China News Service, Beijing, April 18 (Reporter Zhang Su) "Building a community of shared future between China and Cambodia in the new era" has become the new positioning of China and Cambodia, a pair of die-hard friends.

On the evening of April 17 local time, when holding talks with Cambodian Prime Minister Hon Manai in Phnom Penh, Chinese President Xi Jinping pointed out that "the two sides should take the construction of a new era of all-weather China-Cambodia community with a shared future as a new starting point, seize the opportunity, continue to implement the new version of the China-Cambodia Community with a shared future, and strengthen unity and cooperation."

In the joint statement, China and Cambodia made it clear that in the face of changes in the world, changes in the times and changes in history, both sides agreed to accelerate the construction of an all-weather China-Cambodia community with a shared future in the new era.

From the first to sign the action plan for building a community with a shared future in 2019, to the launch of a new era of building a community with a shared future in 2023, and to the improvement of positioning now, China-Cambodia cooperation has always been at the forefront of building a community with a shared future for mankind, and the iron-core friendship is full of color. The interviewed scholars said that two keywords can better understand China-Cambodia relations "take advantage of the momentum".

One of the keywords is "new era".

Xu Liping, a researcher at the Institute of Asia-Pacific and Global Strategy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that the term "new era" shows that the new positioning of China-Cambodia relations is not only a requirement for the times to deal with major changes unseen in a century, but also a realistic need to strengthen China-Cambodia cooperation under the new situation.

During this visit, Xi Jinping pointed out that "the world's century-long changes have accelerated its evolution, and deepening the construction of a community with a shared future between China and Cambodia is fully in line with the fundamental interests of the people of both countries", and emphasized that under the new situation, China and Cambodia should "give China and Cambodia a new era connotation." Cambodian King Sihamoni described the continuous deepening of the construction of a community with a shared future between the two countries as "progress every month and results every year."

Zhai Kun, a professor at the School of International Relations at Peking University, said that both China and Cambodia are currently in a critical stage of national development. The two sides are improving their relationship positioning in response to the current situation, which will help the two countries go further and continuously transform high-level political mutual trust into high-quality mutually beneficial cooperation, release policy dividends, and better benefit the people.

The other keyword is "all-weather".

"All-weather" is used to describe cooperation that remains firm under the test of various conditions. No matter how the international situation changes, China and Cambodia have always firmly supported each other on issues involving each other's core interests and major concerns, and have set an example of equal treatment, sincere mutual trust, and mutual benefit and win-win situations between countries of all sizes. Focusing on feelings and righteousness can be regarded as a distinctive feature of China-Cambodia community with a shared future.

Xu Liping said that China and Cambodia share weal and woe and help each other at the moment when they need help the most. The term "all-weather" shows that both sides will continue to go in both directions, work hand in hand, and share a shared future, writing a new chapter in building a community with a shared future between China and Cambodia.

While marking a new height for the development of China-Cambodia relations, during the visit, the Chinese and Cambodia leaders exchanged in-depth views on cooperation in multiple fields and reached important consensus. The leaders of the two countries jointly witnessed the exchange of more than 30 bilateral cooperation texts between China and Cambodia, becoming a vivid footnote to building an all-weather community of shared future in the new era.

China is Cambodia's largest trading partner and largest source of investment. In the first quarter of this year, China's import and export scale to Cambodia hit a record high in the same period. "This improvement in China-Cambodia relations will encourage more Chinese companies to invest and do business in Cambodia, injecting new impetus into the two sides' cooperation in promoting high-quality joint construction of the 'Belt and Road'," said Zhai Kun.

The China-Cambodia iron-core friendship not only has strong endogenous motivation, but also has a deep foundation for public opinion. After the successful conclusion of the "China-Cambodia Cultural Exchange Year", 2025 was designated as the "China-Cambodia Tourism Year". The interviewed scholars believe that carrying out higher frequency of cultural exchanges and promoting exchanges and mutual learning between China and Cambodia civilizations is also a natural goal to promote the steady and long-term construction of a community with a shared future in the new era.

Following the future, China-Cambodia relations have far-reaching significance.

According to the joint statement, the two sides decided to establish a "2+2" strategic dialogue mechanism between China and Cambodia Foreign Ministers and Defense Ministers, coordinate positions on major strategic issues in a timely manner and promote cooperation in relevant fields. In the view of Guo Yanjun, director of the Asia Research Institute of the School of Foreign Affairs, the regional significance of China-Cambodia cooperation is becoming increasingly prominent. Whether it is to build a higher level of security guarantee or strengthen higher standards of strategic cooperation, it will effectively help regional and sub-regional collaborative development.

"Promote new progress in the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and ASEAN and build a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future", "The two sides agree to accelerate the construction of a community with a shared future for Lancang-Mekong countries for peace and prosperity", "Call to revitalize true multilateralism"... These statements in the joint statement have received widespread attention.

Zhai Kun said that as an important member of the Asian family, the two countries will work together to build a new era of all-weather China-Cambodia community with a shared future, which will have a positive impact on building a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future and promoting the modernization process of Asia. As an important force in the global south, China and Cambodia jointly oppose hegemony, power politics, and camp confrontation, which will also contribute more positive energy to regional and even world peace and stability.