BEIJING, July 29 -- The Chinese and Cambodian armed forces are good brothers and good friends who help each other, said Senior Colonel Wu Qian, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of National Defense, on Tuesday.
Snr. Col. Wu made the remarks when asked to introduce the military-to-military relationship between China and Cambodia. He said that some Chinese netizens refer to Cambodia as “steel-like Cambodia”, describing that the China-Cambodia friendship is as strong as steel.
He stressed that in recent years, under the personal guidance and promotion of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, the two countries have witnessed in-depth development in their comprehensive strategic partnership, and the two militaries have maintained good exchanges and cooperation in the fields of military training, personnel training, and exchanges among services and arms.
He pointed out that the two militaries have maintained frequent high-level exchanges. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, senior leaders of the two militaries have kept close communication and coordination through video meetings, phone calls and letters. General Tea Banh , Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense of Cambodia, General VongPisen, Commander-in-Chief of the Cambodian Royal Armed Forces (RCAF) , and NemSowath, Director-General of the General Department of Policy and Foreign Affairs under the Ministry of National Defense of Cambodia, have sent messages of congratulations to China on the centenary of the Communist Party of China recently.
The two sides have also carried out anti-epidemic cooperation. The Chinese government and military sent medical expert teams to Cambodia and provided anti-epidemic materials and vaccines in multiple batches; and the Cambodian side also offered anti-epidemic material assistance to China in line with the arrangement of its Ministry of National Defense at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak in China last year, which fully reflects the sincere friendship between the two countries and the two militaries in helping and supporting each other.
In addition to these, the two militaries have maintained exchanges in professional fields, the spokesperson added. In March last year, the “Golden Dragon 2020” China-Cambodia joint training was successfully held in Cambodia. This was the only live-fire exercise conducted by the Chinese military with foreign troops during the COVID-19 pandemic last year, reflecting the high-level cooperation between the two militaries. In June of this year, the Chinese and Cambodian armed forces held the first video seminar focusing on the defense white papers, marking the debut of the Chinese military’s exchange on defense white papers with a foreign counterpart.
Snr. Col. Wu stressed that in future, the Chinese military will join hands with its Cambodian counterpart to earnestly implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, and maintain practical cooperation between the two militaries in various fields so as to strengthen the bilateral military relationship and push it to a new level.
