Chinese Premier Li Keqiang met with Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen on November 13 on the sideline of the 20th China-ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) (10+1) leaders' meeting in the Philippine capital of Manila.

Hailing the two countries as sincere friends, Li said China will, as always, firmly support Cambodia in pursuing a development path that suits its own conditions and support its efforts in safeguarding independence of sovereignty, maintaining stability, and speeding up economic development.

China stands ready to maintain high-level exchanges with the Cambodian side, strengthen pragmatic cooperation in various areas and promote people-to-people exchanges, Li said.

Next year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Cambodia. Also in 2018, Cambodia will co-chair the second leaders' meeting of Lancang-Mekong Cooperation, a sub-regional cooperation mechanism jointly established by the six countries along the Mekong River (known in China as Lancang River), namely China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

In this regard, Li pledged to work with Cambodia to further promote the development of bilateral ties so as to contribute to the stable development of the region.

For his part, Hun Sen said Cambodia and China share a profound friendship and bilateral ties will usher in a new era next year.

Hun Sen said that Cambodia is willing to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with China in various areas such as state governance and infrastructure construction so as to further advance the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.

(Xinhua News Agency November 13, 2017)