Cambodia considers China as older brother: Cambodian Red Cross chief

Cambodian Red Cross president Bun Rany, wife of Prime Minister Hun Sen, said Wednesday that Cambodia and China are "brothers" and always help each other in difficult time.

"Cambodia considers China as an older brother and Cambodia is a younger brother," she said during a meeting with new Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Bu Jianguo.

She said Cambodia was very proud of long-standing relations and cooperation with China, reiterating that the country would undoubtedly continue to support the One-China policy.

Bun Rany also extended her gratitude to the Chinese government, the Red Cross Society of China and Chinese businesspeople for constantly providing humanitarian aid and emergency relief to Cambodia whenever the country faces disasters.

"Whenever Cambodia faces difficulties from natural disasters such as drought or flood, China always stays with us and provides us emergency relief assistance," she said.

Meanwhile, Bu said China will continue to help Cambodia in humanitarian activities as much as possible in order to ease Cambodians' difficulties when they meet any natural disasters.

She said she was very happy to be appointed as the Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia in the year that the two countries have been celebrating the 55th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relations and the Cambodia-China Year of Friendship.

During her diplomatic mission, Bu vowed to further strengthen and expand the bilateral ties and cooperation for the mutual benefits of the two countries and peoples.

Cambodia-China ties were founded by Cambodia's late King Father Norodom Sihanouk and former Chinese President Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou Enlai in 1958.

The two countries have witnessed rapid development of the bilateral relations in the last decade, and the ties reached the top level of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of Cooperation in December 2010.