AUTHOR
*Hou Chamreoun is a Junior Research Fellow at Cambodia Development Center. He is also a former visiting scholar at Peking University based in China. He holds a master’s degree in International Relations from Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand.
ABOUT Commentary
In September 2021, China announced Global Development Initiative (GDI) to call for collective efforts in fostering confidence and tackling global threats and challenges to build a better world for all. Despite young in age, the GDI has received warm supports from many countries in the world. As of 21 September 2022, more than 100 countries and many international organizations, including the UN, have supported the GDI and nearly 60 countries joined the Ministerial Meeting of the Group of Friends of the GDI held on the sidelines of the 77th UN General Assembly in New York. Cambodia is among the first countries that joined the GDI as the founding members. Cambodia’s firm support for China’s proposed GDI is seen to be relatively driven by the correlation between Cambodia’s pull and China’s push factor.
