The China-Cambodia Community of Shared Future Enters a New Era

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen will pay an official visit to China from February 9th to 11th. During the period, China and Cambodia exchanged in-depth views on building a China-Cambodia community with a shared future in the new era and international and regional issues of common concern, pointing out the direction for the future development of China-Cambodia relations. The two sides announced the launch of the "China-Cambodia Friendship Year" and signed a number of bilateral cooperation documents on diplomacy, economy and trade, development cooperation, infrastructure, and cultural heritage protection. The two countries jointly issued the "Joint Statement between the People's Republic of China and the Kingdom of Cambodia on Building a China-Cambodia Community with a Shared Future in the New Era", ushering in a new era of jointly building a high-quality, high-level, and high-standard China-Cambodia Community with a Shared Future.

Prime Minister Hun Sen is the first foreign leader to visit China after the Spring Festival. Three years ago, Prime Minister Hun Sen insisted on visiting China at the beginning of the outbreak of the epidemic in China, and expressed his condolences and support to the Chinese people in person. These two trips to China have fully proved that China and Cambodia are good friends who stand together through thick and thin and good partners who share weal and woe. The "iron-core" friendship between China and Cambodia is unbreakable.

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Cambodia 65 years ago, the traditional friendship between China and Cambodia, carefully cultivated by the older generations of leaders of the two countries, has grown stronger over time, and has become a model of a new type of international relations. More than 60 years ago, China assisted Cambodia in building textile, plywood, cement and other factories. Entering the 21st century, the relationship between the two countries has accelerated. In 2006, the two countries established a "comprehensive cooperative partnership", which was upgraded to a "comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership" in 2010. In 2017, the two sides signed the "Outline of Jointly Promoting the "Belt and Road" Construction Cooperation Plan ", in April 2019, the two countries signed the "2019-2023 Action Plan for Building a China-Cambodia Community of Shared Future", and signed a free trade agreement in October 2020, which will come into effect on January 1, 2022.

Over the past 65 years, under the strategic guidance of the leaders of the two countries, China-Cambodia relations have continued to deepen, bringing tangible benefits to the two peoples. China aided in the construction of Cambodia's first full-line four-lane national road, the first cement factory, the first thermal power station, and the largest hydropower station. The key projects of China-Cambodia joint construction of the "Belt and Road" have continuously achieved new results. Aided construction projects such as Cambodia's Tebun Khmoun Provincial Hospital, Cosma China-Cambodia Friendship Hospital and the Cambodian National Stadium have also been completed and delivered. Up to now, China has built 8 river-crossing bridges, more than 3,000 kilometers of roads, and water conservancy projects with a total irrigation area of about 420,000 hectares, laid optical cables with a total length of over 20,000 kilometers, and erected Cambodia’s national power grid. The total length of power transmission and transformation lines in rural areas is more than 8,000 kilometers. In October 2022, the Jingang Expressway connecting Phnom Penh and the tourist attraction Sihanoukville will be opened for trial operation, helping Cambodia enter the "expressway era". As a model of pragmatic cooperation between China and Cambodia, 175 enterprises have settled in the Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone, creating about 30,000 local jobs. Projects such as Siem Reap New International Airport, Sihanoukville-Hồng Kông Submarine Cable, Kratie-Mekong River Bridge and connection roads are under construction.

With the development of the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" project, the economic and trade relations between the two countries have reached a new level. China is Cambodia's largest source of foreign direct investment. By the end of 2022, Chinese companies have invested more than US$10 billion in Cambodia. In 2021, the bilateral trade volume between China and Cambodia will exceed the US$10 billion mark for the first time. With the entry into force of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) and the China-Cambodia Free Trade Agreement in 2022, the bilateral trade volume between China and Cambodia will reach US$16.02 billion, a year-on-year increase of 17.5 %, China has remained Cambodia's largest trading partner for 11 consecutive years. China has become the main export market for high-quality Cambodian rice, fresh bananas, and mangoes. Cambodian pangasius, corn, longan and other agricultural products have also completed export procedures to China and will enter the Chinese market one after another.

The Cambodia-China cooperative poverty reduction assistance project has continuously made new progress, benefiting many rural areas in Cambodia, and bringing the people of the two countries closer to each other. The Cambodian project of the "East Asian Poverty Reduction Cooperation Initiative" implemented by China in Cambodia has successfully completed the acceptance and handed over to the Cambodian side. The three-year China-Cambodia Friendship Poverty Alleviation Demonstration Village Project will be launched in early 2021 to help the demonstration villages build rural roads, provide clean drinking water, improve education and medical conditions, develop breeding and animal husbandry, carry out skill training and improve the village environment, etc. It has greatly improved the quality of life of the people in the demonstration village, and has been listed by Cambodia as a model of Cambodia-China poverty alleviation cooperation, and plans to promote poverty alleviation experience across Cambodia. In 2022, the expert team sent by China to assist Cambodia in agricultural development planning projects will more effectively help Cambodia's rural development and improve farmers' lives.

In the face of changes in the world today, times, and history, the strategic significance of China-Cambodia relations has become more prominent. No matter how the international situation changes, China and Cambodia will always unswervingly deepen the close "hard-core" friendship. Prime Minister Hun Sen's successful visit opened the door for China and Cambodia to unswervingly carry out mutually beneficial and win-win practical cooperation and promote the construction of a community of shared future for mankind. The door of opportunity. The China-Cambodia "diamond six-sided" cooperation framework reached by the two parties has pointed out the direction for in-depth cooperation between the two countries in six major fields including politics, production capacity, agriculture, energy, security, and humanities.

In Cambodia, the mainstream media and academic circles pay close attention to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s successful visit to China, and the government departments are intensively strengthening the planning and implementation, especially looking forward to the investment of Chinese enterprises and Chinese tourists.

At present, Cambodia has applied to join the cross-border payment system of the People's Bank of China in order to provide cross-border payment convenience for Chinese companies that come to invest, attract more Chinese investors to join Cambodia's "Industrial Development Corridor", and help Sihanoukville multi-functional Economic demonstration zone construction. The second Phnom Penh-Bayu Expressway in Cambodia is planned to break ground this year. The third Phnom Penh-Siem Reap Expressway and the Cambodian high-speed rail project have also been included in the plan. The construction of Cambodia's transportation infrastructure continues to accelerate. The agricultural department is cooperating with the Chinese side to step up the overall planning of agricultural development, strengthen agricultural cooperation with China near the lake, and focus on building the "Fish and Rice Corridor". The Ministry of Tourism of Cambodia has accelerated the promotion of the "China Ready (China Ready) certification system", announcing that Chinese tourists can pay in RMB in Cambodia, and all international border ports will provide entry convenience for Chinese tourists. The Cambodian Ministry of Tourism will also hold three large-scale events to achieve the goal of attracting 1 million Chinese tourists this year. China and Cambodia will also increase investment in green energy projects such as hydropower and photovoltaic power generation in Cambodia, and continue to carry out cooperation such as joint law enforcement and joint crackdown on crime.

2023 is the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Cambodia. With the in-depth implementation of the agreements reached by China and Cambodia and the extensive launch of the "China-Cambodia Friendship Year" series of celebrations, the China-Cambodia community of destiny in the new era will move towards a higher quality, a higher level, and a higher level. The high-standard version 2.0 is moving forward and helping the friendship between the two countries to become more and more prosperous.