Cambodia is a traditionally friendly neighbor to China. According to Yang Baojun, deputy director of the Southeast Asia Studies Center at Peking University, there are three characteristics in Sino-Cambodia relations.
"First of all, the relationship has a long history, especially after King Sihanouk attended the Bandung Conference in 1955 and formed a good relationship with Premier Zhou Enlai. Secondly, we have a solid foundation with frequent high-level contacts. And third, even though Cambodia is a small country, it plays an important part in China-ASEAN relations, so strengthening bilateral ties is a key to dealing well with China's neighboring countries."
Cambodia is an agricultural country with weak industrial capacity and one of the least developed countries in the world. As a result, it is the government's top priority to develop its economy and eliminate poverty.
In this regard, China has provided aid and invested more than 8.8 billion US dollars over the past 17 years, making China the biggest source of investment for Cambodia.
Yang Baojun says in the future China should focus more on improving Cambodians' livelihoods when helping its economy.
"There is still room to improve bilateral cooperation in politics, economy and culture. Cambodia hopes China will help develop industries such as agriculture, transportation infrastructure, energy and electric power. In addition, we could help more by investing in labor-intensive industries, manufacturing, tourism and human resources."
China and Cambodia established their strategic partnership in 2010, following Prime Minister Hun Sen's official visit to China. Yang Baojun adds Hu Jintao's visit this time is significant to further the partnership.
"A lot of achievements have been made in all fields since 2010. President Hu's visit will promote the relations to a higher level. In particular, Cambodia holds the presidency of ASEAN this year, and a series of summits will be held in the capital Pnom-Penh. So the visit is important in strengthening the bilateral partnership as well as deepening China-ASEAN relations."
A joint statement is expected to be released, and a number of business cooperation agreements, including the Economic and Technological Cooperation Agreement, are to be signed during Hu Jintao's visit.
For CRI, this is Su Yi.
