Hun Sen gently adjusts Cambodia's intimacy with China

Prime minister feels the disenchantment at home and anger from abroad

Prime Minister Hun Sen wants to remain in office for another decade. He will be walking a tightrope if he does. © AP

TORU TAKAHASHI, editor-in-chief, Editorial Headquarters for Asia

July 13, 2019 12:00 JST

BANGKOK -- Cambodia's strongman took extremely prompt action after a building under construction in the coastal city of Sihanoukville collapsed and killed 28 workers in the wee hours of June 22.

Upon returning to his country from an ASEAN summit in Thailand, Prime Minister Hun Sen immediately journeyed to the site where the seven-story building collapsed. The dead had been sleeping inside.