Cambodian PM's China visit injects fresh impetus into building high-quality community with shared future

Artists perform lion dance at the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Jan. 21, 2023. (Photo by Phearum/Xinhua)

PHNOM PENH, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- The just-concluded visit of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen to China has given new momentum to the building of a high-quality China-Cambodia community with a shared future in the new era, Cambodian scholars have said.

The Cambodian leader ended his three-day official visit to China on Saturday, where he had held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Hailing the visit as another historic milestone in the Cambodia-China ties, Pov Sok, an advisor to Hun Sen, said that it further boosted the bilateral cooperation in politics, economy, trade, investment, tourism, culture, agriculture and education, among others.

"This visit has not only taken the Cambodia-China ties to new heights, but also injected new vitality into the building of the high-quality community with a shared future between our two countries," he told Xinhua.

"This visit has also further deepened the unbreakable ironclad friendship between our two countries," Sok said.

This photo taken on Jan. 1, 2023 shows the construction site of a China-funded bridge in Kratie province, Cambodia. (Photo by Van Pov/Xinhua)

Close ties, he said, will continue to provide tangible benefits to the people of both countries and contribute to peace and prosperity of the region and the world.

Joseph Matthews, a senior professor at the BELTEI International University in Phnom Penh, said that as Cambodia and China are "ironclad and all-weather friends," the visit further deepened political, economic, social, and cultural ties between the two countries.

"The visit has opened a new era of jointly building a high-quality, high-level, and high-standard China-Cambodia community with a shared future," he told Xinhua. "I believe that the visit will encourage more Chinese investors and tourists to come to Cambodia."

Longan fruits are on display at the launching ceremony of Cambodian longan export to China, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Oct. 27, 2022. (Photo by Phearum/Xinhua)

"As Cambodia has set its goals to become an upper-middle-income country by 2030 and a high-income country by 2050, China's steady support in all forms -- official development assistance and investment -- will help Cambodia achieve these ambitious dreams," Matthews said.

Vun Phanith, a lecturer at the Institute for International Studies and Public Policy, an arm of the state-run Royal University of Phnom Penh, said that "Cambodia-China relations are based on the principle of mutual respect, support and benefit as well as non-interference in each other's internal affairs, and their bilateral ties are very stable and unbreakable."

"Their close relations have not only benefited the two countries and their people, but also contributed to maintaining peace, stability, security and development in the region," he said.