The Chinese Association with the strongest connection to Beijing in Phnom Penh is the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia.

The 15-year-old association has about 150 corporate members, all from mainland China, and many of the companies specialise in infrastructure development, according to president Jimmy Gao.

“Our membership includes people from different fields including hydropower stations, construction, agricultural businesses, garment factories, tourism, infrastructure, telecommunications,” Gao said.

The association also publishes a daily Chinese-language newspaper called the Phnom Penh Evening Post, which has 24 colour pages and about 1,000 copies are printed each day.

The Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia runs a full-time secretarial office in charge of correspondence between our members, governments and others all over the world as well as associations in China, said Gao.

“We have a good connection with the Chinese chambers of commerce in Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam and elsewhere,” Gao said.

“For example, we have been invited to participate of the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Thailand next month,” he said.

The Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia made a $50,000 cash contribution to the Cambodian Red Cross in honour of their 146th anniversary last May.

“A lot of our members make the donations themselves to the Cambodian Red Cross and they support the local population where the factories are located,” Gao said, adding that the Chinese Chamber of Commerce has a standing committee that meets “once a month at least”.