China to help modernize military, defense minister says
Chinese aid and expertise—and perhaps some fighter jets—will help modernize Cambodia’s military, Defense Minister Tea Banh said on October 17 as navy vessels from China and the U.S. paid courtesy calls to Cambodia’s ports. Speaking after his return from the 7th Xiangshan Forum, a regional security summit held early last week in Beijing, General Banh said the trip had been a success. “We signed some agreements with each other to provide supplies in order to modernize our work in the Kingdom of Cambodia and to build stronger capacity for our national defense,” Gen. Banh said on October 17 in Phnom Penh. Cambodia plans on eventually acquiring Chinese fighter jets, the general said, though he declined to provide more specifics on the plans. The defense minister also took the occasion to welcome Chinese sailors who had arrived in Sihanoukville on three warships on October 16, saying that their arrival deepened “friendship and cooperation” between the two countries.
