China’s Xi Jinping lauds ‘ironclad’ ties with Cambodia on final leg of Southeast Asian tour

Chinese President Xi Jinping has highlighted his country’s “ironclad” friendship with Cambodia during talks with leaders of the Southeast Asian country, the last stop on his three-nation tour of the region. Xi arrived in Phnom Penh on Thursday morning on a trip dominated by his calls to “oppose hegemonism” and “resist protectionism” in the face of rising trade frictions with the United States. He held talks in the afternoon with Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen and then Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV. During his meeting with Hun Sen, Xi called on countries to be united and firmly grasp in their own hands the leading role in national security and development. “Unilateralism and hegemony are unpopular, and no country is willing to retreat to a closed island. The trade war undermines the multilateral trading system and affects the world economic order,” CCTV quoted Xi as saying. In response, Hun Sen said Cambodia was willing to strengthen strategic security cooperation with China and expand bilateral trade, according to the CCTV report. Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump announced a 49 per cent tariff on goods imported from Cambodia, one of the highest rates of the numerous tariffs he announced. In an unprecedented change to protocol, Xi was met at the airport by Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni. In his meeting with Sihamoni, Xi said that no matter how turbulent the world was, the two countries had “always firmly supported each other on issues concerning each other’s core interests”. Xi said China and Cambodia had “set an example of how equal, trustful, and mutually beneficial relations between big and small countries should be”. Under the new international circumstances, the two countries should “cherish and preserve” what Xi called an “ironclad friendship”. In a written speech delivered at the airport, Xi said China’s relations with Cambodia had withstood the test of international changes and been “as solid as a rock”. He added that the two countries were united in the defence of international fairness and justice. “China regards Cambodia as a key direction of its neighbourhood diplomacy,” Xi said, adding that China looked forward to strengthening political mutual trust, cooperation, and strategic cooperation with Cambodia to contribute to regional and world stability. In an article published in several Cambodian media outlets before his arrival, Xi said the two countries had forged an “ironclad” friendship, supporting each other in their core interests and working together to defend international justice when confronted with complex regional and global situations. “As the world undergoes a century of rapid change, Asia stands at a new starting point for achieving overall revitalisation,” he wrote, adding that China would maintain its policy of strengthening cooperation with neighbouring countries. Xi noted that cooperation in industrial and supply chains between the two Asian neighbours continued to deepen, and that China had long been Cambodia’s largest trading partner and biggest source of investment. In the article, the Chinese leader called for the two countries to deepen mutual trust and strategic communication in areas including diplomacy and defence, saying they should oppose “external forces” that were interfering in internal affairs and sowing discord. “We should jointly oppose hegemonism, power politics and bloc confrontation, defend the common interests of the two countries and developing countries, advocate an equal and orderly multipolar world … jointly resist protectionism and maintain an open and cooperative international environment,” he said. The remarks echoed calls Xi made earlier, in Vietnam and Malaysia – the first two stops on regional trip, which is set to end in Cambodia on Friday. On Monday, he urged China and Vietnam to safeguard multilateralism and the international order, similarly saying they should jointly oppose hegemonism, unilateralism and protectionism. And in Malaysia on Wednesday, Xi said China and Malaysia would stand with countries in the region to fight camp-based confrontation to “safeguard the bright prospects of our Asian family”. Xi’s message to Southeast Asia came as Beijing accelerated efforts to pull its neighbours closer as it battled a deepening trade war with Washington. Trump has put in place a 90-day pause on his “reciprocal” levies on economies in the region but he has raised duties on most Chinese imports up to 145 per cent, raising fears that the world’s two largest economies will decouple. According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, the Trump administration plans to use tariff negotiations to pressure trading partners to limit their dealings with China, including refusing to allow Chinese companies to ship goods through their countries. Several Southeast Asian economies, including Vietnam, have typically been key routes for Chinese exports to the US. Cambodian media reported that Hun Manet described Xi’s visit as underscoring the importance and strength of bilateral relations. He also touted the ties between the two countries as “historical and enduring”.

China’s Xi Jinping lauds ‘ironclad’ ties with Cambodia on final leg of Southeast Asian tour

The Chinese leader holds talks with Prime Minister Hun Manet and King Norodom Sihamoni