WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States on Thursday lifted an embargo on defense trade with Cambodia, after President Donald Trump oversaw the signing of a ceasefire deal between the Southeast Asian country and its neighbor Thailand last week.
Trump's predecessor, Joe Biden, imposed the ban on arms exports to Cambodia in 2021, citing the growing influence of China's military there, as well as human rights and alleged corruption.
According to a notice in the Federal Register, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio lifted the restrictions based on "Cambodia's diligent pursuit of peace and security, including through renewed engagement with the United States on defense cooperation and combating transnational crime."
It said arms sales would now be authorized on a case-by-case basis.
It was unclear whether U.S. concerns over Chinese military influence in Cambodia have been addressed. U.S. officials have for years raised concerns about China's expansion of the Ream Naval Base that have Beijing another outpost in the contested South China Sea.
The State Department and Cambodia's Washington embassy did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The U.S. determination comes after Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said after meeting Cambodia's Minister of National Defense Tea Seiha in Malaysia on Friday that he had "agreed to restart our premier bilateral military exercise with Cambodia."
Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Manet said during a signing ceremony for an enhanced ceasefire deal with Thailand earlier that week that he had nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in ending border fighting that broke out in July.
Southeast Asia expert Gregory Poling at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank said he believed the U.S. move was largely symbolic as he doubted Cambodia had the interest or capacity to acquire sophisticated U.S. equipment.
He said the current upswing in ties fitted "a well-worn pattern of each U.S. administration seeking some sort of reset with Phnom Penh on the assumption that Cambodian leaders believe they've swung too far toward Beijing."
Trump's was less concerned than previous U.S. administrations about rights, "so perhaps this window is more sustainable than previous efforts," Poling said, although there was no sign Cambodia would grant the U.S. access to the part of Ream apparently set aside for China's exclusive use.
"I expect that will be the real test of this nascent turnaround in the defense relationship," he said.
(Reporting by Simon Lewis and David Brunnstrom and Maiya Keidan; editing by Philippa Fletcher and Alistair Bell)
