Chinese President Xi Jinping said Thursday that Cambodia’s Queen Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk is both a witness to and a promoter of the friendship between China and Cambodia.
In his meeting with the Queen Mother at the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital, Xi said she has special friendly feelings towards the Chinese people, and she is well-deserved to be awarded the Friendship Medal of the People's Republic of China. Xi also said that China is her second home, adding that she is welcome to come to China at any time.
Cambodia's King Father Norodom Sihanouk was a banner of the China-Cambodia friendship, said Xi, adding that together with the elder generation of Chinese leaders, he personally forged an unbreakable ironclad friendship between China and Cambodia.
"We will always remember the historic contributions he made," Xi added.
For her part, the Queen Mother said Xi is the greatest friend of Cambodia, and it is a great pleasure to see that the Cambodia-China friendship forged by the elder generation of leaders of the two countries has been continuously consolidated and developed.
The Queen Mother said she believes that the ironclad friendship between the two countries will grow even deeper and more unbreakable.
Xi arrived in Phnom Penh earlier on Thursday for a state visit to Cambodia. Cambodia is the last leg of Xi's five-day, three-nation Southeast Asia tour, which also included state visits to Vietnam and Malaysia.
Xi hails Queen Mother Monineath as promoter of China-Cambodia friendship
China will take further steps to expand high-standard opening-up and create a new landscape of win-win cooperation in 2026, which marks the start of the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), Commerce Minister Wang Wentao said in a recent interview with China Media Group.
Wang said opening up and cooperation for mutual benefit are integral to Chinese modernization. This year, China will actively expand voluntary opening up.
The country will steadily open up such areas as value-added telecommunications, biotechnology and wholly foreign-owned hospitals, while accelerating comprehensive pilot and demonstration programs for expanded opening-up in the services sector, he noted.
"We will expand the scope and regions of unilateral opening-up and ensure the implementation of zero-tariff treatment on 100 percent of tariff lines for all African countries that have diplomatic relations with China. We will vigorously promote the effective implementation of policies for special customs operations of the Hainan Free Trade Port, further enhance the level of trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, optimize the regional layout and coverage of pilot free trade zones, and support these zones in carrying out more robust institutional opening-up trials in areas such as market access, environmental standards and government procurement, so as to better leverage their role as comprehensive pilot platforms for reform and opening-up," said Wang.
Wang said China will promote the orderly planning of cross-border industrial and supply chains.
Efforts will be made to deepen economic and trade cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, enhance integration and connectivity across production and supply chains, and encourage cooperation in areas including green development, the digital economy, green minerals, new infrastructure and new energy so as to help build global production and supply chain partnerships that are equal, inclusive and constructive, he noted.
"We will give play to the platform role of overseas economic and trade cooperation zones, expand overseas marketing networks and explore international markets through outward investment, achieve mutual promotion between investment and trade, and advance the integrated development of trade and investment. We will also improve the overseas comprehensive service system and the national-level overseas comprehensive service platform," said the minister.
In addition, China will participate constructively in global economic governance, according to the minister.
In 2026, Wang said, China will pursue flexible and pragmatic approaches to negotiate trade and investment agreements with more willing countries and regions, while strengthening economic and trade cooperation under multilateral frameworks such as BRICS, G20 and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, to further promote mutual benefit and win-win outcomes.
China to expand high-standard opening-up to foster win-win cooperation: minister
