China has agreed to help modernise Cambodia’s military, Cambodia’s defence minister said yesterday, after the two countries signed new agreements to boost military aid.
Cambodia is China’s loyal ally in Asia, routinely backing Beijing’s position at international forums in a region where China and United States vie for influence.
Cambodia has shielded China from criticism by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) over the South China Sea.
Asean members Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei are in disputes with China over rival claims to the waters.
“We signed some protocols with each other in providing supplies in order to modernise our work and as a contribution to strengthen stronger capacity of our national defence,” Defence Minister Tea Banh, who returned from an official visit to Beijing over the weekend, told reporters yesterday.
His comments follow a visit to Cambodia by Chinese President Xi Jinping last week in which Xi praised the close ties between the two countries.
China and Cambodia signed 31 agreements during the visit, including soft loan deals worth around $237mn.
The Chinese leader also cancelled around $89mn in debt and pledged another $14mn in military aid to Cambodia.
Banh said that Cambodia plans to acquire fighter jets from China in the long term but that the military needs to focus now on strengthening its airspace.
Cambodia has had border disputes with neighbouring Vietnam and Thailand.
A border dispute with Thailand has in recent years resulted in sporadic exchanges of fire.