Wang Yi meets Cambodian Deputy PM Prak Sokhonn

A senior diplomat on Thursday said that China is willing to work with Cambodia to jointly build a China-Cambodia community with a shared future and carry forward China's and Cambodia's friendship from generation to generation.

Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remark when meeting with Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Prak Sokhonn who was accompanying Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on a visit to China from Thursday to Saturday.

As the first foreign leader to visit China after the Chinese New Year, Wang, director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, said Hun Sen is also the first foreign guest received by China after the country successfully kept the pandemic at bay.

Prime Minister Hun Sen visited China once in 2020 and expressed regards and support to the Chinese people in person at the beginning of the outbreak of the pandemic, Wang recalled.

He said the two China visits made by Cambodian Prime Minister prove that China and Cambodia are good friends, through thick and thin, and good partners sharing weal and woe, while expressing readiness to promote a China-Cambodia comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership that aims to scale new heights.

Noting Cambodia and China are "ironclad friends", Sokhonn, who is also a Cambodian foreign minister, expressed gratitude for China's precious support to his country's fighting against the pandemic, and China's great help to Cambodia's socioeconomic development.

China's successful fight against the pandemic and a rapid economic and social recovery bring significant dividends to regional countries and the international community, he said.

This year marks the Year of China-Cambodia Friendship and is also the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

Sokhonn said Cambodia is ready to take the year as an opportunity to deepen cooperation in various fields with China and promote a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries to yield more results.