This handout photo taken and released Cambodia Senate on April 3, 2024 shows senator Hun Sen (C) casting his ballot to designate the president of Senate during the first meeting of the Senate in Phnom Penh. Former Cambodian leader Hun Sen was promoted to senate president on April 3, taking over a key ceremonial role less than a year after handing power to his son.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Former Cambodian leader Hun Sen was promoted to senate president on Wednesday, taking over a key ceremonial role less than a year after handing power to his son.

Hun Sen stepped down in August after nearly four decades of iron-fisted rule, passing the baton to his eldest son Hun Manet following a landslide win in national polls held without any significant opposition parties.

In February his ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) won 55 seats — including his own — out of 58 in the senate election, with the opposition Khmer Will Party taking the remainder.

On Wednesday senators unanimously voted to approve Hun Sen as president of the senate after King Norodom Sihamoni convened its first meeting.

The position allows Hun Sen to act as acting head of state when the king is overseas.

Addressing the senators after the vote, Hun Sen thanked them for the “honour”.

“It is my first time to sit on such a high chair,” he said, saying he would use the second-highest ceremonial role — only superseded by the king — to further Cambodia’s international diplomacy.

There are 62 senators, with 58 elected in February by 125 MPs and more than 11,000 local administrators, mostly members of Hun Sen’s party.

King Norodom Sihamoni appoints two senators, while the National Assembly appoints two others.

Analysts said Hun Sen’s new role would allow him to continue to dominate the country.

“The senate isn’t a powerful political or legislative body, but it holds the highest ceremonial role as the highest political symbol of the nation,” Cambodian political analyst Ou Virak told AFP.

He said because of the king’s frequent travels, Hun Sen taking the role of senate president was significant — and hugely symbolic.

“In Cambodia, symbolism is everywhere and everything,” he said.

It is the latest in a series of moves that have seen Hun Sen consolidate power across the government.

The administration now includes a number of Hun Sen’s relatives, including his youngest son Hun Many as a deputy PM, with several children of his allies also holding top jobs.

After coming to power in 1985, Hun Sen helped modernise a country devastated by civil war and genocide.

But critics say his rule has also been marked by environmental destruction, entrenched graft and the elimination of nearly all political rivals.

In this photo provided by Cambodia’s Prime Minister Telegram, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a welcome ceremony in Beijing on September 15, 2023.
| Photo Credit: AP

The leaders of China and Zambia announced an upgrading of their ties to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership on September 15, as the world’s second-largest economy forges deeper ties with the Global South.

Chinese President Xi Jinping also met new Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet earlier the same day, and with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro earlier this week.

The trio of leaders from Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America speak to China’s growing role in those parts of the world. Chinese state banks have financed roads and other infrastructure projects and Chinese companies have built factories, mines, hotels and casinos.

China has in turn won diplomatic support from many Global South countries on contentious debates and votes at the U.N. and from Cambodia in China’s territorial disputes with other Southeast Asian nations in the South China Sea.

Its outreach to the Global South has taken on greater geopolitical import as China seeks allies to push back against growing pressure from the United States and its partners on multiple fronts.

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported online that Mr. Xi and Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema announced the upgraded partnership at a meeting at the Great Hall of the People, a monumental building on one side of Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

That came two days after China announced it had upgraded diplomatic ties with Venezuela to an “all weather” partnership — a status China has granted to only a handful of countries — after the Xi-Maduro meeting.

Development loans from China and others have saddled some countries, including Zambia, with unsustainable debt levels, sparking debt crises that stymie economic development. More than 40% of Cambodia’s $10 billion in foreign debt is owed to Chinese institutions.

Hun Manet made China his first official foreign visit after succeeding his father, Hun Sen, who ruled Cambodia for 40 years.

The U.S. had shown disapproval of Hun Sen’s undemocratic moves and is uneasy over the expansion of a Cambodian naval facility with Chinese assistance. Hun Sen consistently denied that Cambodia had granted China the right to set up its own military base at Ream Naval Base.

After his meetings in Beijing, Mr. Hun Manet plans to join other Southeast Asian leaders this weekend in southern China at the 20th ASEAN-China Expo, which promotes cooperation in trade, investment and tourism.