Friendship Medal sign of respect, peoples' friendship

President Xi Jinping awarded Cambodia's Queen Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk the Friendship Medal of the People's Republic of China on Friday as a sign of the Chinese people's great respect for her and the intimate friendship between the two nations.

The ceremony to present the medal－a top honor intended for foreign friends of the country－was held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

At the ceremony, Xi said in a speech that the Queen Mother is a key witness and promoter of China-Cambodia friendship. She has witnessed the advances of the People's Republic of China since, in 1958, she accompanied the late King Norodom Sihanouk on her first visit to China, he said.

The Queen Mother bears extraordinary feelings for the Chinese people, supports bilateral exchanges and cooperation in various fields, and has made outstanding contributions to promoting bilateral relations and enhancing the friendship of the two peoples, Xi said.

Xi said since China and Cambodia established diplomatic relations 62 years ago, they have always supported and helped each other, forged an unbreakable, die-hard friendship and become a community with a shared future of strategic significance.

The ties between the two countries have withstood a great variety of tests and can be regarded as a model of exchanges between countries, and the Cambodian royal family plays an irreplaceable role in this, Xi added.

China is ready to work with Cambodia to hand down and carry forward their traditional friendship, revitalize China-Cambodia relations in the new historical period and bolster the well-being of the two, he said.

The Queen Mother said Xi's presentation of the Friendship Medal fully shows the friendship and brotherhood of the great China and the Chinese people with her and with the Cambodian people. She said she was greatly delighted and expressed her strongest, heartfelt appreciation for that.

The late King Father Norodom Sihanouk and the elder generation of Chinese leaders jointly forged and carefully nurtured a bilateral traditional friendship, which will be remembered for good, she said.

She expressed her most sincere gratitude to the great Communist Party of China, the Chinese government and the Chinese people as China has firmly supported the just cause of Cambodia and has supported Cambodia in safeguarding state sovereignty and independence, territorial integrity, national peace, unity among ethnicities and the advance of various undertakings.

The Cambodian people will work with the brotherly Chinese people to cement traditional friendship, strengthen unity and cooperation and promote the lasting growth of bilateral relations, she said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin became the first person awarded the Friendship Medal in 2018.

Also on Friday, Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, met with Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni and the Queen Mother at the Great Hall of the People.

Xi expressed appreciation for the letters of sympathy sent by the King and the Queen Mother as well as their generous donations offered since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Xi noted that the King had just visited Yan'an, Shaanxi province. The trip echoes the footsteps of the late King Father and the Queen Mother 50 years ago, passes on amity and boosts friendship, he said.

Praising the Queen Mother's special and important contributions to bilateral friendship, exchanges and cooperation, Xi vowed to push the China-Cambodia comprehensive strategic partnership to a new level.

Sihamoni said the great courtesy offered by Xi and his wife impressed him regarding the great friendship of the Chinese people toward the Cambodian people, he is ready to further deepen bilateral friendship and he hopes that China, led by Xi, would achieve greater advances.