In 2023, Mongabay published an article detailing how the Late Cheng Mining Development in Cambodia demonstrates the role of political connections in enabling illegal mining within protected areas. The company’s chairman, Zhao Yingming, had been photographed alongside Prime Minister Hun Manet and the former commander of the Prime Minister's Bodyguard Unit. He was also shown to have business ties with Chun You, a deputy director-general at Cambodia's Ministry of National Defence, who chairs a neighbouring mining company – Cambodian K88 Industry – that received its license just 18 days after Late Cheng. This web of connections appears to have enabled Late Cheng to operate for roughly 18 months without a legal extraction license, bypass environmental impact assessments, and evade enforcement of Cambodia’s Protected Area Law, which prohibits activities such as water contamination and chemical waste disposal in protected zones. Villagers who have raised concerns about environmental damage and land loss report that their complaints have been ignored by authorities.