Cambodian PM meets with China's Wang Yi

PHNOM PENH, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen on Wednesday met with visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, reiterating his country's firm support for China in maintaining its core interests.

Asking Wang to convey his sincere greetings to Chinese leaders, Hun Sen wished the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China a complete success.

Hun Sen stressed that Cambodia firmly adheres to the one-China principle, viewing Taiwan as an inalienable part of China's territory.

Cambodia firmly opposes any words or deeds that infringe on China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and will continue to firmly support China in safeguarding its core interests and stand together with the 1.4 billion Chinese people, said the prime minister.

Hun Sen said the iron-clad bilateral friendship has taken root in both nations, enjoying fruitful results from joint construction of the Belt and Road, which have brought huge benefits to their peoples.

During the joint fight against COVID-19, the prime minister said, Chinese vaccines have effectively helped Cambodia protect people's life and health, and accelerated the country's economic recovery and return to normal life.

The two sides will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of former Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk this year and the 65th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties in 2023, Hun Sen said.

He noted his country looks forward to advancing the efforts to build the Cambodia-China community with a shared future, deepen the synergy between their development strategies, strengthen cooperation in various areas including economy and trade, infrastructure, mining, energy, agriculture and defense.

For his part, Wang said Cambodia adheres to the development path in line with its own national conditions, which is widely supported by its people, safeguards its national independence and dignity, and plays an ever-increasing role in international and regional affairs.

He said China-Cambodia relations have withstood the test of changing international landscape and remain rock-solid and unbreakable.

China appreciates Cambodia's adherence to the one-China principle and supports China in safeguarding its core interests, Wang said, adding that China is also a reliable partner of Cambodia and stands firmly behind it in the process of its development and revitalization.

Wang said China is willing to work with Cambodia to safeguard their respective sovereignty, security and development interests, to uphold the non-interference basic norms governing international relations, and to uphold international equity and justice.

He said China is also willing to deepen strategic communication with Cambodia and carry forward the traditional friendship, so that the friendship between the two countries will be passed on from generation to generation.

Wang said the high-quality Belt and Road cooperation between China and Cambodia has been yielding fruitful results and shown broad prospects for development.

Both sides should stay firmly committed to the direction of building a community with a shared future and constantly upgrade all-round bilateral cooperation, Wang said.

China will continue providing sufficient vaccine assistance to meet Cambodia's needs, import more high-quality agricultural products from Cambodia, and increase flights from Cambodia to China to help Cambodian students return to China for their studies, Wang said.

Wang also elaborated on China's position on the Taiwan question. He stressed that the provocative act of the U.S. side on the Taiwan question is not accidental, but a carefully planned farce, which exposes its ugly face of treachery.

The U.S. attempt to "contain China with Taiwan" cannot succeed at all, nor will it change the historical trend that Taiwan will inevitably return to the motherland, but will only inspire the 1.4 billion Chinese people to unite as one and speed up the construction of a great modern socialist country with Chinese characteristics, said Wang.

The Taiwan question, which arose out of national weakness and chaos at that time, will surely come to an end with national rejuvenation, and the "Taiwan independence" forces will surely be judged by history, said Wang.

Both sides pledged to strengthen communication and coordination on regional affairs, uphold the centrality of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in the regional architecture, and oppose bloc confrontation in the region and coercion of countries to take sides.

The two sides also exchanged views on the Myanmar issue and the Ukraine crisis.