More than one million vehicles had travelled on Cambodia's first-ever 
expressway connecting the capital Phnom Penh and the deep-sea port province of 
Preah Sihanouk in the first three months since its inauguration on October 1 
last year.

The 187-km-long freeway, invested by the China Road and Bridge Corporation with 
$2 billion, is one of the results of cooperation between China and Cambodia 
under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

There's a proverb in Cambodia saying "there is road, there is hope." Cambodian 
Prime Minister Hun Sen once said China has built a lot of roads and bridges for 
Cambodia, so it means that China has built a lot of hope for the Cambodian 
people.

Hun Sen visited China in February, 2020, when the COVID-19 epidemic situation 
in the country was still grave. Recalling that meeting, Chinese President Xi 
Jinping Friday said the visit was a token of support and that Hun Sen stood 
firmly with the Chinese people in their fight against COVID-19.

"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," Xi told Hun Sen at the Diaoyutai State 
Guesthouse in Beijing.

All-round cooperation

Xi pointed out that the two sides can build a cooperation framework in six 
major areas: politics, production capacity, agriculture, energy, security and 
people-to-people and cultural exchanges. Hun Sen expressed his full agreement 
with the idea.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade pact and the 
China-Cambodia Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA) entered into force on January 1, 
2022. According to the Economic and Commercial Office of the Chinese Embassy to 
Cambodia, the trade volume between China and Cambodia hit $14.5 billion from 
January to November 2022, a year-on-year increase of 19.1 percent.

On Friday, Xi stressed that China will also encourage more Chinese enterprises 
to invest in Cambodia, help in the construction of the Sihanoukville Special 
Economic zone, and support building transportation infrastructure.

As well as the expressway, China-funded projects such as national roads, 
hospitals, rural road and clean water supply, went into operation in Cambodia 
in 2022, and more agricultural products such as longan, corn and pangasius, 
gained official access to the Chinese market.

Also, a team of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) experts came to Cambodia 
last March to help the Southeast Asian nation fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

As for people-to-people and cultural exchanges, Xi noted the Chinese side will 
give priority to restoring and increasing direct flights between China and 
Cambodia, encouraging tourism cooperation and carrying out cultural heritage 
protection and restoration work.

China has helped restore ruined temples in the Angkor Archaeological Park since 
1997 by successfully restoring the Chau Say Tevoda temple and the Ta Keo temple.

'Development is not the prerogative of a few'

During the meeting, the Chinese president also emphasized that development is 
not the prerogative of a few nations.

The acts of engaging in rivalry of systems or ideological confrontation, 
politicizing and weaponizing economic, trade, scientific and technological 
exchanges, forcing the decoupling and breaking of the chain, curbing and 
suppressing the development of other countries, and requiring countries in the 
region to choose sides, are all power politics and hegemonic practices, and can 
never be popular, said Xi.

China stands on the right side of history and will resolutely safeguard 
national sovereignty, security, and development interests, as well as 
international fairness and justice, Xi vowed.

Hun Sen said the China-proposed BRI, the Global Development Initiative (GDI) 
and the Global Security Initiative (GSI) are of great significance to maintain 
world peace and promote common development, adding the Cambodian side will 
actively support and participate.

Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn has said the 
GDI "is another public good that China provides to the rest of the world," 
adding it is crucial in supporting the least developed countries to recover 
from the COVID-19 pandemic and reduce poverty.

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2023-02-10/Chinese-President-Xi-Jinping-meets-with-Cambodian-PM-Hun-Sen-1hj96Mwlwha/index.html


SOURCE CGTN