After the arrival of the French in the 19th century, these materials were extracted from temples and sold on the international art market to prominent museums and collectors.
The looting of antiquities has survived to this day, but with the help of US-Cambodian cooperation, many of these extracted materials are on their way home.
The paper (Spring 2023) dives into the geopolitics behind these repatriations and argues that the returns present an unprecedented opportunity to bolster American soft power in Cambodia, to help rebuild ties after recent turbulent relations in a non-China-related matter.
China and Cambodia have remained close in economic and military ties starting from the Sihanouk Era. Chinese influence in Cambodia, however, has strengthened over time, recently leading to rumors of potential foreign military bases in the country, threatening regional security.
The US has sought to punish Cambodia for its ties to a strategic competitor using sanctions, as well as for its democratic backsliding and human rights violations, damaging US-Cambodia relations.
The paper ends with a number of recommendations.
