A five-day visit by China’s Deputy Prime Minister Wu Yi, which wrapped up on Tuesday, was marred by health complications when Wu fell ill and then a member of the Chinese delegation was removed from the Council of Ministers on a stretcher Tuesday morning.
On Monday, Wu postponed the signing of one of several joint agreements between China and Cambodia until the next day, after she reportedly felt feverish during a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng.
By Tuesday, she appeared to have recovered, but an unidentified Chinese official was taken out of their meeting at the Council of Ministers on a stretcher and rushed to Calmette Hospital by ambulance.
“He was a little sick,” said Heng Taikry, director of the Calmette Hospital, adding the man was released Tuesday afternoon. He declined to disclose the man’s sudden illness.
In spite of the disruption, Wu presided over the signing of nine joint agreements between China and Cambodia designed to promote trade between the two countries.
Wu told Prime Minister Hun Sen that she would like to see trade between the two countries reach $500 million by next year, Eang Sophalleth, an assistant to the premier, told reporters after Tuesday’s meeting. Two-way trade between the countries last year amounted to about $320 million, he said.
The agreements signed Tuesday included conducting a feasibility study on the so-called “missing link” of the Asean railroad, rehabilitating the office buildings and library of the Senate, providing 400 police motorcycles and constructing a second hydroelectric power plant in Kompong Speu’s Kirirom National Park.
Last week, Ith Praing, secretary of state for the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy, said the Chinese state-owned Cetic Co will likely build the proposed $30 million, 18 megawatt power plant, though no details are final.
Wu, traveling with a group of Chinese investors interested in electricity, garments and information technology, told Hun Sen that China will continue giving aid to Cambodia and that she will urge investors to explore opportunities in several sectors, Eang Sophalleth said.
Economic ties with China received a boost recently when the Asian giant agreed to eliminate tariffs on 297 Cambodian agricultural products. In 2000 and 2001, Chinese and Taiwanese companies invested in garment factories in Cambodia to take advantage of the country’s preferential trade status with the US and Europe.
Sar Kheng told Wu on Monday that Cambodia was firmly in China’s corner regarding the one-China policy.
“Cambodia will support China’s cause of reunification and oppose any attempt to split China,” Sar Kheng said, according to the Chinese government-controlled Xinhua News Agency.
“We are not only good neighbors, good friends, but also good partners,” Xinhua quoted Wu as saying in response.
Prominent Cambodian businessman were happy with Wu’s visit and hoped it would spur more Chinese investment.
“Cambodia is going to belong to the China market,” Kong Triv, chairman of British American Tobacco, said Monday.
“The Chinese are not really concerned about the lack of laws,” he said. “We have almost everything that needs to be invested in.”
Sorn Sokna, vice president of Sokimex and vice chairman of the Phnom Penh Chamber of Commerce, also welcomed the prospect of increased Chinese investment. “Wu Yi’s trip will benefit us,” he said.
