Cambodia-China friendship provides win-win cooperation, shared prosperity

International Relations Institute of Cambodia Director General Kin Phea at the Royal Academy of Cambodia. RAC

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The Cambodia-China friendship has not only fostered win-win cooperation and shared prosperity but also helped maintain security and stability in the region, a Cambodian scholar said on Sunday.

Kin Phea, Director-General of the International Relations Institute of Cambodia, a think tank under the Royal Academy of Cambodia, said the bilateral strategic partnership is not only enduring but also evolving and transformative.

“This relationship provides compelling evidence that win-win cooperation is not a slogan but a pathway to shared prosperity,” he told Xinhua.

Phea said the recent conclusion of the first China-Cambodia “2+2” strategic dialogue in Phnom Penh, held between foreign and defence ministers, reflected a deeper friendship and a shared commitment to regional security.

“This is not a routine diplomatic event – it is a structural upgrade to our relationship, integrating diplomacy, defence, and increasingly public security cooperation into a coordinated strategic platform,” he said.

Phea added that after 68 years of diplomatic relations, the Cambodia-China partnership has entered a new phase, more institutionalised, more comprehensive, and more security-responsive.

At the core of this evolution lies the Diamond Hexagon cooperation framework, a six-pillar architecture covering political cooperation, production capacity, agriculture, energy, security, and people-to-people exchange.

“This is not just a framework – it is a blueprint for long-term strategic alignment, linking China’s Belt and Road Initiative to Cambodia’s Pentagonal Strategy,” he said.

He said that despite global headwinds, the two countries have seen higher trade volumes, with China remaining Cambodia’s largest trading partner in 2025.

“The Cambodia-China Free Trade Agreement has eliminated tariffs on thousands of tariff lines, enabling Cambodian agricultural products – from rice and bananas to mangoes and pepper – to reach Chinese markets on an unprecedented scale,” Phea said.

He added that infrastructure cooperation with China has transformed Cambodia’s economic geography.

Phea said the Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville Expressway has reduced travel time from five hours to under two hours, and that corridor development is strengthening regional integration.

He added that with several seaports and the China-supported Funan Techo Integrated Water Resources Management project under construction, which links the Mekong River to the sea, Cambodia is reducing logistics costs and transit time.

At the Sihanoukville Special Economy Zone, over 35,000 Cambodians are employed across more than 200 enterprises, he said.

“In agriculture, technology transfer through bilateral cooperation has significantly increased yields, lifting thousands of families above the poverty line,” he said. “This is not dependency but capacity-building and development with dignity.”

Phea said that bilateral cooperation is also expanding into the areas of security and governance to respond to emerging challenges.

“Through the new strategic dialogue mechanisms, both sides have agreed to jointly combat telecom fraud, online gambling, and cyber threats, and to strengthen law enforcement cooperation,” he said. “This demonstrates that our partnership is not only about growth but also about stability and resilience.” Xinhua

-Khmer Times-