【By Observer Net, Qi Qian】

On November 5, Bloomberg reported that Cambodia will become one of the first countries to store gold in China, and pointed out that this marks early progress in China's efforts to establish itself as a global gold center.

According to sources, Cambodia plans to store part of its reserves in a vault located in Shenzhen Bonded Zone.

It has been revealed that the agreement between China and Cambodia involves storing newly purchased gold, not transferring existing inventory.

Sources also mentioned that, in addition to Cambodia, several other countries have expressed interest in storing gold in China, and are weighing the benefits of diversifying their gold reserves from traditional centers such as London.

Central banks are responsible for managing reserve assets. The National Bank of Cambodia did not immediately respond.

Last month, the governor of the National Bank of Cambodia stated that they were considering "several locations" for storing national gold, but did not explicitly confirm whether China was included. According to the latest assessment by the World Gold Council, the Cambodian central bank holds about 54 tons of gold, which accounts for a quarter of its $26 billion foreign exchange reserves.

Underground gold vault of the Bank of England, photo taken for reference

Bloomberg reported that China and Cambodia have a long-standing traditional friendship, and the two countries have always had close relations. According to data from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, in 2024, the bilateral trade volume between China and Cambodia reached $17.834 billion, an increase of 20.3% year-on-year. Among them, China's exports to Cambodia amounted to $15.336 billion, an increase of 20.2%, and imports from Cambodia amounted to $2.498 billion, an increase of 20.7%.

The report also pointed out that central banks around the world have been increasing their gold reserves to cope with growing geopolitical risks, which pushed the price of gold to a record high last month. Currently, most countries' gold is stored in traditional centers such as the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and the United States. China hopes to join this group, becoming a custodian of other countries' gold, to build a global financial system less dependent on the US dollar and Western centers.

Since September this year, the international gold price has continued to rise. From the beginning of the year to the end of October, the international gold price increased by nearly 60% cumulatively.

Xinhua News Agency cited analysts as saying that the main factors driving the recent surge in gold prices include increasing economic and geopolitical uncertainties, the U.S. federal government's "shutdown" crisis, inflation concerns leading to increased market risk aversion, central banks purchasing large amounts of gold, ongoing uncertainties in tariff and trade policies, and enhanced market expectations for Federal Reserve rate cuts.

In September, the World Gold Council reported that global official gold reserves increased by 166 tons in the second quarter, reaching a historical high. From 2022 to 2024, the annual gold purchases by central banks worldwide exceeded 1,000 tons for three consecutive years.

"The strength of gold is essentially the weakening of the dollar's credit," CCTV Finance noted in September, adding that experts said promoting the diversification of reserve assets has become a trend among global central banks. In response to signals of Fed rate cuts, many central banks may continue to increase their gold holdings.

Wen Bin, chief economist at China Minsheng Bank, stated at the time that recently, gold has surpassed the euro to become the second-largest reserve asset globally. Central banks around the world are accelerating the de-dollarization process to diversify risks, while the gold price continues to break new highs.

The World Gold Council's "2025 Global Central Bank Gold Reserves Survey" also showed that 95% of the surveyed central banks expect global official gold reserves to increase over the next 12 months, and 43% of the central banks said they would also increase their gold holdings.

This article is an exclusive article by Observer Net. Reproduction without permission is prohibited.

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