ASEAN may be forced to choose between US, China: Cambodia PM's son

Southeast Asian nations may soon have to "choose sides" between the US and China in their ongoing trade war, the political heir to Cambodia's strongman ruler Hun Sen warned Wednesday in rare public comments.

Impoverished Cambodia has become an unlikely staging ground for geopolitical influence in Asia.

In recent years it has turned into a key China ally, heading off criticism of the superpower over its claims to disputed seas in exchange for billions of dollars in investment and loans.

While China has cosied up to Cambodia, the United States and the European Union have admonished Hun Sen, the nation's ruler for 33 years, for his increasingly authoritarian rule.

In a rare speech outside of his country, his son, Hun Many warned the US-China trade spat may create lasting divisions in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

"Perhaps one day ASEAN would have to choose between US or China," Hun Many said in Bangkok.

"How would we see the trade war spill or expanded in other areas? Surely it will pressure individual members of ASEAN or ASEAN as a whole to choose sides."