A Comparative Study on Characteristics of ODA of China-Japan-Korea to Cambodia

Development assistance plays an important role in contributing to the development process of Cambodia. The top bilateral donors, China, Japan, and Korea provide ODA to Cambodia in different characteristics and from different perspectives. This study tries to pull out some implications for Cambodia as recipient and for donors in order to achieve the development of Cambodia's economy-effectively by using the ODA. As a viewpoint, ODA structure emphasizes the intention of donors, either for their self-interest and benefit or for achieving MDGs. China's ODA to Cambodia seems to distort the ODA allocation by other donors with unconditional loans or loans with conditionality focusing only on infrastructure. Cambodia benefits from the better infrastructure, but it has to pay the price set by China, even for concessional loans. The driving interests of Japan and Korea are more influenced by their national policy goals and the expected perceptions of their voters. The aid projects should at least catch the attention of national media or win obvious and unbiased support from the suffering people in the recipient countries.