Xi praises ties on visit to Cambodia

Cambodian students hold portraits of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Cambodia’s King Norodom Sihamoni during Xi’s arrival in Phnom Penh yesterday on a two-day visit. The red carpet was rolled out at the airport for Xi, who was greeted by senior government officials and members of the royal family. Smiling Cambodian children presented him with a jasmine bracelet as local residents waved flags of both countries.— AFP

Xi praises ties on visit to Cambodia

 Shanghai Daily | 14 October 2016

PRESIDENT Xi Jinping arrived in Cambodia yesterday for a two-day visit, praising its close ties with China and signing dozens of economic agreements.

A total of 31 agreements, including soft loan deals worth around US$237 million, were signed following Xi’s meeting with Prime Minister Hun Sen, according to Eang Sophalleth, an aide to the prime minister.

Xi said he would urge Chinese investment in building Cambodia’s high-speed train and an airport in Siem Reap Province, as well as provide additional 500 scholarships, Sophalleth said.

The Chinese leader had also canceled around US$89 million debt, he added.

“This is historic in terms of the number of agreements signed and pledges,” Sophalleth said, adding that China had also pledged another US$14 million in military aid.

Xi also met Cambodia’s King Norodom Sihamoni at the Royal Palace, where he spoke highly of the traditional friendship between China and Cambodia and vowed to carry it forward. The comprehensive strategic partnership for cooperation of the two countries had seen strong development in recent years and had brought tangible benefits to both countries’ people, Xi said.

China values its special friendship with the Cambodian royal family and attaches great importance to the development of its relations with the Southeast Asian nation, he said.

China is willing to work with Cambodia to promote bilateral friendship and deepen all-round cooperation so as to achieve common development and prosperity, he said, adding that China will always be a good partner and friend.

The king said Cambodia is ready to work with China to carry forward their traditional friendship and ensure the relationship will get better.

Before their talks, Xi, accompanied by the king, attended a red-carpet ceremony and inspected guards of honor.

After the meeting with the king, Xi laid a wreath at the statue of King Father Norodom Sihanouk in the company of Queen Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk.

Xi’s arrival in Phnom Penh marked his first trip to the Southeast Asian nation as president. In 2009, he paid an official visit to the kingdom as vice president.

China and Cambodia were “good neighbors, real friends who are loyal to each other,” Xi wrote in a front-page commentary in Cambodia’s biggest Khmer-language newspaper Rasmei Kampuchea.

Xi said bilateral trade reached US$4.4 billion last year and was set to reach US$5 billion next year.

Chinese investment in Cambodia was valued at US$864 million last year and a total of US$9.1 billion had been pledged since 1994, according to the Council for the Development of Cambodia.

China has pledged US$600 million in aid to Cambodia over the next three years.

After Cambodia, Xi will travel to Bangladesh and the western Indian state of Goa, where the Chinese president will attend a summit of the emerging-market bloc of BRICS, which groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

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