The defence ministries of Cambodia and China have reiterated a pledge to continue their strong military cooperation.

The June 2 pledge was made between Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence Tea Banh and Chinese State Councillor and Minister of National Defence Li Shangfu, who met on the sidelines of the 20th IISS Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, hosted by the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

“During the meeting, the two defence ministers discussed existing defence cooperation, and vowed to advance and strengthen it,” said a June 3 social media post from the defence ministry.

It added that Shangfu offered his congratulations to Tea Banh for his excellent work as head of the Cambodia SEA Games Organising Committee (CAMSOC), and noted the success of the 32nd SEA Games, held in Cambodia last month.

According to the dialogue programme, Tea Banh will address the 7th plenary session on “Developing models for cooperative security” on June 4, with a focus on the challenges that can occur as a result of rapid regional military development, as well as the fact that new defence capabilities can also play a role in balancing regional stability.