million people, roughly a fifth of the population, had been executed or had died of hunger, overwork and disease (Yale Cambodian Genocide Program). The UN estimates that life expectancy at birth fell to 12.8 years in 1975, the lowest of any country that year (chart), and to 11.3 years in 1977. Vietnam invaded and drove out the Khmer Rouge in January 1979 and occupied Cambodia until 1989. Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rouge commander who had defected to Vietnam, rose to power under the Vietnamese. A UN-backed tribunal convicted three Khmer Rouge leaders and ended its trials in 2022.
Life expectancy at birth in 1975
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LaosUN World Population Prospects 2024