China seeks higher-level ties after pandemic ends

He made the remarks during a phone call yesterday to Foreign Affairs Minister Prak Sokhonn.

A Foreign Ministry statement said Mr Wang told Mr Sokhonn China and Cambodia have helped each other in the spirit of brotherhood and weathered the crisis through thick and thin.

“The Cambodia side has offered China the staunchest support in the most difficult period of China’s fight against the disease,” he said.

Mr Wang said King Norodom Sihamoni, along with Queen Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk, had extended their sympathy to Chinese President Xi Jinping and provided help with cash assistance while Prime Minister Hun Sen visited China amid the epidemic to show support.

He said China-Cambodia friendship has withstood the trials of time and ever-changing international situation and it further strengthened amid the pandemic.

The statement said Mr Sokhonn congratulated China on the critical outcome of its anti-pandemic fight and also thanked it for sending medical experts and providing medical supplies to many countries, which shows a true spirit of internationalism.

“China has sent medical experts, and medical supplies, both civil and military, and also raw materials for factories in Cambodia,” the statement quoted Mr Sokhonn as saying.

He said China has paid attention to Cambodians nationals, including students, in China as well as shared its medical experience in tackling the virus with Cambodian Peacekeeping missions in Lebanon and Mali.

On April 10, Cambodia received seven tonnes of medical and preventive supplies from China in a bid for the fight of coronavirus disease in the Kingdom.

The supplies were officially handed over by Chinese ambassador Wang Wentian to Health Minister Mam Bun Heng at the ministry in Phnom Penh.

The ministry said the supplies were donated by the government of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in China. The preventive kits cost approximately $500,000 and included masks, clothing, protective goggles, nucleic acid test reagents and extractors, forehead thermometers and viral DNA/RNA extraction kits, among others for prevention, control and response to the coronavirus.