Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, held talks with visiting Cambodian People's Party (CPP) President and Senate President Samdech Techo Hun Sen in Beijing on Tuesday.
At the talks, Xi said the ironclad friendship between China and Cambodia fully serves the shared interests of their people. China always takes Cambodia as a priority in its neighborhood diplomacy, and stands ready to work with Cambodia to build a China-Cambodia community with a shared future of high quality, high level and high standard in the new era, according to Xi.
Xi put forth a three-thronged proposal to deepen bilateral relations.
First, the two sides need to firmly support each other and consolidate their ironclad friendship. China will firmly support Cambodia in safeguarding its national sovereignty, security and development interests.
Second, the two sides need to deepen exchanges and mutual learning for common development and rejuvenation. The CPC is willing to strengthen cooperation with the CPP in strategic communication and cadre training to help Cambodia explore a development path suited to its national conditions.
And third, bilateral efforts need to be made to seize cooperation opportunities and open up new horizons for win-win outcomes. China stands ready to work with Cambodia to constantly enrich their cooperation within the China-Cambodia "diamond hexagon" cooperation framework, formulate plans for bilateral cooperation in the construction of the "industrial development corridor" and the "fish and rice corridor" in Cambodia, to ensure effective implementation of key cooperation projects, and facilitate high-quality synergy between the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and Cambodia's Pentagonal Strategy.
The current international landscape fraught with changes and various global challenges has been testing all nations' responses and choices, Xi said.
Noting that both China and Cambodia are committed to being forces for global peace, development and progress, Xi said that China will continue to support Cambodia in playing a bigger role in international and regional affairs, further expand the strength of the "Global South", support ASEAN in upholding strategic independence and maintaining its centrality, firmly oppose the move of external forces to export Cold War mentality to the region, and unswervingly promote the building of ASEAN integration and the community.
Xi expressed China's willingness to work with Cambodia to strengthen coordination and cooperation, thus jointly responding to various risks.
For his part, Hun Sen said the Cambodia-China friendship, jointly established by the older generations of leaders of the two countries, has stood the test of history and time, and that the Cambodia-China community with a shared future serves the common interests of the two sides.
The Cambodian side appreciates China's long-term valuable support and assistance for the country's political, economic and social development, and China is the most trustworthy friend of Cambodia, he said.
A friendly policy toward China is the firm political consensus of the CPP, which will not change as a result of generational transition of the Cambodian leadership, he said.
Cambodia firmly adheres to the one-China principle and supports China in safeguarding its core interests, and is willing to comprehensively strengthen inter-party exchanges with China, deepen political mutual trust, promote practical cooperation in various fields, and enhance youth, cultural and people-to-people exchanges to better benefit their people, Hun Sen said, adding that Cambodia is willing to strengthen coordination and cooperation with China in international and regional affairs.
Hun Sen is on an official goodwill visit to China from Dec 2 to 4, at the invitation of the CPC.
Xi holds talks with Cambodia's senate president Hun Sen
Xi holds talks with Cambodia's senate president Hun Sen
