Minister of National Defence General Tea Banh said his August 13-16 visit to China at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Weng Fei He aimed to strengthen bilateral military cooperation.
Addressing a press conference at Phnom Penh International Airport on August 16, Tea Banh said the primary activity of the visit was the organisation of future meetings of a joint-commission between the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) and the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China.
“If we talk about the meeting's results, it further advanced cooperation between the RCAF and PLA. We discussed some plans that we could implement together," he said.
Tea Banh said Cambodia has set up two sub-committees with China: a military cooperation sub-committee and a military-technical cooperation sub-committee.
He said there will also be future discussions on the RCAF’s medium and long-term future development plans as well as some short-term practical arrangements between the RCAF and PLA to facilitate China's military assistance to Cambodia.
"We have discussed – for the first time – the establishment of the joint-commission. The meeting had a comprehensive discussion on the topic, which is a good thing,” he said.
According to the ministry, during the visit, Tea Banh also exchanged views on regional and international issues with Xu Qi Liang, senior vice-chairman of China’s Central Military Commission, the highest-ranking uniformed or active service military commander of the PLA.
Tea Banh and Xu co-chaired the signing ceremony for two protocols: Military Cooperation and Military Techniques Cooperation.
These protocols will serve to enhance RCAF military capabilities and modernise the software and hardware infrastructure of Cambodia to further advance its defence sector.
