China's Foreign Minister in Cambodia to discuss COVID-19, regional issues

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi

Bejing [China], September 12 (ANI): China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Sunday arrived in Cambodia, where's he expected to meet with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and other officials to discuss COVID-19 and other regional issues, Chinese state media reported.

Wang Yi will be visiting four neighbouring countries-Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore and South Korea. Wrapping up the first stop in Vietnam, Wang Yi has arrived in Cambodia and he will visit Singapore and South Korea next, Global Times reported.

On Friday (local time), Wang and Vietnamese Standing Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh co-chaired the 13th Meeting of the China-Vietnam Steering Committee for Bilateral Cooperation was held in Hanoi, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

At the meeting, Wang stressed that amid the major changes rarely seen in a century and the pandemic, the two socialist neighbours are destined to cooperate to overcome the difficulties together.

Vietnam has territorial disputes with China over the Spratly and Paracel island groups in the South China Sea, with Beijing accused of militarizing the outposts it has built.

The Indo-Pacific region is largely viewed as an area comprising the Indian Ocean and the western and central Pacific Ocean, including the South China Sea.

While Beijing claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea and has overlapping territorial claims with Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan.

China's territorial claims in the South China Sea and its efforts to advance into the Indian Ocean are seen to have challenged the established rules-based system. (ANI)