China, Cambodia ties enter new era

President Xi Jinping and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen agreed on Friday to build up an all-around cooperation framework to underline the increasingly closer ties between the two Asian neighbors.

Xi met with Hun Sen at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing. Noting that Hun Sen's last trip to China was in February 2020 when the Chinese people were fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic, Xi said, "It gives me great pleasure to work with you to realize our three-year appointment and open a new era of building a China-Cambodia community with a shared future at the start of spring."

The Cambodian prime minister said he was glad to be received as the first foreign leader to visit China after the Spring Festival.

During the meeting, Xi suggested the two sides deepen strategic communication and strengthen exchanges of governance experience, prioritize industrial development, promote agricultural cooperation and carry out regular operations to jointly crack down on cross-border crime.

He also said that China will encourage more companies to invest and prosper in Cambodia, offer help in the construction of the Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone, a flagship project under the Belt and Road Initiative, and support the country's transportation infrastructure construction.

China will give preference to resuming and increasing direct flights between the two countries to encourage tourism cooperation, he added.

Statistics from the Ministry of Commerce showed that bilateral trade hit a record of $16.02 billion last year, a year-on-year increase of 17.5 percent. China has been Cambodia's largest trading partner for 11 consecutive years.

"China firmly supports Cambodia in safeguarding national sovereignty and security, firmly supports Cambodia in steadily advancing major domestic political agendas and economic and social development, and resolutely opposes external forces interfering in Cambodia's internal affairs," said Xi.

The two leaders also exchanged views on issues of common concern. Noting that development is not the right of just a few countries, Xi pointed out that engaging in ideological confrontation, politicizing and weaponizing trade and technology exchanges, forceful decoupling and containment of other countries are acts of hegemony and do not have people's support.

Hun Sen said he wished to extend a message that the Cambodian people always firmly stand with the Chinese people. He also thanked China for supporting his country in choosing its own path of development, fighting the pandemic and dealing with other difficulties.

Premier Li Keqiang on Friday held a welcoming ceremony for Hun Sen and they witnessed the signing of a dozen of cooperative agreements. Li said China will continue to provide assistance within its capacity to Cambodia and called on the two countries to keep supporting each other on issues that concern their respective core interests and major concerns.

Gu Jiayun, director of the Center for Cambodian Studies at the Beijing Foreign Studies University, said, "Hun Sen's visit demonstrated the two countries' high level of political mutual trust and their strong will to maintain strategic communications and further practical cooperation."

According to Gu, agricultural cooperation between the two countries has helped to promote the modernization, technological upgrading and industrialization of Cambodia's production and processing of agricultural goods.

Li Haidong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations at China Foreign Affairs University, said China and Cambodia have also proved with their cooperation that all countries are closely connected within a shared community, with their security and development intertwined.

"Faced with some countries' attempts to drive a wedge between China and other regional countries, it is important to promote regional integration through practical cooperation and unite with each other to resist such confrontation guided by a Cold War mentality," he said.

Kin Phea, director-general of the International Relations Institute of Cambodia at the Royal Academy of Cambodia, said that the special and unbreakable ties between the two countries are a "unique role model" of bilateral relations that can be replicated both regionally and globally.

In this Year of Cambodia-China Friendship, the strong commitment and great efforts made by the leaders and peoples of the two countries underpin the mutual knowledge that the building of the Cambodia-China community with a shared future is a reality, he told China Daily.

Xu Liping, director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at the Beijing-based Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that infrastructure interconnectivity is of crucial importance for the socioeconomic development of all ASEAN countries.

"The improvement of Cambodia's road and rail systems will undoubtedly help create a better investment environment for this less-developed country and build up people's confidence for a better life," Xu was quoted as saying by China Radio International.